Turning the pages of history of devastation in Syria under the Baath regime, Arshad shaikh analyses the Ghouta catastrophe.
Eastern Ghouta is a suburb of Damascus, the capital of Syria. A town of 400,000, it has been described by the United Nations Secretary General as “hell on earth”. Besieged by the Syrian army and incessantly hit by cluster and barrel bombs, it is a human catastrophe in the making with shelters becoming the tombs of victims. The Bashar al Assad regime is hell-bent on extracting revenge on the Eastern Ghouta populace for supporting the anti-Assad rebels, there are already more than 600 reported casualties; many of them women and children. But why is this tragedy unfolding once again in Syria and what are the reasons for the inadequate or sterile response by the international community. History is indeed stranger than fiction but in the case of Syria it is playing out an all too familiar drama; a spectacle of blood, stealth, hypocrisy, hate and deceit.
No support for democracy
The uprising against Bashar started on the 11th of March 2011 at Daraa near Damascus, where a huge youth rally was organised as a corollary of the ongoing Arab Spring in the region. Provocative slogans did the rounds like – “Bashar your time has come” (this was in the context of the fall of Gaddafi) and “we the youth will end this regime”. The reprisal was swift and harsh. Bashar and his agencies put a crackdown on all anti-regime activities with mass arrests and firings. This was the time when the international community first failed in its duty to support the democratic movement of the protestors who wanted to oust a brutal dictator and bring in a government through free and fair elections. The indecisiveness displayed by the guardians of liberty and democracy was shameful and the world paid a very heavy price for that indifference.
Creating sectarian divisions
The Syrian army which forms the backbone of the Bashar regime is controlled by the Alawites (an outlier Shia denomination) who are around 11% of the Syrian population. Sunnis who make up around 70% of the population had always received a raw deal ever since the Baath party came to power in the late 60’s. The Baathists were dominated by Alawites with Hafez al Assad, the father of Bashar, ruling Syria from 1971 till his death in 1999. It may be noted that Hafez had carried out an even bigger massacre of his own citizens in 1982 in the city of Hama when his forces had killed, according to some estimates, more than 40,000 people who had shown affiliation with those who opposed Hafez. This unfortunate sectarian division laid the seeds for future conflict and was exploited by the enemies of Syria to engineer a vertical split in the Syrian society that is clearly divided on the issue of support to the Bashar regime.
War by proxy
In the wake of developments after 2011, a large number of Syrians abandoned the Syrian Army and formed the “Free Syrian Army”. Their fight with the regime began and there was breakout of full scale civil war. Soon other players started entering the war scene. Iran sent its “Pasdaran” (Iranian Revolutionary Guards”) and instructed Hezbollah from Lebanon to support Assad. Shia powers sent the “Fatimioon from Afghanistan and “Zainabioon” from Pakistan. These militias lent a lot of muscle to the Syrian army and played a decisive role in preventing the fall of Bashar in the initial days. The Arabs too joined with the Saudis backing “Jaish al Islam” and the Qataris supporting “Falakatil Rahman”. They joined the rebel groups and the Free Syrian Army. Turkey was worried about the Kurds and so sent in its army in those areas of Syria with large Kurdish populace.
Then there was the phenomenon of ISIS from Iraq who initially captured huge swathes of land and especially the oil rich territories. America’s role was unusually reticent and there was no “shock and awe” tactics deployed to decimate the Bashar regime. But the worst role in this proxy war was that of Russia who entered the Syrian conflict on the side of Bashar and played a decisive role in changing the tide in favour of the Baath regime with its superior airpower and sophisticated armoury.
Inhuman tactics
The battle for Aleppo (which was the most populous city of Syria before the war) was won by the Syrian army in December 2016. It was a “game-changer” for Bashar and from there on his forces have been on the ascendancy. The tactics that were employed in Aleppo (Halab) were: “Siege, starve and surrender”. The same copybook style is playing out in Eastern Ghouta. The city-suburb is surrounded and all ration, food and supplies are cut off. Markets, schools, hospitals are bombed. Residential areas are attacked and even mosques and places of worship are not spared. Naturally this puts a lot of pressure on the locals who slowly lose heart and stop supporting the rebels. Once the will to resist is snuffed out, the local commanders are forced to surrender or give up that territory. The diabolical style of operations by the Syrian army is even disallowing safe passage for civilians who want to escape to safe zones. These are clear-cut war crimes and must be addressed by the concerned international authorities.
Double standards
If one looks at conflicts all over the world then we see a very disturbing trend. Conflicts involving Muslims seem to prolong and defy resolution whereas those pertaining to other communities are settled and negotiated sooner or later. Just compare the conflicts in East Timor, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, and Lebanon with those in Palestine, Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Turkey. This cements the narrative of Muslim being discriminated against by the global powers and fuels conspiracy theories regarding attempts to weaken the “Millat” by the enemies of Islam.
Our responsibility
As Muslims and for all peace- and justice-loving citizens, our first responsibility is to feel the pain and suffering of the millions of Syrians. We must create awareness about the conflict and teach our children how war and violence destroys humanity. As members of civil society we must register our peaceful protest against the Syrian government by demonstrations at their embassies and consulates. Media should be utilised to educate people about the conflict and impress on lawmakers to pressurise the government to break diplomatic ties with the Bashar regime and impose sanctions and embargo against their interests. Aid can be sent through authorised and government approved charities.
The only saving grace
In this entire debacle the only saving grace was the response of the global community. Be it on social media or the various other platforms available to ordinary citizens, there was a huge outpouring of sympathy for the suffering of the Syrians and disdain for the Bashar regime. There is a Hadith of the Prophet ﷺ documented both in Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim: An-Nu’man ibn Basheer reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be to him, said, “The parable of the believers in their affection, mercy, and compassion for each other is that of a body. When any limb aches, the whole body reacts with sleeplessness and fever.” Let us all pray for peace in Syria. We hope the suffering of millions will be alleviated soon. The international community and the United Nations must also ensure a just resolution of the conflict. Its entire credibility and raison d’etre is at stake.