ISSUE OF SYRIA

ISSUE OF SYRIA:

INTRODUCTION TO SYRIA:

Syria once known as the “kingdom of silence” is now scattered with the deaths of the civilians in the war between the Syrian official government and the rebel forces against it. The issue is all to oust the incumbent president and his “Ba’ath party” which continued its regime in Syria since 1970. Syria is a single party nation where the people have no choice but to support the existing Ba’ath party and its leaders.

STORY OF SYRIA AND THE EMERGENCE OF CIVIL WAR:

Hafiz al Assad is the first president who established his power in Syria in 1970 and ruled for 30 years. After his death in 2000, there took place a big drama of social and politic debate about electing the next leader of the country. Then came Bashar al Assad to be the ruler. This was the time when all the Arab countries revolted against their rulers to oust them from power and started a protest called “Arab spring.”

Syria has the majority population of Sunnis and minority population of Shia Alawites which contributed to 12% of the total population. Assad’s family comes from a minority Islam (Shia Alawites). This raised a problem among Sunni sect which contributes three quarters of the population in Syria. The government always gave the first hand to the minority leaving the disgrace among the majority. By 2011, Syria faced steep rises in prices and deterioration of standard of living leading to youth unemployment. This left discontent among the poorer Sunnis which had resulted to a small uprising.

This small protest grew large and formed a rebellion uprising in 2011. These rebels formed into a wing called “Free Syrian Army” against Assad. This wing was supported by Turkey for finance and arms in the beginning. There was blood shed everywhere. This has finally emerged into a civil war. The government forces even had enforced the military to abandon the protests and gave rise to a big massacre. There were killings everywhere. Not even women and children were spared.

The rebel forces and the Syrian government underwent a peace plan called “Kofi Annan peace plan.” But eventually the ceasefire agreement failed due to a lot of misunderstandings and spread of violence. UN has announced that it takes action and gets involved into this matter only if the situation gets worse and human rights are violated. Recently Turkey has identified that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons which is against the norms of UN in their attack against the rebels in Damascus. This is considered a crime against humanity. Many innocent people were killed out of the chemical gas and the sorrow spread among them. This has raised the problem of Syria to that of the world.

There are many allegations and controversies tied up in this issue. Some even claimed that US is the back hand in supplying the chemical explosives to Syria, but officially on screen, US is against Syria. The only great ally to Syria is Russia supported by China which is supplying arms. Russia even states that the government is not the culprit of using chemical weapons but it was the rebels who did so. But UN, US, European countries and many are on the support for the rebels as they have far better of the argument.

Recently John Kerry has even compared Assad with Hitler. The only question prevailing among the world is “why is US not taking any steps to oust Assad if he is compared to Hitler?” But then Obama says that this may lead to a war against Syria supported by the two great powers China and Russia. Russia and China are constructing their armed forces preparing for the world war 3. Syria has also announced that it would go against US and fight back if US intervenes in this matter. Are these the indications for the war? Let us wait and watch.

My Perspective:

Syrian issue had its beginning in 2011. It was ignited by the Arab spring. The problem of the country has now become the problem of the entire world. There are few countries against Syria and few favoring it. This problem has taken lives of many people and spilled the blood everywhere making the country dry. This has come out to be a big political play. Now it is even giving a possibility of war which may consume many more lives. No country is on a compromise. USA and other countries, to cease the protests have to enforce the army which may lead to the counter attack and finally a war. So the decision is still pending about what is going to happen. Each and every solution is leading to a massacre and war. It is the Syrian government which should recognize the people’s demands and act accordingly fulfilling them.