What The Syrian Opposition Must Do After Aleppo

It is illogical to suggest that two people might differ about what Aleppo is witnessing now, as a result of the changes in the military equation, which is in favor of the Syrian regime. What is happening in Aleppo now, the complete end of the presence of armed groups, is considered as another completed stage of the Syrian crisis and as a preparation for the transition to a new stage that will not necessarily resemble its predecessor.

However, what is happening in Aleppo cannot be understood to have a direct impact on the imminent approach of a full solution to the crisis or an end of the Syrian war. Despite the late arrival of the revolutionary movement to Aleppo, the city, which is considered the economic capital of Syria and the second largest city in the country, is today free from armed groups. The military victory of the regime and its allies in Aleppo against the armed groups is in favor of completing what the regime and its allies call the “useful Syria”, which will not be affected by Daesh’s occupation of Palmyra for the second or third time.

In addition, the apparent saturation of Idlib city with hundreds of fighters, who were brought from different areas of Damascus, western Homs and some from eastern Aleppo, is a preparation for a major assault on the city that might be final.

One can say that the Syrian war has entered another phase. The landmarks for the end of this war will be determined when the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the international coalition forces, led by the United States, announce the liberation of Raqqa and Dair Al Zour from the control of the terrorist organization, Daesh.

Although the event or the remaining entire Syrian political scene follows the sound of bullets, it is possible, however, to make a breakthrough in this same scene, especially when we realize that the opportunity for a political action is not absent, particularly political realism. This is what most Syrian opposition groups must adopt today more than ever.

Creating the right political discourse for this phase and the subsequent future stages of Syria, setting visions and plans more appropriate for the Syrian issue, and focusing on the distinction between balanced relationships with regional and international powers concerned with solving the Syrian crisis, confirm that the time is right today for holding a conference of the Syrian opposition to act together and effectively towards finding a Syrian solution.

However, this time the conference must be held in a Syrian land liberated from terror and tyranny without interference or dictation from outside powers and without connecting national agendas to regional or international agendas. It is certain that the areas of Rojava are the most suitable areas in Syria to play such a role. Convincing the opposition to carry out such a thing will be the right step, which will in turn produce positive steps such as getting rid of foreign intervention, which portrayed the Syrian opposition as (non-opposition) as the executer of narrow regional agendas. The accumulation of these agendas have transformed the opposition into an internal card for those states, such as Turkey and the semi-destroyed Aleppo.

Most of the Syrian oppositions have created local and external enemies for themselves, forgetting how to achieve democratic change, for which the Syrian people came out seven years ago. We can say that the negative shift of the opposition’s positions strengthened the opponent, i.e. the authoritarian regime, in many places. When we conduct such evaluation, the aim is to provide constructive criticism of the opposition to restore its role in achieving democratic change. This assessment includes all national opposition parties. Because, the road to redemption in these exceptional circumstances is through restoring to the experiences of history, which do not differ much from the Syrian experience. The support of all democratic visions and projects is a national and humanitarian duty, so is the project of democratic federalism of Rojava.