De Mistura between Lavrov, Al-Jubeir, and Guterres

Written by Nasser Kandil,

Since his assuming the mission of the UN Envoy in Syria Steffan De Mistura was a mediator in promoting the sectarian formula to reorganize the state in Syria by the force of the war waged by the alliance extends from Washington to Al-Qaeda organization including Turkey, France, Saudi Arabia, and Israel, but he determined to make Syria surrounded by a region that feels hostility toward it starting from Al-Qaeda organization represented by Al Nusra front towards which he was keen on creating formulas to improve its position as money laundering returning from the sale of drugs, and the Saudi Israeli bilateral with which he has relations starting from the money and ending with the intelligence work with Israel, since he was an envoy in Lebanon sponsoring the hostility toward the resistance. De Mistura is the owner of the theory of the inspiring Lebanese example for the political solution in Syria in a call for a settlement that ensures the presidency of the President Bashar Al-Assad but by making the presidential position for his sect without powers and making the position of the Prime Minister belong to a sect that is controlled by Saudi Arabia with powers that drive Syria to a path similar to the path of Lebanon after Taif Agreement but without an  auspices as provided by Syria to Lebanon.

The balances of the ruling powers of the first stages of De Mistura’s mission were providing his project the prosperity, so it was an opportunity to reveal his cards which were no longer hidden for each one who dealt with the issue entitled the political solution in Syria, and because Moscow before its military involvement in Syria was dealing with the political endeavors and preventing the employment of  the decision of the war in the philosophy of politics, it was witnessing De Mistura’s plots and clashing with them, towards the stages when the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov who was concerned in following up the political issue of Syria was forced to talk about De Mistura in a language that beholds him the responsibilities of supporting the terrorism and the postponement in doing what is needed, being away from accomplishing his duties and mobilizing his position as a UN envoy unfairly. Many times De Mistura has disabled Russian initiatives as the attempt of expanding the delegation of the opposition, or neglecting the talk about a ruling transitional body in order to go to a political ceiling for a solution that stems from the Syrian constitution and includes its modification and holding the elections on its basis. Lavrov does not forget the interferences of De Mistura in the Security Council in which he did not hesitate to accuse Russia of committing war crimes. Syria as well cannot forget all the collisions with De Mistura and his malignant behavior, as well as his conspiracies in the essence and in the details.

The coincidence between the victory of the Syrian army supported by its allies in Aleppo and the election of Antonio Guterres as a new Secretary-General of the United Nations has formed a change in the destination of the surrounding circumstances with the work of De Mistura whose his task will end in Spring unless renewed by Guterres. The information says that the understanding which enabled Guterres to occupy the position includes an agreement with Russia to exempt De Mistura from his tasks and nominating an alternative that is agreed upon with Moscow. In the beginning of the year, De Mistura has been notified by the Secretary- General the ending of his tasks in spring, so he assumed to coordinate with Russia and through the withdrawal of the veto on the continuation of his tasks. It seems that this has happened with the positions which expressed by De Mistura recently, that includes the formation of a delegation that gathers the formations of the opposition by consensus or by force, and a political ceiling that includes the government, constitution and elections. The campaign organized by the opposition that lives in Riyadh against him was just the echo of the Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir to restore the changeable UN envoy, while the interference of the Secretary-General of the United Nations to support him was just the echo of the understanding between Gutterres and Lavrov.

Once again after the victory of Aleppo and Astana Path the role of the UN envoy in the United Nations has moved to be under the test, to see his concordance with the variables, will De Mistura succeed or fail?

Translated By Lina Shehadeh,