United Arab Emirates: Now Working to Avoid Chaos in Syria

Anwar Gargash (pictured), a diplomatic adviser to United Arab Emirates President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, said that “all Syrian factions must work together to avoid chaos.” It was the Arab country’s first reaction to the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, ousted in a lightning operation launched November 27 by armed opposition groups led by the jihadist-Salafist Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS) movement. “We hope to see Syrians working together and not witness more episodes of chaos,” Gargash said in a speech at the Manama Dialogue conference in Bahrain.

“Syria is not out of danger yet, but extremism and terrorism remain a serious problem,” the United Arab Emirates presidential adviser stressed, adding that he “does not know” whether Assad is in the Emirates or not. “I don’t know,” Gargash said, addressing the press on the sidelines of the forum. Gargash also added that Assad never took advantage of the “lifeline” offered to him by various Arab countries, including the Emirates themselves.

Immediately after the fall of the Syrian capital Damascus, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) deployed in the demilitarized buffer zone with Syria and “in other places necessary for our defense.” As the IDF spokesperson emphasized, “Israeli forces do not interfere in internal events in Syria,” but want to “ensure the security of the Golan Heights communities and the citizens of Israel.”

As the Tel Aviv press reminds us, “the Golan Heights is a region disputed between Israel and Syria and de facto annexed by the Jewish state in 1981.” The Israel Defense Forces will now have to fight on virtually three fronts: after Gaza and Lebanon, the Israeli armed forces are stationed on the so-called “Alpha Line” inside the demilitarized zone, for the first time since the Disengagement Agreement between Israel and Syria was signed in 1974. The IDF deployment was in coordination with the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), established in 1974 to maintain peace between Israel and Syria after the end of the so-called Yam Kippur War.

The situation in Syria after the fall of President Bashar al-Assad’s government is of great concern around the world. A very disturbing testimony came from Cardinal Mario Zenari (pictured), Apostolic Nuncio to Damascus since 2008, who was contacted by Radiogiornale RSI (Swiss radio in Italian).

“After the fall of other cities, it was thought that Damascus would offer very fierce resistance. But the transition took place without the bloodshed that could have been feared,” said the cardinal, according to whom “what has happened in recent days was not expected by anyone.”

According to Zenari, there are those who see the fall of the regime “as liberation.” But we don’t know where this change will lead. “The road is still uphill,” the cardinal said, emphasizing that in any case “change is necessary.” And he concludes. “The path to hope has opened up. We hope that, with the help of the international community, this hope can become concrete through Syria’s democratic reconstruction and economic recovery.”