AFP, Washington, 2 Dec 2011 – A Syria run by the country’s main opposition group would cut military ties to Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas, the group’s leader told the Wall Street Journal in an article published Friday.
This would remove a crucial Iranian military ally believed to play a key role in supplying arms to Hezbollah in Lebanon and backing the Palestinian Hamas, potentially leading to a dramatic reordering of regional power.
The interview with Burhan Ghalioun, president of the Syrian National Council, came eight months into an increasingly violent uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, with rebels seeking international support.
‘There will be no special relationship with Iran,’ Ghalioun, a 66-year-old university professor, told the Journal in an interview at his home in Paris.
‘Breaking the exceptional relationship means breaking the strategic, military alliance,’ he said, adding that ‘after the fall of the Syrian regime, (Hezbollah) won’t be the same.’
He also called for more robust international support for the rebels, including the possible establishment of a no-fly zone.
‘Our main objective is finding mechanisms to protect civilians and stop the killing machine,’ Ghalioun said.
‘We say it is imperative to use forceful measures to force the regime to respect human rights.’
It’s far from clear whether the rebels will topple the 40-year-old Assad regime established by Bashar’s father Hafez, but a reorientation of Syria away from Iran and towards the West would have major implications across the region.
Ghalioun said an opposition-run Syria would be committed to recovering the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau captured by Israel in the 1967 war, but would pursue its return through negotiations rather than armed conflict.
He also said it would work to normalize relations with neighboring Lebanon after decades of tense relations.
Last week Hezbollah, a powerful armed Shiite movement in Lebanon, reaffirmed its support for both Tehran and Damascus, calling the Syrian uprising an ‘international conspiracy.’
Iran has expressed some criticism of Syria’s violent crackdown on protesters, but has also accused the United States and Israel of stirring up trouble there and opposed last month’s Arab League’s suspension of Syria.