After more than a year of bloodshed in Syria, with two fleeing families among the most recent reported deaths, opponents of the Bashar Al-Assad regime in Australia say they remain confident he will be deposed.
In a reaffirmation of their support, Syrian opposition supporters in Australia are preparing to petition the Gillard Government's new Foreign Minister, Senator Bob Carr, and are preparing a medical mission to support local doctors.
However, representatives of Syria's vulnerable Christian minorities remain opposed to the revolt, saying their communities and the nation-at-large will not benefit from the toppling of President Assad.
A spokesman for opposition group The Australian Syrian Association, Mohammed Al Hamwi, told SBS “we have a belief this regime will fall”.
“If we can help Syrians inside the country in any way that is what we can offer as Syrians living in Sydney” he said.
“We will fight to avenge the blood of the martyrs, for our freedom. Assad's men will be tried and he will end up being a deposed president for the murder of families and children.”
Last night, the opposition movement gathered in a hall in Lakemba in Sydney's south-western suburbs to meet with Australian doctors who will be volunteering their services in tending to the wounded in Syria.
The fact-gathering trip will ascertain what medical training needs to be provided to doctors in cities such as Homs and Deraa and the possibility of dispatching more specialised medical equipment and supplies.
Russia and China, which have blocked two resolutions on Syria, this week backed a western-drafted statement that called on President Bashar al-Assad to work toward a cessation of hostilities and a democratic transition.
The revolt began as peaceful demonstrations on March 15 2011 and has since escalated into full-scale conflict, with many defectors from the Syrian military joining the Free Syrian Army.
The violence has made the head of Australia's Syrian Orthodox Church, Archbishop Malki Malki, fearful for Christian minorities.
He told SBS his community had to support the Assad government, because it “had no other choice”.
“We are caught in the middle as a minority and not just us but also Alawis for example”.
“If I sat down with the opposition representatives, I would illuminate to them a few points of how to run a government.
“I mean they obliterated the Syrian economy now? Who is benefiting from this revolution?”
“We would like this conflict to end as soon as possible”.
Armenians are another vulnerable minority group in Syria – last week, an Armenian was killed in a bomb blast in between clashes between rebels and the government army in Aleppo.
Sydney-based Archbishop Aghan Baliozian of the Armenian Orthodox Church in Australia, who was born in Aleppo, said the community was regularly targeted by opposition forces for its neutrality or support of the government.
“In terms of our church's position, we do not want to interfere in these political issues, suffice to say that whoever comes after Assad does not automatically mean they will be more democratic”.
Both sides of the Syrian conflict have been accused of atrocities, with Human Rights Watch (HRW) accusing opposition forces of serious human rights abuses including torture and kidnappings.
HRW's Middle East director Sarah Leah Whitson told the BBC, “opposition leaders should make it clear to their followers that they must not torture, kidnap, or execute under any circumstances.”
However, Mr Al Hamwi is optimistic about the support the opposition is gathering internationally and in Australia.
“We have a petition of 16,000 signatures by Syrians and many others to be sent to the Australian parliament asking them to publicly ask for the removal of Bashar.
“We went everywhere, each person had a paper with 50 names, we distributed at every demonstration, at any given opportunity.”
Mr Al Hamwi said the The Australian Syrian Association intended to present Senator Carr and Prime Minister Julia Gillard with the petition in coming weeks.
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