Flag of Syria from efg-bnusfoodreserves.blogspot.com

Although in the UK a lot more attention seems to be focused on the upcoming Olympics and Paralympics and the situation in Somalia (the Foreign and Commonwealth Office hosted the London Conference on Somalia yesterday), everyone in the Twittersphere seems to be talking about Syria, or One Direction. The Syrian crisis is at the forefront of international media attention at the moment, exposing the violent and brutal Assad regime to the world. At first I wasn’t going to attempt to blog about this issue because I feel as though there are plenty more people out there who are more knowledgeable about it. But it’s an issue that I’m currently following with great interest and if I can’t try to get my thoughts across on my blog then where else?

The uprising in Syria, part of the wider Arab Spring movement, began on 26 January 2011 as a public demonstration which led to revolutionary movements breaking out nationwide and calls for an end to the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. Since then, a unified group of insurgents, mainly made up of defectors from the Syrian armed forces, has formed under the name of the Free Syrian Army. There is also a Syrian National Council (SNC), based in Istanbul, which is partially recognised as a government in exile, or at least as representation for the opposition movement in Syria. The death toll is rising dramatically, with estimates as high as 9571 (not including government officials), many of the dead are civilians. The city of Homs is currently under siege from tanks and mortars as the government claim they are targeting “terrorists”.

Map of deaths in Syria as of 28th February 2012 from syrianshuhada.com

The international community has not ignored the situation. The Arab League has taken a lead role in the action, on 2nd November 2011 they first proposed a plan for peace in Syria who ”accepted calls to end the violence, withdraw the military from cities, release opposition activists and allow the Arab League to monitor the situation”. The violence continued but observers from the Arab League entered Syria in December. However, after initially giving positive reports, the observers complained that they were only seeing scenes orchestrated by the government while the brutality continued, one member even called it a “farce”. Amongst escalating violence, the observers were officially withdrawn on 28th January 2012.

The United Nations then stepped in. After a resolution being passed in the General Assembly, Morocco tabled a draft resolution in the Security Council that was based on the Arab League. 13 members supported it but it was vetoed by Russia and China despite not including any sanctions or military intervention. So instead the Group of Friends of the Syrian People was formed from representatives of over 60 different countries and organisations. In the first meeting in Tunis on 24th February, a message from the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon highlighted that protests in Syria did not originate with demands for a change in regime, “People wanted reform and an end to oppression, exclusion, and marginalization… They were met with implacable aggression… Ultimately, only a political solution will resolve this crisis”. The conclusions of the meeting confirmed the group’s support for the Syrian people and the Arab League plan, as well as condemning the actions of the Syrian government. It also suggested diplomatic talks to a change in government and sanctions against Syria. However, by naming the SNC as a representative of Syria, it brought back reminders of Libya and the National Transitional Council. As of 28th February, the European Union has imposed sanctions, including banning travel and freezing assets, on 7 of Assad’s cabinet ministers for “providing material help for the violence”.

But, all of this international action hides the ongoing pro-Assad support. There have been rallies supporting the regime within Syria, as

Pro-Assad rally in Damascus from thenational.ae

well as outside in Turkey and Israel. In France, the former head of the far right Front national, Jean-Marie Le Pen, has declared his support for Assad. There is also little mention of the reforms made by the Syrian government. Although the removal of the 1963 emergency law led to increased, not reduced, brutality, there is support for the new constitution. With a turnout of over 50%, 89.4% voted “yes” to Assad’s proposed changes to the constitution. Of course, we must allow for rigging but these results show that not only is Assad willing to make changes in an attempt to hold on to his authority, but that his regime must have some support.

This has led some people, such as Rod Liddle, to question the scale of the opposition movement in Syria. After all, the fighting does seem overwhelmingly concentrated in Homs, what about the rest of the country? The countries and organisations suggesting sanctions and interventions to protect “the Syrian people” ought to remember that some of these are people who support Assad.

On the question of intervention, the international community is divided. While no-one is yet jumping in to provide military support, some are definitely keener than others. Russia and China vetoed the Security Council resolution, but at the other end of the scale the Arab League is calling for arming the opposition.

There is a group who ask why Syria takes priority over other crises in the world. Bloggings by Boz believes that the international community should intervene in Syria, but points out that “Central America faces a crisis of equal or greater magnitude. While there are some meetings and programs, the international community does not treat it with anywhere near the same level of urgency, seriousness and high-level diplomacy that they do the Middle East”. The Wandering American also brings attention to the lack of large-scale intervention in other areas, such as “Darfur (330,000 dead) or Rwanda (800,000 dead) or the Democratic Republic of the Congo (8,000,000 dead) or Sri Lanka (100,000 dead) or Myanmar (10,000+ dead) or Turkey (60,000 Kurds dead)”. He goes on to list other reasons why intervention is a bad idea: the lack of progress made in Iraq/Afghanistan, no money to fund it and the possibility that it will fulfil the goals of those intervening more than helping the Syrian people.

So why Syria? The Atlantic Council highlights that violence such as this, whilst obviously wrong, has been going on everywhere for thousands of years, it’s just that “Syria is just the most recent and egregious example of brutality as a television event”. Not to mention all the attention it’s gained on Twitter and blogs such as mine. This has meant that Assad has not been able to continue to get away with it like other totalitarian regimes.

Homs under siege from paulhaydoneuro.wordpress.com

Simon Collis, the British Ambassador to Syria, wrote about this media attention as well. However, he went to on to say that “Sometimes we focus too much on the abstract and not enough on what we see with our own eyes”. I’ve never been to Syria, but after reading Marie Colvin’s final article I considered Collis’ words. We do need to think about the people of Syria. And by that I don’t mean the population of the nation as a whole, but those individuals who are living under siege and cannot be reached by humanitarian aid. What if I was in that situation? I’d want the international community to somehow step in and help. So regardless of Syria’s position in comparison to other crises, the history of other interventions, or funding cuts, if something can be done to help these people then it must be done.

Related articles: 

BBC: Analysis: Options for military intervention in Syria