Whenever violence is used as an instrument of statecraft, refugees are the consequence. Warfare, more so through proxies neither has neither ethics nor a conscience. The worst disasters are outside the battle field.
Once Syria at the heels of Arab Springs was provoked, countries controlling proxies in eagerness to draw new frontiers in Middle East had no realisation of the deconstruction it would cause. The magnitude of human suffering is colossal and expanding. The people of the world and Syria need an explanation for conflicts generated through proxies by big powers and corporates.
Syrians are targets of intolerant Salafi factions and ISIS within the civil war provoked against Bashar al-Assad. Millions have taken to long treks to Egypt, Lebanon, Jordon, Turkey, Central Asia and Europe. Unlike refugees often seen in conflicts, these are well dressed, educated and Europeanised people carrying smart phones, identity papers and educational degrees. Some amongst them are ironically returning to their origins. It is painful to see such a tolerant culture being systematically disintegrated, because its dictatorship was more tolerant than the Arab Kings, where diversity was strength and whose entrepreneurs were contributing to national growth. Rather than engage and build on this role model in the Islamic world, a convergence of short term interests have led to the deconstruction of a religious and ethnic homogeneity and an evolved society in the contemporary Arab world?
Syria was a tolerant Muslim country. Muslim, Christians and Jews went freely to places of common worship. It is a bastion of Abrahamic heritage and a fusion of diverse cultures with minor religions such as Bah’ha’, Druz, Yazidi, Mandean, Gnostics, Yarsanist, Shabakist and Zoroastrians. Besides Arabs and Bedouin it accommodated Arameans, Assyrian, Chechens, Druze, Greeks, Persians, Kurds, Lebanese, Palestinians, Turkman and Gypsies of South Asia. Now, this diversity is on the run.
Syria is a left leaning dictatorship clinging to the socialist tag. The country is a long time Russian ally, friendly to Iran, supports Hamas and Hezbollah and threatens Israel in multiple ways. Arab monarchies led by Saudi Arabia remain in awe of an Alawite regime with a soft corner for Shia Muslims and religious diversity. Syria’s way of living challenges religious restrictions imposed by the house of Saud. Turkey is suspicious of the Kurds and does not hesitate to support proxies when it wills.
Following the re-engineering in Iraq, Libya and Egypt, the West considered Syria the major hurdle to Israel becoming the policeman of the region. Doing so, it ignored the lessons learnt in Iraq, Libya and most recently Aden where regime changes have led to anarchy, rise of Al Qaeda and ISIS. Within this game plan, the Arab monarchies see an opportunity to retain their control through autocratic rule by fueling the crisis. Turkey eager to keep hardline Islamists at length, keeps them busy in Syria and Iraq. Kurdish nationalism provides them an opportunity to strike Syria and yet maintain a notion of friendship.
Within the Devil’s Triangle of Crimea, Afghanistan and Syria the fabled diversity switched poles. Syria is now the indisputable focal point of international rivalries, strategic posturing, schisms within different schools of Islamic thought, traditional Bedouin politics, Persian influence, Ottoman past and Byzantine intrigues. Crises reflect rivalries that existed between the various caliphates of Islam. It is now a melting pot of rivalries, fratricidal wars, non-state actors and a reality that Arab Muslims as underlings continue to compete and fight for their versions of identity. Yet the world ignores the unprecedented surge of human migration and the effects it will have on Syrians transplanting to Europe.
President Bashar al-Assad blamed Western nations for fueling the refugee crises. In an interview with Russian news organization he said “If you are worried about them, stop supporting terrorists. Europe is responsible because it supported terrorism. You can you feel sad for a child’s death in the sea and not for thousands of children who have been killed by the terrorists in Syria and also for men, women, and the elderly? These European double standards are no longer acceptable. This is the core of the whole issue of refugees”. He went on to accuse the U.S. government of “willful blindness” on the matter. Assad has logic in his statement.
As a retort Western Nations and USA blame Assad for presiding over the disintegration of his country and destruction of its historical heritage at the hands of Al Qaeda and ISIS. But then European, American and Arab efforts to arm and support a rebellion have directly benefitted the terrorist organisations. Robert Frisk was right when he wrote in Independent that, ‘If Barack Obama decides to attack the Syrian regime (directly or indirectly), he has ensured – for the very first time in history – that the United States will be on the same side as al-Qaeda… All for one and one for all should be the battle cry if the West goes to war against Assad’s Syrian regime’. The fact is that this war in form of proxies already exists and the priority of the Western world and USA to depose Assad and not destroy Al Qaeda or ISIS aggravates misery.
According to International Business Times, “53 percent of the 380,412 people who have arrived in Europe since January are from Syria. They are different from other refugees in that they are far more likely to come from professional backgrounds than refugees originating in African countries like Eritrea. Over 220,000 people have died since 2011 in Syria, and 11 million have been displaced”. Quoting United Nations, it reports, “Children represent more than half of all Syrian refugees. Majority is under 12 years old, and as young as one-month-old. At least 15 percent of the refugees that have arrived in Europe this year have been children, and 13 percent have been women. Doctors, bankers and Syrians from other high-paying professions have been among the arrivals”.
The above profile tells a story gone bitter. Syria was never a rag-tag country like Sudan, Afghanistan or Eritrea. It had a state sponsored educational system that worked. In 2011, it had a fairly evenly spread literacy rate of 80% and per capita income of over US$ 5,000. Over 90% population is below retirement age. Estimated 100,000 Syrian have been killed in the fighting. Over 11 million people are displaced.
So why does the international community sanction or condone such unilateral interventions? Certainly, the ethics, conscience and laws of war need revision.
n The writer is a retired officer of Pakistan Army and a political economist.