The collective West, led by the United States, is mistaken about Syria, again. The first mistake was their failure to help the Syrians overthrow Bashar al-Assad, who had been on the brink of falling before Iran and Russia intervened 13 years ago.
The mistakes of the West, specifically those of the United States, began during former President Barack Obama's term. He did not enforce the red line he had himself set, namely the use of chemical weapons against unarmed Syrians.
Assad did use these weapons, and he was not punished for it. At the time, everyone thought that the superpower would act, but Obama turned a blind eye and saw the Syrian crisis as one of many that every American president faces.
According to "The New York Times," he said that the Syrian forces were just farmers, doctors, and teachers who could never become effective fighters at the time, rebuffing General Petraeus' advice on US support for the rebels. Obama even framed Assad's crimes following the Syrian revolution as a "civil war."
The United States and the West were wrong to ignore the suffering of the Syrian people. Besides the Caesar Act, which hindered Assad's rehabilitation without ensuring prison inspections or the release of detainees, the US did nothing. Today, the entire world can see the magnitude of the disaster that unfolded as a result in Syria.
Washington was more concerned with Israel's security than alleviating the suffering of Syrians after the 2011 revolution. I heard this from several Arab and foreign officials, and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan affirmed this notion in his interview broadcast on Al-Hadath last Wednesday.
Minister Fidan says that seven years ago, during a visit to Türkiye to meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Joe Biden (vice president at the time) told Erdogan: "We do not want Assad to go.We know this was Israel's preference and not his own; Israel did not want Assad gone," Fidan added.
"Yes, Israel may not have been pleased with Assad allowing the Iranian presence on Syrian territory, but Israel was fine with Assad himself,” he went on. “Eventually, the US informed us that Israel did not want him to fall.”
Washington's fixation on Israel's security, at the expense of concern for the mass atrocities in Syria or the geopolitical threats they created, came at a time when Washington was seeking to finalize its nuclear deal with Tehran, even at the region's expense.
Today, Washington and the West are repeating the same mistake, again. It is once again prioritizing Israel's security despite the latter’s ongoing and unjustified attacks on this new Syria. It is true that the West has set conditions for the new administration in Syria, justified conditions, but Israel remains the focus.
Every Western media outlet that interviewed Ahmed Al-Sharaa has emphasized Israel's security and Syria's position on Israel. The same is true for Western officials' statements, whose disregard of the Syrian people's desire to heal their wounds is outrageous.
The West demands that Syria accomplish in one week what Assad had failed to do in 24 years, prioritizing Israel's security, overlooking Syria’s urgent need for aid, and doing nothing to compel Israel to end its assault on Syria or force Assad to face justice for his crimes.
Accordingly, I believe that the West is making a mistake in Syria, again.
