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Expert: U.S. wants Bashar Assad regime to fall

Politics Materials 19 April 2011 20:32 (UTC +04:00)
The United States wants the fall of the regime of Bashar Assad as his policy aims at rapprochement with Iran, which, in turn, destabilizes the situation in the Middle East, said Hula Dunya, Syrian expert on the Middle East.

Azerbaijan, Baku, April 19 /Trend, A.Tagiyeva/

The United States wants the fall of the regime of Bashar Assad as his policy aims at rapprochement with Iran, which, in turn, destabilizes the situation in the Middle East, said Hula Dunya, Syrian expert on the Middle East.
"The U.S. backs downfall of the current regime of Syria. Under this, the U.S. Government acts in accordance with its own interests," Dunya told Trend by telephone from Damascus.
The expert believes that Syria plays an important role in the political processes occurring in the Middle East and has a very important strategic location that could have promoted to realization of some of U.S.'s political goals in the region.
However, Syria's current foreign policy, which aims at rapprochement with Iran, destabilizes the situation in the Middle East and counters the interests of the United States, said Dunya.
The U.S. Department of State had been transferring millions of dollars to opponents of the Syrian regime, Arabic news agencies reported yesterday. The financing is likely to have lasted several years until at least September 2010.

There are mentioned two opposition structures, which have received the U.S. money. Both structures are London-based. They are the Movement for Justice and Development and it-related satellite television channel Barada TV that broadcasts over Syria. Using these organizations, Syrians in exile conduct political struggle with the current authorities at their native land. It is to conclude from news reports that the US Department of State transferred money to them through Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization under the name of Democracy Council (a total of $6.3 million was transferred). These payments were registered through the State Department's Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI).
The US, which wants the current Syrian regime to fall, does not interfere with the country's internal affairs openly but acts indirectly through backing the opposition, according to Dunya.

"The US Government wants President Asad to step down as it realizes that it will become much easier to get stabilization in the region following his ouster," she said.
New anti-government rallies were held in Syria on April 18 night. Around 10,000 people marched the streets of the port city of Latakiya. The action followed the funeral of a protester killed on April 16. The demonstrators demanded releasing political prisoners and informing about the destiny of people, who had been missed in the 1980s.
Meanwhile, Syrian President Bashar Assad, in a televised address to the nation, said the new government would lift emergency laws within a week. The emergency laws have been in effect in Syria for 48 years and authorize Syrian authorities and security forces with almost unlimited powers. Assad voiced his confidence that no one in the country will find a cause to stage protest action after the emergency laws are lifted. Those who will continue protest actions will become accomplices of foreign elements interested in destabilization of the situation in the country, said Assad.

Anti-government unrest has been in Syria since the middle of March. The disorders were triggered by that local police arrested youngsters who were writing slogans calling for freedom on the walls. The protesters call for overall democratization, weakening of state control of life of citizens, and improvement of living standards. Noteworthy is that 30 civilians were killed in Syria since the unrest began.

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