President Bashar al-Assad’s speech yesterday came to complete and explain what he said in his previous speeches. He thus used the same descriptions, analyses and policies, which means that the official handling of the Syrian crisis ever since its eruption more than ten months ago is right on the mark – in the authorities’ opinion – without any need to change it or introduce any new initiative. Once again, the Syrian president summarized the core of this handling by stressing that “the utmost priority is now to reinstate the security that characterized us for decades on the international level, and this can only be achieved by striking the terrorists, the murders and those carrying the sinful weapons with an iron fist.”

In other words, all that happened since the eruption of the crisis in terms of peaceful demonstrations, killings, the formation of opposition committees raising specific demands, foreign regional and international initiatives and Arab and international sanctions - and especially the Syrian signing of the Arab League initiative and its political and field content - did not affect the Syrian official reading into the protest action and the ways to peacefully elude the crisis.

As for the referendum over a new constitution and the formation of a national government including independent figures, they do not exit that same context, as long as “the utmost priority is security,” i.e. the undermining of the protests and their striking with “an iron fist.” This is due to the fact that the authorities still perceive the action as being one carried out by “terrorists and murders,” backing up their assessment with the president’s talk about revolutions, the revolutionaries and their characteristics in a way conveying what he wishes the “parish” would be like, not the citizens who have demands.

This speech emerged at a time when Syria’s circle of friends is tightening, while even the allies have started to complain about the lack of official initiatives in light of the exhaustion of the armed elements deployed throughout the country and the increase of the criticisms accusing them of using pure force in the face of the demonstrators. In that same context, the wide circle within the military and administrative institutions has started to ask questions about the security handling of the situation and the way the state affairs are managed, in parallel to a mounting military and administrative dissent. The speech was also delivered at a time when the Arab observers’ mission seems to be heading toward the exposure of additional information about the oppressive practices of the Syrian killing machine and its non-commitment to the withdrawal of the armed forces from the street, the release of the detainees and the permission of the peaceful demonstrations and the entry of the Arab and international press.

All these circumstances are increasing the frailty of the official Syrian stand in the face of the widening domestic, regional and international front calling on Damascus to adopt serious initiatives that would put an end to the slide toward wide-scale domestic war, and maybe even regional clashes, with what this carries in terms of threats not only affecting the sovereignty of the states of the region, but also their social fabric and coexistence between their components.

If this is the case, why would President Al-Assad reiterate his previous speeches, while further explaining the importance of the security solution and internal mobilization?

It is likely that the Syrian president wanted to address his supporters solely, as he does not care about the positions of the others, which he has repeatedly confirmed in his speech. Indeed, he focused on the strengthening of the domestic front the way he perceives it, i.e. one that features a group of supporters and loyalists who are directly linked to the regime among military men, administrative employees, thugs and beneficiaries. He also confirmed the purpose of his speech when he addressed the latter by saying: “I do not think that any sane person can deny these plans which moved the acts of sabotage and terrorism to another level of criminality targeting the minds, competencies and institutions, in order to spread a state of chaos and affect our morale.” In other words, the supporters should not be alarmed by the continuation of the protests and their political repercussions, and must maintain their morale, because the policy of “the utmost priority is security” is the one that will prevail as it was heralded by the Syrian president in his speech.