The Hezbollah chief’s comments were indeed noteworthy, but
for an entirely different reason. His objective was to steer Western
policy toward his camp. Following a well-established pattern, Hezbollah,
Iran and the Assad regime are openly seeking to cash in on the attacks
in France.
Nasrallah’s remarks did not come in a vacuum. They are
part of a systematic propaganda campaign orchestrated by Iran and Assad,
pushing a united line: We told you so.
We warned you that the real problem is the Sunni jihadists
to which the Iranian camp, by contrast, is the solution. The Iranian
camp's media didn’t waste time in driving home this message. The day
following the Charlie Hebdo attacks, newspapers in Tehran explained that
Paris was getting what it deserved for backing the uprising against
Assad. Then came “The Ask:” Europe and the US need to “review as quickly
as possible” their policy in the region, meaning in Syria. They must
revise their position toward Bashar al-Assad and renew security
coordination with him.
Pro-Iranian and pro-Syrian Lebanese media were even more
specific. On the same night as the shootings, the evening news editorial
of the pro-Assad NBN TV laid out the request explicitly: “practical military and intelligence cooperation with regional armies, with Syria at the forefront.”
This talking point came straight from Damascus. Both Assad and his foreign minister reiterated this week the need for the West to renew intelligence cooperation with the regime.
Over the decades, when the Assad regime has come under
pressure from the West it has typically used intel sharing as a
mechanism to break out of the isolation. Last year, when the threat from
the Islamic State (ISIS) began to strike fear in the US and Europe,
Damascus saw its chance.
Regime officials began making boastful claims about
how helpful Syria could be to European security agencies, which they
claimed were lining up to talk to Assad again about foreign fighters in
Syria. Indeed, a number of European agencies had reached out
to Damascus in late 2013-early 2014. The Germans led the way. Berlin
has even maintained open channels to Tehran and Hezbollah. The Spaniards
were also very open about resumed contacts with the Syrians. But
clearly cooperation with other powers, the US in particular, is not all
that Assad and his patrons in Tehran would like it to be.
The French made tentative contacts in the spring of 2014.
Bernard Squarcini, former head of the Directorate-General for Internal
Security (DGSI), who has publicly criticized France’s Syria policy and who just came out in
favor of resuming communication with the Syrians, was approached to
facilitate renewed dialogue between Paris and Damascus. The Syrians, of
course, demanded a political price. They expected the French to reopen
their embassy in Damascus, and President Francois Hollande and Foreign
Minister Laurent Fabius to stop public criticism of the regime.