Syria's domestic opposition snubbed a call to dialogue fromPresident Bashar al-Assad, as NATO powers challenged the leader's defiant gripon power while dispatching Patriot missile batteries to neighbouring Turkey.The cold shoulder by the National Coordination Body (NCB) for Democratic Changein Syria, a tolerated opposition group separate from the internationallyrecognised Syrian National Coalition, left Assad's proposal without any takers.
And the common front by the United States, France, Britainand Turkey accentuated the international isolation Assad is suffering, a dayafter he gave a speech declaring he would not stop pounding"terrorist" rebels. In the speech, Assad urged talks with oppositionelements he deemed acceptable, explicitly excluding the main exiled oppositionas "killers" dominated by non-Syrians and working for foreignmasters.
But the head of the NCB, Hassan Abdel Azim, told a newsconference in Damascus his group "will not take part in a nationaldialogue before violence stops," political prisoners were released,humanitarian aid was delivered to conflict-torn areas, and missing Syrians werehighlighted in a statement. He also stated "there won't be directnegotiations or dialogue with the regime," but only within a frameworkheaded by joint UN-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi.
The NATO powers were even blunter. Assad has lost touch withreality, Washington and Paris said, while London branded as "empty"the Syrian leader's promise to hold dialogue. The Syrian president was guiltyof "state terrorism" by pursuing a civil war that has killed morethan 60,000 people since it started 21 months ago according to the UN, TurkishPrime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. "The proposals of somebody whokills his own people through bombs and planes cannot be democratic. He isshifting the blame by designating his opponents as Al-Qaeda orterrorists," Erdogan said, according to Turkey's state-run Anatolia newsagency.
As if to underline the NATO's rejection of Assad's position,Dutch Patriot missile batteries left the Netherlands in a convoy for Turkey,where they will be set up as a defence against any aerial threat from Syria.Some 400 US troops have already arrived in Turkey to man other US Patriotmissile batteries that will be in place by the end of this month, joining twoGerman Patriot systems also being sent. The deployments have been stronglycriticised by Syria's main ally Iran, even as the Islamic republic was believedto keep up a flow of money, military advisors and, according to the UnitedStates, weapons to Assad's regime.
Tehran said it supported Assad's "comprehensive"plan to restore peace but made no mention of its own six-point "peaceplan" for Syria which has been largely ignored internationally. Theopposition Syrian National Coalition said Assad's declaration ruling out anydialogue with the rebels and his insistence on staying in power made anynegotiations impossible.
Analysts said it appeared Assad thought himself with enoughof a military advantage to make such an uncompromising address. "Today,the situation is stabilising a bit. The regime won't win the war, but it knowsit will still go on for some time," said Thomas Pierret, Syria expert andprofessor at the University of Edinburgh. "All of these developments aregiving breathing space to a regime doomed in the future, which explains thetiming of the speech," he said.
