The Syria Dilemma by Nader Hashemi

Author:Nader Hashemi
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780262317320
Publisher: The MIT Press
Published: 2013-03-17T16:00:00+00:00

The table is set. It is past time to dine.

A Humanitarian Strategy Focused on Syrian Civilians

opendemocracy.net, “Bordering on a New World War I,” April 27, 2013

Mary Kaldor

“Can I ask you a question?” said the person I was interviewing on a recent trip to southern Turkey. He had owned a water pump store in northern Syria and left with his family because of the constant shelling and bombardment, including the use of white phosphorus. Now he is part of a self-organized Syrian group providing relief to refugees now living in camps in the area and representing their voices. “This is the Holocaust,” he said. “This is the First World War. Why is no one in Europe doing anything? Can you explain it?”

It was a question I asked myself repeatedly during my visit. According to the latest Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) figures, there are some 1.3 million Syrian refugees, of which 300,000 are in southern Turkey. The Turkish authorities estimate some 190,000 refugees in camps in southern Turkey and a similar number outside the camps. They expect a million refugees by the end of the year if the situation does not change. Some 70,000 people have been killed. Hundreds of thousands are internally displaced.

The war in Syria began in March 2011 when the regime began shooting at peaceful protestors. After a few months, some Syrians began shooting back. Groups of armed men began to accompany protests to protect them from attacks by regime security forces and pro-regime militias known as Shabbiha. Some were defectors from the Syrian army who refused to fire on protestors. That is how the first units of the Free Syrian Army were formed. They were joined by civilians taking up arms to defend their families, jihadist groups such as Jabhat Al Nusra, who include both Syrians and foreign jihadists (especially from Iraq), Kurdish groups, and criminals released from gaol by the regime.

The opposition is said to be fragmented since the Free Syrian Army (FSA) consist of independent self-organized brigades alongside these various armed actors. There are also accusations of sectarianism and jihadism. The regime, which relies on terrifying its Alawite base into believing the opposition are Sunni extremists intent on massacring Alawites, has deliberately attempted to foment sectarian violence, making use of the Shabbiha to attack Sunni communities. It has also tried to court Kurdish political parties.

There have been sectarian incidents, but the opposition includes all ethnic and religious groups. The western press often wrongly portray Syria in sectarian terms despite the long cosmopolitan tradition in the country. The jihadist Jabhat Al Nusra operates together with the FSA and is gaining adherents, reportedly because it is more efficient as a fighting force and more effective at distributing humanitarian assistance. There are also cases in which Kurdish groups who sided with the regime clashed with the FSA. The opposition outside Syria formed itself into the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces in November 2012 and includes a range of different groups, many of whom disagree with each other.

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