Syrian opposition forces’ days are numbered: Pundit

Press TV has interviewed Derek Ford, a scholar and professor in Philadelphia, about the United Nations and the European Union stressing the urgency of a political solution in Syria in the wake of Tuesday’s terrorist attacks in the Belgian capital city of Brussels.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: How do you feel about the UN and EU working now towards finally a political solution in Syria?

Ford: I think it is about time. I think the Russian intervention in Syria which began in late October of last year irreversibly turned the tide in favor of the sovereign government of Syria and the forces aligned with the Syrian Arab army forces that by the way I think it is important to mention, remained widely popular within Syria and I think that it is becoming more and more clear that the sort of ridiculous demands by Saudi Arabia and Qatar and the opposition forces which are allied with basically al-Qaeda and Daesh, that their days are numbered in the region and I think that with the Brussels attacks we see again that the West has to do something about this monster that it has unleashed in the Middle East.

Press TV: And so when we go forward because they are coming to this game of political solution so late, how should we expect or talk about any possible success? Will there be success quickly? Will this take a very long time?

Ford: I think that it will certainly take a long time and there are a lot of details to be hammered out. Fortunately it seems as though the United States is no longer committed to the idea that Assad has to go and has to go immediately. You know, the question will be what political form Syria will take after this conflict in order to resolve this conflict and will Syria remain a united, unitary, cohesive, strong, secular state as it has been and as it absolutely should be? Will there be attempts to federalize Syria and thereby weaken Syria and disperse power?

So there is a lot to be determined but I think the fact that a political solution is now becoming pressed by the United Nations, by the European Union, will certainly get impetus for those forces that have been dragging out this conflict for years to finally saddle up and begin to get some work done with Iran, with Russia and with Syria.  

Press TV: And just finally, where you are sitting in the US, do you think that the government there will play ball?

Ford: I think that is a tricky question. I think that there are a lot of divisions within the United States government over precisely what to do. I will say, I believe the Obama administration has somewhat consistently been …, well I should say Obama himself has been somewhat of a restraining force against an all-out intervention in Syria which Secretary of State John Kerry was pushing for, for a long time. I say that the people of the United States certainly hope so.  

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