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The tradgedy of Syria





Damascus is often claimed to be the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, Ever since I first went there in the early part of 1985, I have loved the city and Syria, the people I met on numerous visits, the location, the climate, the restaurants everything in fact. Paradoxically, my first view of the country was a chilling one. Arriving at DAM the Damascus International Airport very late at night (the Airport was opened specially to receive the Company aircraft) from a refuelling stop at Larnaca, we were met on the tarmac by a deputation of high ranking army officers who accompanied us to the terminal building on special buses to collect our luggage and the trunks containing the 25 volumes of our (as yet incomplete) proposal for Phase 2 of the local manufacturing of communications equipment Contract for the Syrian Government.
Almost as soon as we left the airport for the drive into the City and what was to be our home, office, meeting venue etc over the next weeks and months, at the Sheraton Hotel, we passed a checkpoint which contained a large tank, some heavy machine guns and about 8 soldiers, all behind stacks of sandbags.
The following day, looking out from the window of my room across the city to the rim of the mountain range, I was hooked. Over the course of the next few months, I met and became friends with many people. Some Palestinians, Armenians and I suppose Sunni, Shia, Alawites, Christians, I have no idea what as I never asked. To me they were Syrians.
These were the days of Hafez al-Assad, Bashar al Assad's father. From the impressions I had, it seems that Bashar has never been able to adequately fill his fathers shoes. He has given me the impression of being an indecisive character, influenced and probably controlled by others. True, his father was a ruthless man who together with his brother and other family members carried out many acts which many outside considered to be barbaric. Yet, as far as I could tell, there were many people in the country who felt him to be a great man and were generally supportive of his rule.
It is now very sad for me to see the country tearing itself apart in the current civil war. In many ways it was probably inevitable that this series of events would eventually come about, as Syria, along with many countries in the Middle East have come into existence through the ineptitude and indifference of the former colonial powers of the United Kingdom and France following the fall of the Ottoman Empire. Straight lines drawn in the sand to establish borders on the map would always result in problems. No recognition, or even understanding, of religious, ethnic or tribal differences, have resulted in many conflicts over the years since the 1920's. In turn this has led to mistrust and probably some hatred amongst the Arab peoples towards the west.
The Syrian civil war may go on for months or may be over in a few weeks it is impossible to tell. What we do know, even now, is that there is a great change taking place in the Arab world and that their collective position and relationship with the west will never be the same again. The “status quo” is dead.

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