The New Syria

"You cannot imagine the feeling of living without freedom. This is my own country but I live in it in fear. I am frightened even in my own home. My dream is to be able to tell you my real name, and for you to visit us in freedom as a journalist, without this disguise." Damascene activist

Only Syrians know what it is like to scurry about, hoping that sharp shooters' attention will be distracted elsewhere, and they will arrive home unscathed, not become another casualty for the UN to rack up in its rising toll of dead among the protesters. "Do you see the army? This is Douma, not Kandahar or Baghdad."

Not finding it in himself to believe that his country had become a rat's nest of military forces surrounding towns and villages to wipe out inhabitants who appear to them to be resisting the legitimacy of the regime. After Friday prayers, the faithful seek to exit their mosques, to make their way quietly along the streets.

Preferably, to gather, still quietly, but holding aloft signs stating their preference for an al-Assad-free Syria. Which bold statement garners them the deadly ire of those forces still faithful to the regime. The locals set up barricades hoping to detain the military vehicle advances. Knowing full well that on the roofs of surrounding buildings are the sharp shooters.

Huddling in the mosque doorway, men gauge their chances, and courage in hand, leap out in straggled groups, to rush in ragged patterns out of the "kill zone", to reach the safety of the alley where their presence can be hidden. Once there, they shout "freedom!" and "down, down, down with the regime!"

It is a play of human drama, danger and wretchedness that brings to mind the similar details outlined in Oriana Fallaci's novel taking place in Lebanon, titled Inshallah. Just alter the place-names and these events could be taking place almost anywhere in the Middle East, with its ethnic and tribal factions, its sectarian rivalries.

The Syrian National Council keeps a running tally of the deadly casualties, the numbers of their "fallen heroes". Ideally, they would dearly like to persuade NATO of its humanitarian obligations; to replicate what they managed to pull off in Libya with the "no fly zone" in protection of civilians. One might assume, incorrectly, that this is precisely what the Arab League should be engaged in.

But no, members of the Syrian National Council opposition movement do not engage in serious discussions visiting Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, the Gulf States; they visit places like Canada, where they seek to meet with government officials, thanking them for agreeing to freeze the Syrian regime's assets, and looking for official recognition for themselves.

"We asked the Canadian government to help convince some countries, some governments in the UN Security Council to bring forward a resolution that will help in the protection of civilians in Syria", said SNC representative Obaida Nahhas. Even if Canada thought it useful and feasible to consider international military involvement in Syria, China and Russia would not.

The Syrian National Council seeks peace, stability, security, liberty and freedom for its countrymen. And if they became the de facto government, dedicated to administering Syria as a democracy, Arab-style, would they end hostilities with Israel and sign a peace accord, they were asked. How awkwardly inconvenient, where did that question come from?

Diplomatically, the response carefully avoided mentioning the name of the Zionist Entity. Instead, responded Ahmed Ramadan,"The new Syria will be a true factor for stability in the region, particularly with its neighbours. The new Syria will demand the return of the territories under Israel occupation", was his closing statement.

How, then, is the new Syria different from the old Syria?