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Representative Photo by Mubariz Mehdizadeh on Unsplash
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The history of Syria is replete with accounts of outsiders who fought one another, such as the Egyptians, Hittites, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Macedonians and Romanians. Like India, Syria suffered as much as it benefited from such foreign intruders. But today visuals of the death of helpless children in Syria must make one reflect on how to put an end to this bloodbath in what is essentially a battle of attrition.
Ongoing War
Under the pretext of waging a holy war against ISIS, forces loyal to Assad in eastern Ghouta have perpetrated mass killings. As Amnesty International stated
flagrant war crimesare being committed in eastern Ghouta and on an
epic scaleA humanitarian tragedy is unfolding.In collusion with the Assad regime and Iran, eastern Ghouta, a cluster of concrete-block towns and farmland with an estimated population of nearly 400,000, has been reduced to pulverized rubble, dismembered bones and dust mixed with blood. The region is bearing the brunt because it happens to be one of the last bastions of the rebels fighting the Assad government. In response to the airstrikes, the rebels have shelled the government-held neighborhood of Damascus.
Game of manslaughter
Civilians, including helpless children, are just prawns in a bigger game of attrition. The assault on Aleppo was mounted to chase the Syrian opposition forces to other areas, like the province of Idlib,
which the Russians and Syrians have also bombarded. The rebels who were thus hounded out have been largely exterminated in eastern Ghouta. It has essentially been a choreographed game of manslaughter. It bears recall that eastern Ghouta had been attacked by chemical weapons in 2013.
Many Players with much of Business Interest
Energy War
Russia's objective apparently was to control only the part inhabited by the Assad's supporters, who are by and large Muslim Alawites, an offshoot of Shiite Islam. The Sunni Muslims of Saudi Arabia and Qatar on the one hand and Shiite Muslims of Iran and Syria on the other are ranged between each other. This has to be explained in terms of compulsions of the energy war.- to secure not only the European market but also the South-east Asia given the energy requirements of China, India and Pakistan. Iran, rich both in oil and natural gas, has an edge over Saudi Arabia, rich only in oil and Qatar rich only in natural gas.
ISIS, Pipeline and Russia and Geopolitical Issues
ISIS has also been used at cross purposes because its presence and control of the eastern part of Syria and the western part of Iraq could effectively block the Iran-Iraq-Syria pipeline, affecting the flow of Saudi oil and Qatari natural gas. A strong neighbor like anti Assad Turkey is beholden to pro-Assad Russia. It is dependent on the latter's natural gas . While the Saudis are turning to Egypt to cobble up an Arab alliance, the later has moved closer to Russia after the Arab Spring. It is peeved over the American acceptance of the Muslim brotherhood in Egypt, a move supported by Turkey, Qatar and Iran. The Iranian pipeline, materialized in its present form, will reduce both Turkey's revenues and its geopolitical significance. In fact, the proposed pipeline has been packaged as the largest gas pipeline in the Middle East; it will stretch from Iran's gas-rich South Pars field to the Mediterranean coastline in Lebanon, via Iraq and Syria. It also happens to be a major bone of contention. Syria has been at the center through which Europe seeks to reduce its reliance on Russia, as 80 per cent of the gas that the Russian state-controlled company Gazprom produces is sold to Europe. Russia's involvement in the war in Syria is more out of concern of losing out to other US allies like Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Russia has earlier gone to war in Georgia and Ukraine to disrupt plans to export gas from other parts of the Middle East.
Before the civil war, two competing pipelines, that were laid by Qatar and Iran, were meant to transport gas to Europe through Syria. Though Qatar, the reservoir of the largest natural gas field in the world, owns about two third of the resources. It cannot capitalize on it fully because it relies on tankers to deliver it to other nations and this makes its gas more expensive than Russia's. Qatar's plan, first put forward in 2009, to build a pipeline from the Persian Gulf via Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria and Turkey, was opposed by Assad who had denied permission for the pipeline to run through his territory. This might have been prompted by Russia, which was eager to safeguard its own business. Iran's counter plan, signed by Assad in 2012, had Russia's blessings because it could use Iran against Qatar, a US ally hosting a US air base. While an enraged Qatar is believed to have funded anti-Assad rebel groups by $3 billion between 2011 and 2013 alongside Saudi Arabia, Iran was believed to be helping Assad by running the Syrian Army, supplying with weapons and even troops. So all the stakeholders - Russia, the US, Qatar,Arabia,Iran and Turkey pretending to fight against the ISIS or supporting or opposing Assad have vested interests and any pretension to fight a holy war is only for the birds.
People and Children are being killed - No concern
The death of hapless children in Syria is the outcome of the internecine power struggle. More than 11000 children were killed in November 2013 most of them by Chemical Weapon as reported in naharnet on 24 November 2013.
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| PC Naharnet |
Syria, one of the most heavy weight Middle Eastern allies of the Soviet Union during Hafez-al-Assad's rule, formalized its alliance in the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation in 1980. Saudi Arabia has been firmly entrenched under the United States' security umbrella and this can be traced to the time of World War II. It had always been deeply distrustful of the Soviet Union and had been wary of the invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979.
The US and Russia Cold War
Syria had stood by revolutionary Iran throughout the later's eight year war against Iraq, while Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini openly involved the masses to overthrow the Saudi monarchy. As things stand. there is now a sharp competition between Russia and the US, almost reminiscent of the Cold War. This has been the major stumbling block towards peace in Syria. And as the war in Afghanistan had less to do with removal of Taliban, the war in Syria has become a battle field to secure access to sources of energy. It had begun as a concerted move to drive out ISIS.
In their Chilling report on April 3 2017 the Independent claims that
US-led coalition killed more Syrian civilians than Isis or Russia in March, figures show
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| PC Independent |
Conclusion
To quote an old dictum,
In Syria, various stakeholders are working at cross-purposes. Russia's main concern is to persuade the international community to allow Assad to remain in power. The United States and its allies are unsure and seen to be on shaky ground. But the distressing reality is that Russia, Iran and Syria are not going to desist without suitable economic, military and diplomatic pressure being exerted on the presidential palace in Damascus.
There can be no (Arab-Israel) war without Egypt and no peace without Syria,
