Going beyond personalisation

Much hope was pinned on the meeting between Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al Jubeir and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow last Tuesday to break the deadlock in the search for a solution to the Syrian conflict. 

However, the two sides have diametrically opposing views on whether Syrian President Bashar Assad should be part of the solution.

Moscow has recently been touting that there is now a pressing need to form a coalition against the grave threat posed by Daesh, irrespective of the existing divergent views on the Syrian civil war. Jubeir, however, did not budge from his country’s principled position that the Syrian regime and its cruel management of the uprising created the environment for the rise of extremism and radicalism in the country. 

“Our position,” he said, “has not changed... there is no place for Assad in the future of Syria.” 

The Saudi foreign minister went on to add that “we think that Bashar Assad is part of the problem, not part of the solution”.  

Still, there are persistent reports that Russia could be edging closer to a basis for a solution that does not necessarily include Assad in the equation. Whether this is true or not is no longer the issue.

What should concern Moscow and other interested capitals is not Assad’s role or status in the projected solution of the Syrian crisis, but rather the preservation of the core state institutions of the Syrian government to serve as the foundation of a coordinated effort by all sides to battle Daesh, with a view to setting the stage for early national elections in Syria under international supervision.  All Syrians, whether still inside the country or in neighbouring countries, should be able to take part in these elections. 

The Syrian problem is now beyond the stage of personalisation and has reached the level of institutionalisation to serve as basis for a final and durable settlement, and end the violence and bloodshed in the country, with the civil war now in its fifth year.