(MENAFN – Jordan Times) The new UN and Arab League envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, was reluctant from the outset to accept the mission of a peace mediator in this country.

The mission seems impossible after one-year-and-a-half of heavy fighting that destroyed a large part of Syria, killed more than 50,000 Syrians, and turned the country into a battlefield open to all kinds of interference and struggles, be they internal, regional or international.

The first encounter, Brahimi had was with President Bashar Assad. He tried to convey to him the fact that the president and the regime live an illusion that everything in Syria is normal except for the outside interference and the military groups financed and equipped by some Arab and foreign countries.

The regime believes Syria faces an outside conspiracy, not a public revolution.

The public demand for freedom, reform, transition of power seems to be irrelevant to the president who believes the crisis will end when the outside support to militant groups ceases.

The cruel, bloody measures taken by the regime, the collective punishment, the destruction and displacement of people from many towns and villages seem irrelevant. The regime lacks any sense of responsibility towards the public.

The blind bombardment of civilian areas was not meant to kill the militant groups, but to deter their families and to prevent civilians from providing aid, even medical aid. to the revolutionary groups.

Brahimi’s meetings with the opposition groups in Syria and outside was futile. The regime considers them traitors and outlaws, part of the foreign conspiracy, not national opposition groups.

Egypt tried to form a committee, including representatives from Iran, Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, assuming that Iran could be part of the solution, but all these parties are in one way or another part of the crisis, especially Iran, which considers Syria a major base for its political and sectarian influence in the Arab world.

Lately Iran has been providing huge military support – weapons and military advisers and personnel – to Syria, and Iran’s allies in Iraq sent fighters from Al Mahdi Army to Syria to fight beside the regime. Hizbollah, Iran’s ally in Lebanon also helped.

On the other hand, many Sunni, Salafist and Jihadist military groups joined the revolutionary groups in Syria, as well as militant groups representing the Muslim Brotherhood.

Jihadist militant groups are increasing gradually in Syria. This will compound the crisis and threaten not only Syria but also the surrounding countries.

Individuals and small Jihadist groups from Arab and Muslim countries regularly cross the Syrian border to join the fight.

The military solution adopted by the Syrian regime from the beginning of the revolution closed the door to any possible mediation or political solution and brought all kinds of dangers to Syria. It solved nothing and, to make the situation worse, the regime has no alternative except more violence, killing and destruction, betting on time and the possibility of crushing the revolution by force, which is unrealistic.

We in Jordan should expect and consider a new source of threat building near our border. Jihadist groups usually return to their original countries or surrounding countries, becoming a challenge and a source of violence.

Recently, the Jordanian army encountered a Salafist group while trying to cross the border into Syria.

The Syrian crisis is wide open to new, dangerous developments that threaten neighbouring countries as well.

The refugee problem is a human and financial burden forecast to last a long time, but the unpredictable, uncontrolled militant Jihadist groups might become a security problem to our country, adding a new source of threat to our scene very soon.

The writer is former minister of information and media expert. He contributed this article to The Jordan Times.

http://www.menafn.com/menafn/1093562461/New-threat-coming-from-Syria?src=MOEN