Syria: Observed

Recently in Syria the Arab League has sent in a team of observers to monitor Syria's uprising and the regime's promise to stop violence. However, many are not satisfied with this opportunity for observation as the regime is leading it, and many fear that they are misleading the observers into believing that it is not as bad as it seemed. Reports have surfaced of the regime planting supporters in hostile areas, changing street signs, and disguising military vehicles to make it seem like things are not as bad as initially thought. After over nine months of protests and violence, over 5,500 people have been killed according to the UN. And now it seems that Syria is trying to hide all of that in this recent visit. 

Arab League monitors check Daraa, Syria, on Tuesday. SANA/AP

            Hiding the crimes of the regimes is nothing new, as we've seen it before in Egypt, Libya, and even farther back to Hitler's Germany and the Soviet Union. It is expected to have regimes hide their intentions and actions. No regime would blatantly kill civilians and admit to it, the reaction from the international community would be swift and forceful against them. No, regimes will do everything in their power to quell any uprising, and even more so to keep their actions against such a thing quiet. So it looks like it is no different in Syria, where the regime is employing the "Act like nothing wrong and invite them to take a look to make it seem legit" plan. However, they will have to keep this act up as recent news has announced that the monitors will continue to stay in Syria and observe what they call 'mistakes'. In what could very well end up being a dangerous situation, these monitors will have to evaluate the atrocities of the Syrian government with the Syrian government breathing down their necks. Obviously this conflict of interest could result in retaliation against the monitors, but I feel that would be unlike what the Syrian government has shown so far. Based off of Assad's attempts and other government actions, I feel the Syrian government is trying to play it off as not something as important as most thought. Doing anything radical against this foreign observation would go against their stance of "openness" to the international community, and would definitely ruin their act of "Everything's alright."

An Arab League observer takes photos of anti-government protesters on the streets in Adlb on Dec. 30, 2011. (Reuters)

However, it seems Syria will have a hard time convincing the Arab League observers that everything is A-OK as violence continues to boom. Killings continued on Wednesday as observers were still there, with 12 reportedly shot dead by security forces. This continued violence has left some in the Arab League wary and some calls have been made to take the observers out of harm’s way, but they will continue to stay. However, the main reason may not be for collecting data, but rather their presence alone has resulted in heavy arms being removed from the cities as well as thousands of prisoners being released. The Syrian government has to try to hide what they've been doing, and the longer the observers stay in Syria, the longer the Syrian government has to put up this facade.Even though, violence against peaceful protests has continued and activists are skeptical about how big of an impact the observers are really having on the regime. The big question however, is what the observers will find, and what they will do with it.