Syria: A witch's brew

How can we understand Syria? How far back in history should we go?

Let’s start with the Sykes-Picot agreement between the UK and France which divided up the area during the First World War in 1916. France got control of Syria, without of course any consultation with the Syrians who were then part of the crumbling Ottoman empire. Local dissatisfaction with this arrangement is still alive and emerging today.

Hafez al Assad, the father of Bashar al Assad ruled Syria for 30 years (1971-2000). In 1982 he put down civil unrest in Hama with a bloody massacre in which an estimated 20,000 people were killed.
“The 1982 massacre is regarded as the single bloodiest assault by an Arab ruler against his own people in modern times and remains a pivotal event in Syrian history” (The Guardian).

Later when another peaceful civil uprising in Deraa occurred in 2011, Bashar al Assad used the same brutal force as his father to suppress this. This was the beginning of the civil war that is now raging throughout Syria.

The Bashar al Assad regime now counts on the support of three outside powers.

Russia is a strong supporter of the Syrian government. Their airplanes are now bombing opponents of Assad, not necessarily restricting their bombing to ISIL targets. What is Russia’s motive here? Syria is one of Russia’s few allies in the Middle East region. Syrian ports allow Russia to maintain a naval fleet in the Mediterranean Sea. Also Russia’s military activity in Syria is a good distraction from its involvement in Ukraine which presently seems to have reached a stalemate.

Hezbollah is a Shia organization located in the south of Lebanon. It is a fierce opponent of Israel. Since Syria lost the Golan Heights in the six day war (1967), Hezbollah and Syria are now natural allies.

Iran is the main backer of Hezbollah and all supplies to Hezbollah in south Lebanon must pass through Syria. Hence Iran and Syria are natural allies.

Of course the Syrian government is not only battling a group of home-made resistance groups (labelled as “terrorists” by the Syrian government and Russia) but now ISIS has entered into the fray.
Where did ISIS/ISIL/IS/Daish come from? They are a radical Sunni group which can trace their formation back to the US-led invasion of Iraq. Following this invasion, many Sunni military personnel were dismissed. This disgruntled group is a major factor in the rise of ISIS. They want to rewrite the map of the area and create an Islamic caliphate. They want to undo the borders that were created by the Sykes-Picot agreement, and this includes taking over large swathes of Syria.
And the role of the USA and their coalition in all of this? They have tried to train and arm moderate resistance forces who are opposing Bashar al Assad. Nor knowing the culture, language and forces at play on the ground their initiative has been a costly failure. They are now looking for support from Kurdish groups who are opposed to the Syrian government.

Then there are the Kurds. Large Kurdish populations are found in Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria. This area could be a separate country called “Kurdistan” but it was not part of the post war dividing up of the region. Turkey is especially concerned about the rise of the Kurds in Turkey. As a result, when Turkey finally got involved with attacking ISIS sites they also targeted Kurdish groups in Syria. This has enflamed cultural animosities within Turkey.

So this is the witch’s brew that is now Syria. As a result 4 million Syrian refuges are housed in camps on the Syrian border. There are also about 8 million internally displaced people within Syria.

Thousands of these refugees are trying to get to Europe and other countries. Because of this massive disruption the UN, Red Cross and other agencies working with these refugees are overwhelmed.

What to do? Yes the root causes of this problem of the civil war in Syria need to be addressed and resolved. However, let’s not fool ourselves that this will be easy. In the meantime the refugees remain trapped in their camps at the border and their needs are desperate.

Ottawa. Oct. 17, 2015