Ongoing crisis in Syria is not
something that started out from nowhere but its roots actually goes decades back
before the uprisings and street protests all over the country started in march
2011. A Syrian professor calls it second round of civil war in Syrian
history.The Syrian borders were first imposed by European colonialists, forcing
together different groups, after the fall of Ottoman Empire post WW1. The region
was quite divided ethnically as well religiously and the French imperialists
took this as an opportunity to ally with the certain minority and Christian
groups to cement their authority over the region.
When the French imperialists finally left, few years later in 1970, Hafiz ulAsad,
father of present Syrian President, Bashar ulAsad, came into power. Then,
majority in the government included Alawite Shia muslims, which was actually a
minority religious group in comparison to Sunni muslims who comprised major
portion of Syria but they were long deprived from any key positions in the
Government. Long being called as heretics by Sunnis, Alawite always kept Sunnis
out political regime, in fear of being persecuted if they come into power.
Persistantlybeing denied a due share of power in the country, Sunni majority
started raising their voice against the government in 1976 which led to a civil
war in the country, which was then called The First round of Civil War. Hafiz
ulAsad when saw the conflict growing bigger, particularly in one of a Sunni
majority populated city of Hama, he nearly levelled the whole city, killing
thousands of civilians. Hafiz ulAsad concluded from his experience that “mass
voilance is a smart response to an unrest” a lesson which his son, who came to
power in 2000 applied in march 2011 when few peaceful protestors took off to the
streets to raise their voice against the poor governance of a regime. The police
started crackdown on the peaceful protestors killing four men, applying a lesson
Bashar ulAsad learned from his father i-e Kill first and ask questions later.
But it was a wrong conclusion to make, as root causesof Syrian strife are still
as such i-e authoritarianism and unequal balance of power wherein a minority
based regime allied with other minority groups together with few privileged
people from majority population, rules over poor people who if raisevoice
against the regime for the injustices,would be shut down permanently. As the
protests grew bigger across the country, opposition now wanted Asad to step down
from his office, but Bashar ulAsad dealt with the protestorsthe only way he
knew, which is to kill as many as the number grows. Mr President always wanted
to turn this peaceful protests into an armed conflict as he knew, if this issue
has to be solved politically, where numbers matter, then opposition has the
numbers, having 2/3 of the country’s support, and ultimately Asad will have to
step down. So Asaddecided to keep the protests violent and let the country get
into a civil war. Oppositions groups along with other rebel groups including
defectors from the government forces started fight against the Asad’s military.
This led an opportunity to other extremists groups like Islamic state and
JabhatulNusra(initially part of IS) to reach Syria and fight the government
forces, to their ultimate cause of establishing a caliphate “The Islamic State
of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)”. Regional players like Saudi Arabia in particular
who always wants its supremacy in the middle east, started supporting the rebel
groups along with its ally Qatar, to topple Asad’s regime. But Iran who sees
Syria as a medium of supplying arms to Hebullah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza,
wants to see Asad in office as their only ally in the region and started
supporting Syrian government. US although kept saying Asad should leave after a
mass protests started against him, doesn’t provide any military support to the
rebel groups fearing ISIL or JabhatulNusra get maximum benefit if Asad
isoustered from is office. Russia recently has vowed to offer his complete
military support to Asad to keep him in office, being old allies of cold war
era. Russia fears such a political revolution may expand in the region and will
ultimately threatened Russia so it will go to support the Asad’s regime to any
level.
While different international players are putting in their shares as per
indivisual interests of each one out of them, the only sufferers are the people
of Syria. May it be Syria’s own government forces, the ISIL and other rebel
groups or the Russian air strikes,no body is pushed about the massive killings
of people meanwhile. About 2,50,000 people have been killed so far, and about 11
millions have been displaced including 4 millions those displaced to
neighbouring countries. People are fleeing out of the war torned country, trying
to seek refuge in any country they are safe at. They are heading an uncertain
journey, which is quite fatal and often unsafe for children, as was in tragic
case of AylanKurdi whose washed body was found at Turkish shore. People of
Syria, although having left with very little hope, are moving towards Europe to
find a better future for their children.