To change Syria 

(MENAFN - Jordan Times) Most observers of the Syrian conflict suggest that the Yemeni model offers the best formula for its resolution.

The Yemeni example entailed a change of leadership rather than of the ruling regime. It purported to be an all-inclusive framework for a political resolution of a bloody conflict that are similar to many dimensions and aspects of the current armed conflict in Syria.

The Yemeni formula actually entailed cosmetic changes to the system of government and left the fundamentals almost intact. Despite this shortcoming, it is still being entertained for Syria, with emphasis on having Syrian President Bashar Assad leave power and have in his place his deputy Farouk Sharaa, the acting vice president who has not been seen or heard of lately, preferring, or better still forced, to stay away from the limelight perhaps in anticipation of him filling the vacuum in Damascus once Assad is removed from his office.

Such a scenario, however, will not really change things in a fundamental way in the country.

As His Majesty King Abdullah repeatedly reminded the international community and the Arab world, the crisis in Syria is not related to the leadership only, rather to the entire ruling system. As such, it is the governance in Syria that needs to be changed not just the leadership.

Assad may not have been the main culprit in the 16-month-old Syrian insurgency.

Several indicators suggest that he may not have been in tune with the way peaceful protesters were dealt with by the "system" since the uprising started.

It was the brutal way the peaceful protesters were treated at the beginning of the protest movement that had set the stage for a civil war. It was the bloodshed on the streets of Deraa, the Houla massacre in May and similar other crimes against humanity that may have tipped the scale in favour of a full-blown uprising in Syria.

Right at the outset, Assad confessed to the news media that his forces may have gone overboard and committed "violations" when confronting demonstrators. When the UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan met with the Syrian president last month in Damascus, he described his talks with the Syrian president as candid and constructive.

This would suggest that the Syrian leader may have been forthcoming and open-minded about the proposed transitional formula for peace in his country. But what happened on the ground thereafter suggests that Assad's words to Annan were either hollow or, more likely, did not carry weight in the Syrian system of governance.

Probably the man was overruled by the political order at every turn. That is why the political solution to the Syrian conflict does not really lie in changing rulers in the country, but rather in holding free and fair elections under international supervision so that the people of Syria will have an opportunity, at last, to exercise self-determination, to have its word heard and respected.