The Righteous Is Emboldened:

Syria 2017 Looks to Build on Spectacular 2016

Rasa - On the New Year's Eve, hope has rolled down once again like water and righteousness like a mighty stream in Syria.

News ID: 426189

Date: 31 December 2016 - 22:52

RNA - Here, the long-suffering people are no longer alone and outgunned, scared and besieged. Their government forces and allies have sought justice and greatness and they have won. They feel right because it’s the only righteous vengeance. They feel right because they have done the right thing to dislodge evil from Aleppo and other places across the nation - in just one year.

As a consequence, many people are no longer suffering and scared, more than happy and grateful to return to their homes and communities. Their national forces and allies – Iran, Russia and Hezbollah – have a righteous objective now. Never acting in their own interest, but in the interest of the Syrian people and trans-regional peace and security, the anti-terror alliance has done the right thing for the right reason, and the right result now awaits:

The all-Syria ceasefire is holding across the nation. Russia has called on the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution that aims to support the ceasefire agreement brokered by Tehran, Moscow and Ankara. The Security Council has started closed consultations on the measure. Once concluded, the member states will go for a vote and adopt it unanimously.

The draft resolution endorses the agreement that also commits the Syrian government and the opposition to enter into direct talks at the end of January in Astana, Kazakhstan. The talks aim to reach a political solution to put an end to six years of foreign-backed violence and terrorism in the Arab country. It has equally remained a major imperative for most of the world's nations.

That the ceasefire agreement has sidelined the United States or excludes terror groups like ISIL and Al-Qaeda affiliate Fatah al-Sham Front (formerly known as the Al-Nusra Front) should come as no surprise at all. Russia is urging Egypt to join the process. All sides have made clear that the US is welcome to help too, but only after the January 20 inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump.

Still, if the new US administration decides to join the process, it has to stop living in a world of illusions and creating a kind of artificiality like its predecessor, one filled with a blood-drenched coalition of the willing, bullied and bought acting like “friends of Syria,” and the Syria protectors propagated as war criminals and pop-up, rogue alliance.

As for the foreign-backed terror groups; well, times have really changed and their days are clearly numbered. Ankara has stepped up its cooperation with Moscow recently, prompting speculation that Turkey “might be” (emphasis here) moving away from the United States, which is supporting separatist Kurdish fighters and terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq.

That said, judgments made in the process by Iran, Syria and Russia are still based only on what is right and necessary for the Syrian people and not on what other parties with an interest in Syria say - or worse, peddle the ceasefire doubt. The allied forces will judge according to progress and according to what other parties to the process will do. They have signed on to the process. Whatever the US does under Trump, they will still move whether or not Washington is moving forward.

Syria and its allies know fully well that they have a duty to exercise their unalienable rights and to protect the Syrian people. They have a duty to the Syrian ethnic groups and communities, to take care of women and children refugees, and to contribute to humanitarian aid. Come the Astana talks, the Syria protectors will uphold International Law and support a just and righteous peace deal that is stable, predictable, and lasting.

It is now up to the world’s nations to come to their senses and take the Syrian crisis seriously, which is intertwined and has important links to the global security agenda. They have a duty to join the process and endorse the charge for peace in Syria.

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