Syria Shoots Down Turkish Fighter Jet

Kurt

Junior Member
Meddling in the internal affairs of another state was developed to high standards during the Cold War and will remain an important tool in the post-colonial world with its strong emphasis on the Westphalian ideas of territory. Occupations like Iraq and Afghanistan proof again and again that they are not their money's worth.
Bashar al-Assad is probably no bad guy, you might even make a film like "The Dictator Diaries" (as an adaption from "The Princess Diaries") about him. He practiced as an eye doctor in the UK instead of following a path to power in the security and military organization of Syria. Then he was recalled, because of his descent, he was necessary to function as the leader of Alawite based Assad-clan rule. Now he's stuck in a situation where the crave for reform and democracy is misused by militants to push Syria to the brink of chaos. He might have lost many early chances for democracy as he is part of an institution with much inertia to maintain their hold on current power and profits, but he's likely not the guy who insanely clings to his dictatorship because there's no other option in his life.
 

Franklin

Captain
Champagne Flows While Syria Burns

A country at war with itself. Bombs and civilian massacres. Yet, in Damascus, the music plays on.

By the pool, glistening, oiled, and muscular bodies gyrated to a juiced-up version of Adele’s “Someone Like You.” Atop huge speakers, a Russian dancer swayed suggestively in front of the young, beautiful Syrian set drinking imported Lebanese beer with salt and lemon. Behind them, columns of smoke were rising—signs of car bombs and explosions, of an encroaching war.

One woman in a tight swimsuit playfully squirted a water gun, joking that she belonged to the pro-government militia, the Shabiha, meaning ghosts or thugs, which is believed to be responsible for a recent massacre of more than 100 people, many of them women and children. “The opposition wants to kill us—they even announced it on Facebook,” the woman said, and blithely went back to spraying herself with water.

The pool party at the Dama Rose Hotel in Damascus was just getting started.

For 15 months now, Syria has been engaged in increasingly bloody fighting, pitting antigovernment rebels against the brutal regime of President Bashar al-Assad, costing the lives of at least 10,000 people, according to the United Nations. What began as a protest against his autocratic rule has developed into a violent conflict with sectarian overtones that now threatens to spill into neighboring countries.

For journalists, Syria has been difficult and dangerous to cover, and many dispatches have focused on the rebels’ fight to overthrow the dictator in cities and villages such as Homs and Houla. Life in the capital among the pro-Assad elite is less known to the outside world. What emerges from a recent trip to Damascus, and conversations with dozens of people there who say they still support the government, is a deep sense of dread, kept at bay by distraction and, perhaps, delusion. Damascus has long been a stronghold of Assad supporters who count many Alawites and Christians but also (mostly secular) Sunnis. To them, Assad is a guarantor of stability. And many express fear that if the rebels win, they will turn Syria into a more conservative religious country, along the lines of Saudi Arabia or Yemen. But with government forces unable to quell the uprising, the scariest scenario now also seems the most likely: continued fighting widening into a civil war.

For days, I listened to the thumping music and watched the beauties in their fluorescent Victoria’s Secret bikinis partying at the pool at the Dama Rose Hotel, where I was staying. (More than once, I thought of Nero fiddling as Rome burned.) Syria, I realized, has become a schizophrenic place; a place where people’s realities no longer connect.
Syria’s Thriving Elites

On one hand, there are the (in Damascus, largely invisible) activists who are trying to bring down Assad. By the time I arrived, shelling, gunfire, and a spate of “sticky bombs”—handmade bombs taped to the bottom of a car at the height of rush hour—had spawned fear in the capital and solidified anger against the opposition, which the government claims is supported by “foreign interventionists.”

There were daily clashes in suburbs such as Douma and Barzeh, and, according to human-rights groups, there are currently as many as 35,000 people being held in Syrian detention.

On the other hand, there is a class of Assad supporters who go about their daily business—pool parties included—while the skyline burns. As if the war is happening in some other place, people drink champagne in the Damascus neighborhood of Mezzah and partake in glamorous fashion photo shoots and go shopping for Versace and Missoni at the luxurious boutiques that line the Shukri al Quatli Street. Despite armed checkpoints and the threat of kidnapping, some still go out at night, attending the opera, meeting friends for dinner, and hosting elaborate wedding parties at the upscale restaurant Le Jardin.

“I have more work than ever,” says Dima, a television star who was being elaborately made up to be photographed by Gala Magazine. “I would love to work in Lebanon or the United States, of course, but at the moment, there is a lot of shooting here.” She laughs and lets the makeup artist—the best in Syria, she points out—apply another layer of purple eye shadow and tease her long, dark hair into a high chignon.

The jeunesse dorée of Damascus seem not to see that they are at war. Despite reports of civilian massacres by government fighters, the uprising has, thus far, not tainted their lives, and they don’t intend to let it. “Look, I still get my hair done when I go to a big party, which is about twice a week,” says a young woman I met. “I still get a manicure every week. I am still alive! Either you choose to be afraid all the time or you choose to live.”

Four years ago, Damascus was chosen as the Arab world’s Cultural Capital by UNESCO, and some people seem determined to hold on to that sobriquet, despite the many dead. Indeed, at the Damascus Opera House, the orchestra’s musicians believe it is their noble duty to keep playing. “People say that we should not make music while people are dying; I say it is imperative to give people hope,” says one violinist. “Even to have the house one quarter full in these times is a great achievement. People have to drive at night through dangerous checkpoints to get here, and most people just want to stay home and be safe.” A female musician agrees. “I don’t want to give the impression that we are like the Titanic—the orchestra plays on while the ship sinks,” she says. Her fate in Damascus has more in common with the Russian musicians who kept playing during the German siege of Leningrad, she says. “Music and art, in times like these, fuel the soul.”

One night I attend a classical concert at the elegant boutique hotel, Art House, in Mezzah, an area dominated by chic boutiques, gilded restaurants, and diplomatic villas. Built on the site of an old mill, the hotel has water streaming over glass panels on parts of the floor and would not be out of place in the Hamptons or Beverly Hills—except that, before the program begins, everyone rises to pay homage to the “war dead” with a minute of silence. The 34-year-old violinist and director general of the opera, Maria Arnaout, and a pianist then perform pieces by Bach, Gluck, and Beethoven for the select audience of bohemian-looking men in sandals and chinos and fashionable women in evening dresses and spiky shoes by Christian Louboutin, the French designer who keeps a summer residence in Syria and whose shoes are favored by the first lady, Asma al-Assad. Arnaout, in a strapless red silk dress and high heels, gets a standing ovation.

Afterward, as everyone files out to the hotel’s open-air restaurant, sipping champagne, I overhear hushed conversations about what has happened that day in Damascus; of bombs and fighting. This part of the city, a wealthy neighborhood of mixed ethnic and political persuasion, has been a particular place of tension. Lately, residents have noticed the sound of explosions, machine-gun fire, and helicopters in the sky.

A few days later, I’m standing with an architect on the balcony of her elegant, Italianate villa, watching people line up for gasoline down below. (International sanctions have created severe economic problems—even for the wealthy.) As we hear the ominous choppy noise of helicopters overhead, she comments, “This is the music we live by. And I fear this will be our symphony for the next few years.”

Bashar Hafez al-Assad, 46, is something of an enigma. Rarely seen in public, his long face is ubiquitous: portraits of the president hang on most government walls, and giant posters of Assad are displayed from downtown buildings.

Shy as a child, he was said to have had no intention of following his father, Hafez, into politics. Instead, he studied medicine in Damascus and London, specializing in ophthalmology. But when Bassel, the heir apparent, was killed in a car crash in 1994, Bashar was called home. In 2000, he inherited the presidency from his father and married Asma al-Akhras, a British-Syrian beauty who had been brought up in the U.K. To many it appeared that Asma modeled herself on Princess Diana and tried to win the hearts of the people through charity work and understated glamour. “She was really loved until this started,” one activist told me. “People admired her greatly.” Rumor in Damascus has it that, at one point during the early days of the uprising, Asma tried to flee the country with her children but was prevented by Assad’s brother, Maher, who commands the Republican Guard.

But gauging the truth is hard. As in neighboring Iraq under Saddam Hussein, or in Libya during the days of Col. Muammar Gaddafi, even ardent supporters of Assad worry about speaking their minds about the dictator for fear of retaliation and torture, and most of the people I meet only speak on the condition that their names not be printed.

The secret police, the Mukhabarat, hover in hotels, restaurants, and cafés. They bug telephones and hack into people’s emails, trying to weed out those who may not sympathize with the regime, clouding everything with suspicion.

One steaming Saturday morning, I drive to Barzeh, one of the hotspots around Damascus, where protests, arrests, and shootings are frequent. It’s also the home of a large military hospital, and on this morning I watch as men silently load the mangled bodies of 50 government soldiers—disfigured and broken by car bombs, explosives, bullets, and shrapnel—into simple wooden coffins. They drape the coffins with Syrian flags and march in procession into a courtyard to the sound of a military marching band. Here, the soldiers’ families and members of the regiment stand in attendance, most of them weeping. It’s an acute reminder of how hard Assad’s forces are getting hit by the opposition, whose guerrilla tactics are proving fatally successful. The hospital director, who refuses to give his name, says around 100 soldiers are killed every week.

On the seventh floor of the hospital, Maj. Firas Jabr lies in a hospital bed, his anxious fiancée standing attentively nearby. His right leg and right arm have been blown off.

At the end of May, the 30-year-old Alawite soldier fought the rebels during a battle in Homs; he says he was ambushed by “foreign fighters,” including men from Lebanon and Yemen. “After I lost my leg and hand, I knew I was wounded, but I kept on shooting until [government forces] came to evacuate me,” says Jabr.

His favorite story, he says, is the story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. “This is Camelot,” he says. “Assad is King Arthur, and I am a knight.” Despite the fact that much of his body is gone, Jabr has a huge smile on his face. Like nearly all the Assad supporters I meet, Jabr says he believes in the Syrian dictator, and he will continue to fight, he says, once he gets his prosthetics. “I have two loves,” he tells me, trying to lift himself up: “My fiancée and Syria.”

It’s a common belief among the elite that the bombs and chaos spreading throughout the country are caused by a “third element”: an influx of foreign fighters with radical Salafist beliefs who want to turn Syria into an oppressive and conservative state. After one car bombing during my stay in Damascus, the paranoia of the regime supporters was suddenly on full view. “Our only friend is Russia!” one well-dressed man shouted, his face contorted with rage, at the site of the bombing that left the smoking skeleton of a car but injured no one. “These are foreigners that are exploding our country! Syria is for Syrians!”

Maria Saadeh, a political novice who was recently elected to Parliament, is among those who doesn’t believe Assad or his cronies are behind any atrocities, despite mounting evidence of regime forces massacring civilians in Houla and destroying the Baba Amr district in Homs. “Do you think our president could put down his own people?” she asks incredulously. “This is the work of foreign fighters. They want to change our culture.”

Educated in France and Syria as a restoration architect, Saadeh lives in Star Square in the old French section of Damascus, in an elegant 1920s building that she helped renovate. Sitting on the roof terrace of her chic apartment—a Filipina maid serving tea and her two children, Perla and Roland, peeking their heads through the windows—she looks like a model in a lifestyle magazine: tall and blonde and successful, a yuppie member of the elite. When I ask her about regime change, she simply says, “Now is not the time.”

One night, over dinner with an affluent family in its villa in Mezzah, which has several terraces and elaborate shrubbery in the garden, the 17-year-old son lays out his firmly pro-Assad views. “Look at what happened in Tunisia, look at what happened in Libya, look at the results of Egypt,” he says. Ahmed, who wears a pink Lacoste shirt and faded jeans and trainers, is about to do his military service; after that, he plans to study political science at a university in the United States. Like his mother, grandmother, aunt, and cousin, he is educated, multilingual, and the holder of two passports. He doesn’t believe that everything Assad does is right, but he is 100 percent behind the government because he believes, like Saadeh, that the time isn’t right for change. And, he says, in any case, change shouldn’t be imposed by other states, some which may not be democratic themselves. “Why should we take democracy lessons from Saudi Arabia, who arms the opposition?” he says, helping himself to hummus. “They don’t even let women drive!”

Outside on the streets of Damascus, there are gas lines and rising inflation, with the price of some imported goods rising almost 60 percent.

The sprawling bazaar of the historic Old City, once teeming with tourists, now rarely gets visits from travelers. The beautiful, old Talisman Hotel is without guests, empty and quiet except for birdcalls and the sound of running water in the fountain.

Still, a certain class of Damascenes lives life untouched by the violence, in beautiful, spacious homes, hosting grand dinner parties underneath glistening crystal chandeliers, seeing friends during the balmy summer evenings on outdoor terraces fragrant with jasmine—too stubborn or too afraid to see their world has irrevocably changed.

“I’m still jogging and swimming every day,” says Wael, a wealthy businessman who’s eager to argue that this isn’t a civil war or a sectarian conflict. He is a Shia but members of his family are Sunni, and his list of friends includes Christians, Armenians, and Alawites, he says. “This is not a war. Our regime is strong. Seventy percent fully support Assad.” His wife, Nadia, who wears a headscarf and goes to the opera as often as she can, says the rebels threaten people—telling them to close their shops and join the protests. If they refuse, “they burn them down,” she says. “This is why I am supporting the government.”

When I ask them if they’re afraid, they deny it. “Not at all,” says Wael. “Last week we had a party of 20 people on our balcony. We were all relaxing and smoking the nargila,” the water pipe. “We heard gun shots in the background—but it seemed a long way off.”

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jackliu

Banned Idiot
Something about this I still not quite understand.

US wants Syrian government to fall, and they are arming the rebels. The rebels composes many Islamist extremist elements, that were not so long ago in Iraq shooting at US soldiers.

The Syria government itself is very secular, they are the ones that have actually holding back the tide of Islamist take over.

Once the Syrian government fall, chances are very good the Islamist will fill in the power vacuum, and their attitude are not exactly compatible with Western value at all. I'm pretty sure they will cause trouble to US interest in the Middle East later on. This is like Bin Laden Mujahideen's war against Soviet all over again, and this is not like something happen to our grandfather's time.

I know US is doing this maybe because of Iran and Israel. But even so this is an extremely short sighted decision to make.

Am I missing something? I am have trouble believe that US government is this idiotic.
 

montyp165

Senior Member
Something about this I still not quite understand.

US wants Syrian government to fall, and they are arming the rebels. The rebels composes many Islamist extremist elements, that were not so long ago in Iraq shooting at US soldiers.

The Syria government itself is very secular, they are the ones that have actually holding back the tide of Islamist take over.

Once the Syrian government fall, chances are very good the Islamist will fill in the power vacuum, and their attitude are not exactly compatible with Western value at all. I'm pretty sure they will cause trouble to US interest in the Middle East later on. This is like Bin Laden Mujahideen's war against Soviet all over again, and this is not like something happen to our grandfather's time.

I know US is doing this maybe because of Iran and Israel. But even so this is an extremely short sighted decision to make.

Am I missing something? I am have trouble believe that US government is this idiotic.

Another repeat like the mujahadeen in Afghanistan when the Soviets were there, the US never learns because it's too short-sighted to look at long term consequences.
 

plawolf

Lieutenant General
Something about this I still not quite understand.

US wants Syrian government to fall, and they are arming the rebels. The rebels composes many Islamist extremist elements, that were not so long ago in Iraq shooting at US soldiers.

The Syria government itself is very secular, they are the ones that have actually holding back the tide of Islamist take over.

Once the Syrian government fall, chances are very good the Islamist will fill in the power vacuum, and their attitude are not exactly compatible with Western value at all. I'm pretty sure they will cause trouble to US interest in the Middle East later on. This is like Bin Laden Mujahideen's war against Soviet all over again, and this is not like something happen to our grandfather's time.

I know US is doing this maybe because of Iran and Israel. But even so this is an extremely short sighted decision to make.

Am I missing something? I am have trouble believe that US government is this idiotic.

Oh, you are far from the only one to notice the striking similarities. I myself have pointed them out before.

I think this is just another example of how western politicians firstly sampled too much of their own product and actually believed all the spin and wishful thinking they themselves put out about how this was another color revolution and how the masses wanted the regime to fall, it's only about democracy and freedoms, yada yada yada and massively underestimating the complexity of the situation; secondly of shortsightedness, whereby the western governments are so obsessed about poking Iran in the ribs that they are not considering the potential dangers they are creating for themselves years down the road; and lastly, it is a mixed of selective amnesia and ignorance/arrogance in either not remembering the origins of the Taliban (I think the CIA has done a good job of redacting that out of America's collective mainstream consciousness) and/or in thinking that somehow things will turn out better because they are at the helm this time.
 

AssassinsMace

Lieutenant General
It's like the Bo scandal in China. The media was reporting that a coup took place like they were relishing a change in government. Bo to what I understand wasn't pro-West and the PLA was backing him resulting in a coup that supposedly took place? So why was the the West jumping for joy that a coup took place in China when it would've been a worse direction from the one they hate China is in now? Because they don't think that deep. They hate the government and in Western black and white thinking, they interpret anyone against the government they don't like are automatically pro-Western. They also drink the Kool-Aid thinking that democracy automatically means pro-West. If China were democratic, by nature it would be anti-Western because this is a finite world and the West will not be looking out for what's best for the Chinese but what's best for themselves. China has a billion people. The West has no idea how to take care of a billion people. They're going to be incapable of covering up how their interests are China's best interests. They're not going to be able to buy off a billion people or pay a dictator to do their dirty work for them when there are a billion angry citizens watching their leaders serving the West's interests above that of the Chinese. If the West tries to interfere or impose in anyway... anti-Western is automatic. They just have to look at their own democracies and see how xenophobia and blaming others is the first thing they do to cover up their own failure in anything or getting rid of the political opposition accusing them of serving other countries' interests first.

And when there were those calls on the internet in China for a Jasmine revolution... now who is arrogant enough to think that just because an anonymous poster on the internet calls for a revolution to happen at a certain time and place, it was going to happen? Maybe someone who thinks anyone revolting against a government the West doesn't like is automatically pro-West? Or maybe they're aren't that insane and vain and just emailed every news agency to say the revolution will take place here at this time so they can witness nothing and then conclude the Chinese government stifled the revolution that was suppose to happen just because someone anonymous on the internet called for it to happen. Remember Hillary said she was inspired by the Arab Spring revolutions and directed the State Department to open social media accounts in foreign countries. Add two and two together.

Now here's something that won't compute with black and white thinkers.

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Chinese company keeps Syria connected to Internet
By PETER SVENSSON | Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — A firm that tracks the pathways of the Internet says a Chinese company is keeping war-torn Syria connected to the Internet as other telecommunications companies withdraw.

The Syrian government ultimately controls Internet connection to the outside world but it's a major route for rebel communications and news from the country as the civil war intensifies.

Hong Kong-based PCCW Ltd. is now carrying most of the Internet traffic to and from Syria, according to Renesys Corp., a Manchester, N.H., company that studies the structure of the Internet.

PCCW has shouldered the load as Turk Telecom, the main phone company in neighboring Turkey, dropped away Aug. 12. It's not clear what killed its connections to Syria, but Turkey has protested the Syria regime's actions. China is one of Syria's few international allies.

Renesys said Tuesday that Telecom Italia of Italy and Deutsche Telekom of Germany also carry some Syrian Internet traffic, but the Italian company's share is declining for unknown reasons.

Turk Telecom and Telecom Italia did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Syria is connected via undersea cables to Cyprus, Lebanon and Egypt, and PCCW is a part-owner of some cables running through the Mediterranean Sea.

Are there going to be calls for China to stop a major means of communication with the outside world for the rebels?
 
Something about this I still not quite understand.

US wants Syrian government to fall, and they are arming the rebels. The rebels composes many Islamist extremist elements, that were not so long ago in Iraq shooting at US soldiers.

The Syria government itself is very secular, they are the ones that have actually holding back the tide of Islamist take over.

Once the Syrian government fall, chances are very good the Islamist will fill in the power vacuum, and their attitude are not exactly compatible with Western value at all. I'm pretty sure they will cause trouble to US interest in the Middle East later on. This is like Bin Laden Mujahideen's war against Soviet all over again, and this is not like something happen to our grandfather's time.

I know US is doing this maybe because of Iran and Israel. But even so this is an extremely short sighted decision to make.

Am I missing something? I am have trouble believe that US government is this idiotic.

The US and other interventionist countries are not idiotic at all. They have calculated that a potentially or even definitely hostile new regime is preferrable IF the target country is significantly set back and/or continuously constrained in terms of development either during the revolution process and/or by the rule of the new regime.

A civil war in a country is a double negative for itself because while it destroys itself at no cost to other countries, at the same time other countries continue to develope and may actually find additional growth opportunities at the expense of the country pre-occupied with civil war.

As technology progresses and infrastructure continues to become more advanced than before it also makes the rebuilding of a country devastated by civil war much more difficult, especially independently, to the point where foreign involvement becomes almost a must. This is yet another opening for exploitation by other countries.

In modern history most Islamist rulers have not been known for boosting social, economic, and/or scientific development of their countries in structural and sustainable ways. In fact, most of them set their countries back. The alternatives to these Islamist rulers have mostly only been a little better, but still better nonetheless.

Therefore having Islamists in power in places like Syria and Libya may actually help the US and other interventionist powers maintain their overall lead in their national development/power versus these countries. Merely a destructive civil war already serves this purpose no matter who wins. An underdeveloped Syria and Libya also makes a more lucrative investment target and an easier takeover target in the future.
 

Kurt

Junior Member
Islamists do fight for their ability to influence the direction of a state. If you let the Islamists rule for some time this will be the best antidote against their most radical streams, because they disgruntle most people who are not that "true" believers - most Muslims. You can pretty well compare this to Cromwell and his Puritan Ironsides. They were an outstanding army, but none wanted their kind of gouvernment to continue after Cromwell's death (the only UK dictator!), so they got a king with concessions as soon as possible.

The "alliance" gains benefits by attracting the international Islamists they breed elsewhere to an interesting and bloody fight while at the same time letting them poison their own victory. The more they fight, the more radical will be the victor's demands and the less likely they will be to remain in control.

It's a very clever strategy and by the way the US budget needs some enemies to fight on moral grounds with their military expenditure.
 

jackliu

Banned Idiot
Islamists do fight for their ability to influence the direction of a state. If you let the Islamists rule for some time this will be the best antidote against their most radical streams, because they disgruntle most people who are not that "true" believers - most Muslims. You can pretty well compare this to Cromwell and his Puritan Ironsides. They were an outstanding army, but none wanted their kind of gouvernment to continue after Cromwell's death (the only UK dictator!), so they got a king with concessions as soon as possible.

The "alliance" gains benefits by attracting the international Islamists they breed elsewhere to an interesting and bloody fight while at the same time letting them poison their own victory. The more they fight, the more radical will be the victor's demands and the less likely they will be to remain in control.

It's a very clever strategy and by the way the US budget needs some enemies to fight on moral grounds with their military expenditure.

This really, this is pretty damn stupid, essentially if US is doing this, they are playing with fire, fire that they cannot hope to control or contain.
 

Bose

New Member
This is a good article from 2003, as it gives an insight on how Syria looked & felt like to Indians and how Indians (& Indian Govt) see Syria. The views have not much changed even after much American pressure. Unfortunately, India does not have a backbone like Russia & China to support the Syrian Govt whole heatedly, so they support Syrian Govt by abstaining during votes. The article is from the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India

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November 17, 2003

Syria rolled out a warm red carpet to welcome Indian leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee in his significant visit to Syria, the first by an Indian Prime Minister in 15 years.

During the visit, the two leaders Premier Vajpayee and President Bashar Al-Assad shared their perceptions on the developments in Iraq. and discussed a number of issues of mutual concern.

The two sides signed wide-ranging agreements on education, biotechnology, industry, culture, agriculture, information technology, science and technology, technical cooperation, and literary activities. These agreements are designed to further enhance bilateral ties, to develop new areas of cooperation, and bring the two countries closer.

Vajpayee's visit affirms India's strong friendship and the historical interaction with Syria that has left its mark on the culture and traditions of the two countries.

In this connection, the Syria Times interviews Mr. Navtej Sarna, Joint Secretary (XP) and Spokesperson at the Ministry of External Affairs.

Sarna highlighted the attention and hospitality they received in Syria, confirming that India has had strong with the Arab world and particularly with Syria.

Concerning the significance of the visit, Sarna and the visit is very important it does show the closeness of cooperation, it does show potentials of cooperation in different areas.

India and Syria, Sarna affirmed, have had historical relations at both political and cultural levels, ad well as a lot of cooperation between the two countries. However, there is much that we can do together and as an evidence is the large number of agreements that we have signed during the visit.

Sarna pointed out that it is the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister after Rajiv Gandhi came here in 1988, noting that President Al- Assad accepted an invitation extended by Mr. Vajpayee to visit India.

Asked that there are fears in the region over New Delhi's increasing military ties with Israel, Sarna said, "There is no fear, I see this only in the press, we have had a very clear and long standing position on the Arab cause.

Indian PM Vajpayee said there is no change in India's position and there is no fear of a change of the position."

We, Sarna explained, have consistently called for a comprehensive and lasting peace based on full implementation of UN Security Council resolutions 242, 338 and 497, and the land for peace principle.

In this regard, Syria has made relentless efforts to work out a lasting solution for the peace process in the Middle East.

However, the peace process should move on, but viloence should not be allowed to go on, because violence brings violence and we are not in favor of that.

In conclusion, Sarna said India in recent years has a lot to offer in terms of economic liberalization, and ability to cooperate very strongly in the fields of economy, human resource development, biotechnology, and IT.

And I believe that we must look at the developments we have made in these areas, where we can work together with other countries including Syria, noting that PM Vajpayee and president al-Assad jointly inaugurated a Center for Biotechnology in the Damascus University established in cooperation with India. In addition, PM Vajpayee has announced a number of other initiatives such as line of credit, grants for multi-purposes institutions.

On the other hand, the Syria Time met. Tarun Vijay, Chief Editor of Panchjanya newspaper. Although his visit was short, Vijay could attain precise details as regards the county, and her people, speaking highly about Syrian women describing them as more dynamic than men. Asking him about his impression about his impression about Syria before coming to the country, Vijay said, "This is my first visit to this country. Syria is an Arab Muslim country, hence, I thought it must be a very conservative country, but when I came here I realized that I was totally wrong, all my perceptions were proved wrong,"

Women, Vijay went on to say, are treated equally in Syria, and in some ways they seem to be more dynamic than men.

"People are very warm and friendly to Indians, they have a special feeling for us which is cultural and civilizationl," Vijay affirmed.

I was also impressed by the way family values are respected here, It is essentially an oriental value and the secular rule of President Bashar Al-Assad is a significant contribution of Syria to the Arab world.

Regarding the places he visited, Vijay said, " I visited many places in Syria and I found some of them even more modern and progressive than many of our Indian cities.

We went to the Umayyad Mosque although we are Hindus, But we were welcomed honorably in the Mosque. We saw all areas of the Mosque. We saw all areas of the Mosque where prayers are performed, and I bowed my head in reverence, because to me God is one."

We, Vijay added, also went to Maaloula and visited Saint Takla Church. We found that Muslims and Christians are living happily in Syria and this is a very happy outcome of a great civilization that treats every one equally. However, I am deeply overwhelmed with modern liberal and futuristic outlook of Syrian people especially the young generation. They are full of confidence and are looking for opportunities to learn more and move ahead.

There is a spark in the eyes and fortunately your President is also very young.

I believe that young people from Syria should visit India. I'll be very happy that President Al-Assad who has accepted our Prime Minister Vajpayee's invitation to visit India, will be accompanied by a delegation that comprises young people working in the fields of culture, art, music as well as academics.

I also feel a great need for Syrian journalists to visit India and I will suggest to my Prime Minister to start program of youth exchange.

I took more than 200 pictures of Damascus, places, monuments and Syrian people, they were very happy although I was afraid that they would refuse.

"Syrians are very cultured, sophisticated and graceful. When I go back home, I will write my memories in Panchjanya newspaper. I pray that through Syria’s true efforts peace will be established in the Middle East and Indo- Syrian relations will grow stronger”, Vijay concluded.
 
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