US Pressure Brings Bashar and Muslim Brothers Closer

Islam Online- News Section Salwa Astawani writes May 23

The Syrian leadership and leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood abroad are engaged in serious talks to bridge the gaps and turn a new leaf, the head of Syria’s Islamic Studies Center said on Saturday, May 22.

Mohammad Habash, a legislator for the Islamic current, told IslamOnline.net the current talks are setting stage for the return of broader reconciliation between both sides.

"Syria has recently made unmistakable signs, which indicated that Damascus wants to build bridges of trust with the Islamic current," he said. Group leaders like Fathi Yakin, Kamel Sherif and Hamza Mansour have also taken part in a conference on the modernization of the religious discourse in Damascus, the lawmaker added.

"They got to know that Damascus has no problem with the Muslim Brotherhood as a religious group but it adopts a zero-tolerance with any armed opposition groups," Habash said. Hamash, who is the trusted middleman between the Muslim Brotherhood and the Syrian authorities, said the good offices demonstrated a rapprochement between what he called the national and Islamic powers. "Undoubtedly, the awkward U.S. policies [in the region] have made both camps feel targeted," he added.

"I think the Islamic public opinion believes that Syria wants to make peace with the Muslim Brotherhood to stand up to the U.S. scheme for the region. It is logical now that both sides would eventually integrate."

If misguided US policies can stimulate an accord between Bashar and leaders of the "Islamic current," it will have done some good, even if unintended. Following the brutal suppression of the Hama uprising in 1982, the party splintered and its leadership fell into complete disarray. For the origins of MB factionalism see the excellent 1983 article by Chris-Kutscher. Also see his 1988 "SYRIA : Wither the Syrian Muslim Brothers?" One should not attribute this rapprochement only to US pressure, however. Bashar has been reaching out to "loyal" opposition parties since he came to power. Despite his crackdown on the "civil society" groups following his over-zealous Damascus Spring, he continued to cultivate relations with the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (PPS) and released most imprisoned Communists and remaining Jadidists. At the same time the wings of the Ba'th Party have been clipped, although the present cabinet has as many Ba'thi members as ever.

Most knowledgeable Syrianists have speculated that if regime change occurs in Syria, the Muslim Brothers would likely be the beneficiaries and perhaps even come to power. Although such a probability should dissuade neocons from squeezing Asad's regime too hard, they are oblivious to reality. When they first proposed the Syrian Accountability Act everyone looked to the exiled MB leaders to see if they would come out for or against it. Jazeera brought a number on TV and all denounced the US and called for a unification of ranks among Syrians and a dialogue with Bashar. Perhaps that is what we are seeing.