Take Assad down

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad may have won the battle over the Baba Amr neighborhood in Homs over the weekend, but he is far from winning the war for his survival. General Maher Assad did indeed grant his brother the key to the city, but it is so bloodstained that even China has now joined the international chorus calling on the Syrian regime to stop the violence and enter into a dialogue with the dissenters.

The manner in which Assad’s regime won in Homs only serves to bring his demise closer, but only if the world stops condemning and starts acting. Without outside intervention (as was the case in Libya) Assad, who balks at nothing, may yet survive.

Today, as opposed to the massacre in Hama 20 years ago, the world cannot say, “We didn’t know.” In a recent interview with the Atlantic Monthly, U.S. President Barack Obama said, “It’s a matter not of if, but when” Assad will fall. From Obama’s point of view, Assad’s “days are numbered.” Hafez al-Assad, Bashar’s father, never paid the price for his massacre in Hama. Assad the son, by contrast, must pay for Homs. Otherwise, what has really changed in our world-

The world cannot allow Assad to remain in power. That would convey a message that violence pays off. In June 2009, the ayatollahs brutally suppressed demonstrations on the Iranian street and got away with it. Assad has apparently taken the lesson of Iran to heart. But let us keep in mind that Tunisia’s Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak were abandoned by their armies and soon ousted.

Jerusalem finds itself in a very delicate situation in this context: Morally, it is committed to strongly condemning the massacre and offering help, but it would be extremely naive to think that those who seek to overthrow Assad today will seek neighborly relations with Israel tomorrow. Still, the images and testimonies coming out of Homs obligate Israel to offer help, even if it is indirect or discreet.

Over the weekend, numerous media outlets released the most up-to-date statistics on victims of the civil war in Syria: at least 7,500 people dead, including hundreds of children, more than 35,000 people wounded, 65,000 people missing and 212,000 arrested. This has not stopped Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin from continuing to support the Syrian regime. On Saturday, the Russian presidential candidate, on the campaign trail, called on the West to stop supporting the Syrian opposition. Let’s just hope that like China, Moscow begins changing its tune. Otherwise, what has really changed in our world-

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