Syria Unfurled

1. By Priyanka Roychoudhury

With the world’s news channels replete with pictures from the horrific ongoing armed conflict in Syria and the US forces waiting for the US president’s cue to launch a strike on the now ravaged land which was once the center of the Islamic empire; the situation in Syria is rapidly worsening as the world watches on.

People around the world have been witnesses to the inhumane mass killings of the Syrian civilians over the past two years since the uprising against the authoritarian Baath government in March 2011. As of August 2013, more than 100,000 Syrians have been killed as a result of this conflict, according to the United Nations. Watching these grim news headlines making their way into the rest of the world’s television sets, it is easy to forget how this uproar really started in the first place. So here is a brief overview.

In January 2011, revolution in Tunisia marked the beginning of the Arab Spring. Tunisia’s success inspired others in the regions nearby to revolt against the longtime autocratic rulers whose rule over the years had brought in high unemployment, corruption and repression in the countries concerned.

Syria entered the scene in March 2011 when a group of children and teenagers were arrested in the city of Daraa for writing political graffiti leading to a breakout of violence. Security forces rolled into Daraa to curb the violence that ended up killing dozens of protestors. This sparked further violence as demonstrators started demanding Al- Assad to leave office, who had been sitting on the President’s throne since 2000 after taking over the reins from his father.

With the growing violence in hindsight, Bashar Al- Assad gave his words to the protestors to bring in changes and this he did by lifting the 48 year long state of emergency law. This law basically gave the regime the power to detain anyone without charge and hold them indefinitely. However, within days of the law being lifted to appease the civilians, the Syrian regime instructed its troops to initiate a wide scale crackdown in Daraa. This was the starting point and the violence since then has spread like wildfire turning into a full fledged civil war between Asaad’s regime and the armed resistance, eventually flaring up the cities of Damascus (Syrian capital) and Aleppo( largest Syrian city).

By imposing economic sanctions on Syria, the US and its western allies showed their condemnation towards the actions of the Syrian president and demanded that he step down and leave power. But with a lack of consensus among the giants of the world, many are demurred to intervene militarily. Saudi Arabia and Qatar are believed to be supplying the rebels with arms whereas Iran is supporting the Asaad regime.

The brunt of the civil war is of course being faced by the innocent civilians who are caught in the cross fire between the opposition and the regime resulting in a humanitarian crisis. According to the UN, about 4 million have been displaced within the country and around 1.8 million have fled to the neighboring countries in search for safe harbor.

 The latest developments in the Syrian civil war involves accusations (bolstered by video footage and witness reports) thrown against the Asaad regime of using chemical weapons in an attack on civilians many of whom were women and children. President Asaad’s government’s denial of any involvement and blaming the opposition of the act doesn’t seem to make any difference as the US military forces prepare itself to launch strikes on Syria if President Barack Obama chooses to order an attack. The US Defense secretary, Chuck Hagel has been quoted saying, “We are prepared”.

What is left to be seen now is whether Mr Obama does take up the crucial decision to give the cue to the US military forces to attack Syria whose consequences are probably not a blur to anyone. With the concern that Syria might possibly devolve into a sectarian battle which can destabilize the region, one cannot rule out the apprehensions of Al Qaeda and other militant groups taking advantage of the situation and filling up any power vacuums. In the meantime, people in the rest of the world can just hope that things do not turn any more gruesome for Syria and that a diplomatic solution to the crisis is achieved soon enough.