Debate on Syria: Chemical Weapons, Foreign Intervention, Regime Change and More…

by Sharmine Narwani

How is the rhetoric of the West affecting the conflict in Syria? Is it an information war and if it is an endgame for Bashar al-Assad, what will replace his regime?

Free Syrian Army fighters sit in a house on the outskirts of Aleppo, Syria, Tuesday, June 12. (world.time.com)

by Sharmine Narwani

I haven’t posted any of my Syria media interviews on this blog – I figure most readers have heard these views from me in some form or other over the past eight months. It is worthwhile though to hear them in context of a broader discussion on Syria that includes other participants, with varying points of view.

Participants in the Voice of Russia (UK) radio discussion on Syria included:
VOR’s Brendan Cole, Guardian columnist, foreign correspondent and author Jonathan Steele; Associate fellow of the Middle East and North Africa programme for Chatham House, London, Nadim Shehadi; head of the St Petersburg Centre for Modern Middle East studies, Gumer Isaev and — myself.

The discussion was broad, but focused largely on recent events inside the country: armed clashes in the major cities, Syria’s chemical weapons cache, foreign intervention, the militarization of the conflict, use of information warfare to create perceptions, regime change and even whether Syrian President Bashar al-Assad still enjoys popularity.

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