“Syrian Revolution & the Challenges of the Transitional Period”

Ammar Abdulhamid of the Tharwa Foundation suggests, “What Syria needs today in order to fulfill the goals that the revolutionaries have set … is a comprehensive revolution that will have to include restructuring the state and its institutions.” He asserts that the Syrian opposition must “simultaneously work on several parallel tracks” including nonviolent resistance, militarized resistance, and strategic planning, none of which can be neglected “no matter how conflicting they may seem at times.”

Abdulhamid contends that political and military leaders need to address several issues, such as acceptance by military leaders of the supremacy of political decisions, agreement by military officials to abide by rules of engagement specified by international norms, and a promise for the military to dissolve itself once a democratic government is realized, among others. Furthermore, the author asserts that Syrian opposition groups have “failed to offer a clear and detailed vision for the future of Syria [and] … no group has so far attempted to tackle the devils the lies [sic] in the details.”

He adds several suggestions for the future of the Syrian opposition, including “proposing specific constitutional clauses and articles regarding the national and sectarian question in Syria [as well as] … adopting clear stances in the constitution regarding the nature of the state and the role of religion and national belonging in it.”