Well-informed Syrian sources revealed that Turkish officials told their Syrian counterparts that the Americans had set a plan to assassinate Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad.

Israa Al-Fass

Translated by Sara Taha

Well-informed Syrian sources revealed that Turkish officials told their Syrian counterparts that the Americans had set a plan to assassinate Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad.

The source told Al-Manar website that the Syrians were informed about this US plan since March this year.

Al-Assad’s fall is a great gain to America

The source also said that officials in the US administration had tackled the importance of liquidating Al-Assad.

“Eliot Abrams, the US National Security Advisor, has published an article on the 24th of November in the Foreign Policy magazine, in which he talked about the assassination, considering it one of the major possible ways to end Al-Assad regime,” it added.

Abrams stated in his article that “The end of the Assad regime would be a great gain for the United States… it is host to Hamas and other Palestinian groups, Iran\'s only Arab ally, the route through which Iran arms Hezbollah,” and indicated that Al-Assad’s regime had a big role in assisting the camp opposed to the US occupation in Iraq as well as a complicit in the killing and injuring of many American soldiers.

Scenario # 2: Killing Al-Assad

The source confirmed the information previously revealed by former Lebanese Minister Michel Samaha in his interview on Al-Manar TV, in which he talked about a French-Qatari plan to assassinate president Al-Assad, adding that the plan’s source was the US but the execution was French and Qatari.

He further quoted an American delegation that visited Syria earlier as saying that “the American Administration was working on three scenarios, and the events that have been taking place fall under scenario number 3 which speaks about stimulating the public.”

“There are two other scenarios: The first is a blitzkrieg and the second is killing the president,” the source added.  “The situation would turn into a disaster if such scenarios were implemented, and a civil war would erupt; this is probably their intention,” he elaborated.

Noureddine: Targeting Syria is a target to the regime’s method

For his part, Lebanese journalist and expert in Turkish affairs Dr. Mohammad Noureddine said these information were most likely true if they were delivered to the Syrians before April 10, because back then the relations between the two countries were good.

In an interview with Al-Manar Website, Dr. Noureddine pointed out to Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Devotuglo’s statement that he made in a press conference on the 5th of November, in which he anticipated a military coup d’etat in Syria, saying: “We are also in this region, and out intelligence in very strong.”

The Turkish affairs analyst added that “the Turks have this approach, they are seeking it and working on it day and night.”

“We have witnessed escalation by the Arab League that has reached the extent of suspending Syria’s AL membership and imposing economic sanctions on it… this is because the military option is off the table as it is ineffective,” Dr. Noureddine said.

He further said that the coming phase was full of political and economic pressures accompanied with support to any movement that intends to ouster the regime from the inside, Dr. Noureddine also clarified that the Turks have revealed this in a statement by their foreign minister who announced that his country had deliberated with the AL before releasing the latest decision on suspending Syria.

“They are still coordinating on all future steps that will be taken with regards to Syria,” he added.

As he considered that the Arab stance was a relief to Turkey for they have found a partner in their enmity to the Syrian regime, Noureddine stated: “It is obvious that the crisis in Syria is not related to reforms… for after the Arab, French, and Turkish stances, it is obvious that the target is the regime’s method, and all the systems related to it, like Iran and Hezbollah. Bringing Syria down means brining all these systems down, and that is not easy, unless an unpredicted issue occurred.”

The regional scene indicates wars

Dr. Noureddine’s analysis can be argued. Prominent Arab Journalist Abdul Bari Atwan (from the Al-Quds Al-Arabi daily) considers that the region today is in front of a fierce regional war that could change the political as well as the demographic map.

He considered that “this war’s goal is to change two regimes that are still in the resisting system,” indicating Syria and Iran.

In an article he published in Arabic, Atwan stated that “the Arab foreign ministers’ decision, which was taken in a rush, opens the door for foreign military interference in Syria under the pretext of protecting the Syrian people. In the past 20 years, the Arab League‘s role has been restricted to providing an Arab cover up, regardless of its legitimacy or not, for such interventions. This role started in Iraq, then in Libya, and Syria seems to be the third station… and only God and the US know who will be the fourth one.”

This same analysis was made by Lebanese political analyst Nasri As-Sayegh who considered that “the regional scene indicates nightmares of war.”

In an article he published in Arabic on the Lebanese As-Safir newspaper under the headline “who comes first… the Syrian Revolution or the Lebanese Resistance” As-Sayegh stated:

- A sectarian civil war in Syria.
- A fierce war against the regime by armed forces protected by regional powers and armed by international ones.
- Political war that could require some kind of security and military intervention, accompanied by an economic siege.
- The transfer of war from inside Syria to the region: Lebanon will likely be part of that, in its South and North, and the UNIFIL’s stance will be divided in accordance to the stance of each brigade’s country. 
- Violence will expand until it reaches the Gulf which is significantly affected by anti-nuclear Iran statements.