Chemical Attack on Ghouta: The Syrian Conflict
For awareness and discussion
posted over 11 years ago
I'm sure many of you have seen the headlines, and if not, here's the breaking story. There has been a large scale offensive by Syrian government forces in the Ghouta area near Damascus, Syria. With death tolls in the hundreds, the Syrian Opposition blames the regime for what seems to be an apparent chemical attack. Indeed, there have been several reports and even videos you can view for yourself on places such as youtube, of victims suffering convulsions and even dying, without any sort of flesh wound.
Naturally, this has caused massive amounts of speculation. The regime insists that these reports are lies and propaganda, spread to aid what it claims is foreign terrorism in the state. The opposition has a lot to gain by proving that the regime is committing crimes against humanity. Some have even gone so far as to dub the timing of these attacks as suspicious, asking the question, "Why would the regime take this international risk when its forces have had the upper hand for so long?" In my opinion, this reasonable question is perhaps not so appropriate considering that the regime has long proven, time and time again, that it is not a rational actor in this conflict. Consider for example, the incident where the Syrian army bombed a small town in Turkey. Erdogan, the prime minister of Turkey, declared that any more attacks across its borders would provoke a swift military response. Shortly thereafter, the Syrian army again attacked Turkish territory multiple times. It is thought that the Turkish government's lack of response was actually the UN brokered restraint in return for the Patriot missile defense systems it received. They did however, create a buffer zone in which it declared the Syrian army was prohibited from entering. Within a day of the buffer zone going up, there were more artillery attacks into Turkey from the Syrian army. So then, is it any stretch of the imagination that the Syrian regime has grown accustomed to international complacency?
But now, we are left wondering what the appropriate international response should be. It is clear that the West has sat on their hands for a very long time, due to one reason or another. Whatever these reasons are, one can hypothesize that they are extremely varied. President Obama had recently declared that chemical weapons in the Syrian conflict would be a red line that would provoke some form of US intervention. There have been reports of chemical attacks in the past but they have failed to trigger any sort of tangible response from the US or any other Western country. This time around, however, there seems to be little initial doubt over the use of chemical weapons. What will the international response be?
So far, we have seen the tepid attitudes of western powers to intervene in Syria, but also stalwart defense of the Assad regime in Syria by Russia and China. This seems interesting to note, as both countries have records of human rights violations within its own borders. I mentioned a Syrian friend of mine on a now obscure discussion long ago. Long ago, we had a discussion about the Syrian civil war, and caught a glimpse of the attitudes prevailant among the Syrian people and opposition there. He said that the people there were bitter and angry. He conveyed the common belief that the West were unwilling to help in their struggle because they had no self interest in the region, be it economical, political, or what have you. He also mentioned that the populace was adamantly against Islamic extremism, and how the people and the opposition envisioned a country with a secular and tolerant government. It is clear now that as the years have progressed, these feelings have changed. Foreign extremists are met with favor for being sympathetic to their cause, and opposition fighters, who once refused to work with extremists, are becoming radicalized themselves. Lastly, he did express the belief that Russia and China were to blame as well, but it was clear that this was not something at he forefront of everyone's minds.
It is entirely possible that Russia and China's stance may change with this latest development. Certainly, their reaction to this attack will be very telling of exactly how far they are willing to go to support their interests via foreign policy. Personally, I remain extremely critical on Obama for his lack of resolve and action on the matter. I do understand the fact that we now live in a world where American military action is stigmatized, and that we are already involved in a war and have just gotten out of another. But to do nothing but draw arbitrary lines in the sand when crimes against humanity are being carried out is cowardly.
I would share the aforementioned videos as I believe it is important to be aware of the full spectrum of human atrocity, but doing so in a public manner would be in poor taste and insensitive to unwitting viewers. If you are interested, you can post your email and I will share it with you in private.
(edited over 11 years ago)
