Syrians have welcomed international intervention but they do not want foreign forces to set foot on their war-torn country, according to those in Malta.
“The question with the proposed military intervention remains: what and who are they going to attack? Our fear is that these attacks will kill more people – both those opposing Assad and those fighting for him,” Torki Al Solaiman, a former pilot with the Syrian Army, told Times of Malta.
“What they should do is implement an embargo on planes leaving the country: set a no-fly zone for military aircraft, and leave the rest in the Syrians’ hands. They should not set foot on Syria.”
Mr Solaiman settled in Malta in the 1990s but has been visiting his relatives in a village near Idlib in the past months.
When he visited his family three months ago he realised the war was having devastating effects on people’s mental health, as they saw their neighbours and friends dying around them every day.
“The biggest fear is that Assad repeats the chemical weapons attack. He wiped out hundreds of people in a few minutes,” he said, adding that people were scared that terrorism was on the increase, with al-Qaeda tarnishing Islam’s image.
“We do need help, but the problem is that there are foreign powers, including Iranian, Russian and Saudi Arabia, recruiting Syrians to fight against Assad or the opposition. So Syrians are fighting between themselves and the country is being destroyed,” he noted.
Mr Solaiman suggested providing the opposition with weapons so that they could attack Damascus.
“If Damascus falls, Assad falls. But if they keep fighting as they are, the war will take some 10 more years.”
It is calculated the war in Syria started on March 15, 2011, with simultaneous demonstrations in major cities and Damascus seeing its biggest uprising since the 1980s.
Two years and five months on, the civil war is not showing any signs of abating. According to a UN estimate, more than 100,000 people have been killed since the uprising.
Opposition forces were always concerned the government would use chemical weapons as a last resort to retain power.
On Monday, a French intelligence report claimed the attack launched by Assad forces on Damascus suburbs held by the opposition included “the massive use of chemical weapons”.
Syrians are fighting between themselves and the country is being destroyed
This followed similar documents from British and American intelligence.
Next week the US Congress will decide whether America should take military action against Syrian government targets.
However, President Barack Obama seems to have failed to convince most Americans that it should launch a strike against Syria in response to the suspected chemical weapons attack that reportedly killed more than 1,400 people on August 21.
Zakaria Al Khatib, who also lives in Malta, has been away from Syria for the past seven years as he had always voiced concern about the Assad regime and feared for his life.
Two of Mr Khatib’s nephews disappeared after soldiers arrested them months ago.
He keeps in touch with relatives in Rakka, a village close to Turkey, which has seen its population grow from a few hundred thousand people to millions of refugees.
His mother and siblings have opened their houses to families of refugees who have fled cities where fighting is taking place.
“If international forces attack Syria, I hope they attack Assad’s stores of weapons, and not civilian areas,” he said.
“We have been waiting for help for more than two years, and the alarm was raised when the use of chemical weapons killed 1,400. But it was not the first time that chemical weapons were used, to a lesser degree.
“We do not think international forces should set foot on Syria, because if they do, the country will be destroyed and more blood will be shed. We fear thousands more deaths if they set foot in the country, so we have to wait and see, hoping we don’t get into another war.”