Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: “It’s your time, Doctor,” read a graffiti in Daraa, South Syria, when a 14-year-old teenager scribbled it on a wall in 2011, warning Dr. Bashar al-Assad, a practicing ophthalmologist in London before he inherited the Ba’athist throne from his notorious father Hafez al-Assad in July 2002 and established a brutal, authoritarian state dominated by a Shia subsect, the Alawites, supported by Iran, in a Sunni majority country.
Reacting to the fall of Assad on Sunday, outgoing US President Joe Biden said the Alawite regime brutalized, tortured, and killed thousands of innocent Syrians over the past half a century.
Biden spoke at the White House hours after rebel Sunni groups captured Syria after a 13-year-long violent civil war and decades of leadership by Bashar Assad and his family. The fall of the regime is a fundamental act of justice. It’s a moment of historic opportunity for the long-suffering people of Syria to build a better future for their proud country, he said, according to media reports.
It is also a moment of risk and uncertainty, he said, adding that over the past few weeks, the support of Hezbollah, Iran, and Russia to the Assad regime had collapsed.
The Syrian opposition that brought down Assad is led by a Sunni outfit Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which, the US says, is a terrorist organization with links to al-Qaida. However, the group claimed it has broken ties with al-Qaida.
Biden said the US will support Syria’s neighbors, including Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, and Israel, should any threat arise from Syria during this period of transition.
The US will also help ensure stability in eastern Syria, protecting its personnel against any threats, and its mission against ISIS will be maintained, including the security of detention facilities, where ISIS fighters are being held as prisoners. “We’re clear-eyed about the fact that ISIS will try to take advantage of any vacuum to reestablish its capabilities and create a haven. We will not let that happen,” he said.
A day before, however, US President-elect Donald Trump ruled out any role for the US in Syria. “In any event, Syria is a mess, but is not our friend and THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT. LET IT PLAY OUT. DO NOT GET INVOLVED!” he wrote on Truth Social.
US Secretary of State Tony Blinken said the US would closely monitor the unfolding developments and engage with its partners in the region. “We will support international efforts to hold the Assad regime and its backers accountable for atrocities and abuses perpetrated against the Syrian people, including the use of chemical weapons and the unjust detention of civilians such as Austin Tice,” he said.
Blinken said the US strongly supports a peaceful transition of power to an accountable Syrian government through an inclusive Syrian-led process. During this transitional period, the Syrian people have every right to demand the preservation of state institutions, the resumption of key services, and the protection of vulnerable communities, he said.
Defence Secretary Lloyd J. Austin, in a telephonic conversation, with Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler over developments in Syria emphasized the US is closely watching the statements and actions of the various opposition groups in Syria. They agreed that these anti-Assad groups must take steps to protect civilians, including ethnic and religious minorities, and abide by international humanitarian norms.
But the teenager’s forecast has now taken the Middle East by storm. Mouawiya Syesneh’s famous graffiti sparked a nationwide uprising against Assad’s government in 2011, which led to his ouster on Sunday, forcing him to take asylum in Russia.
A nationwide revolt that turned into one of the most catastrophic civil wars of the 21st century was sparked by the graffiti “Ejak el door, ya doctor” (It’s your time, Doctor).
The graffiti was an act of frustration committed by a teenager. Police arrested the teenager and his friends. Mukhabarat, the secret police, kept them captive for 26 days, allegedly tortured and abused them, and their final release only made the people of Daraa angrier.
Images of the beaten lads went viral, and the incident became a focal point. Protests erupted not just in Daraa but across Syria. On March 15, 2011, Syria saw its first organized “Day of Rage,” turning regional disturbances into a national movement calling for independence and the overthrow of Assad’s government.