Syrian youths walk past a billboard showing a picture of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad wearing sunglasses while dressed in a Field Marshal's camouflage fatigues, on display in the centre of the capital Damascus on July 9, 2018, with a caption below reading in Arabic: "If the country's dust speaks, it will say Bashar al-Assad." Photo:AFP/GETTY IMAGES
The World Daily | News Desk MARCH 15th 2020
A gloomy anniversary in the shadow of other crises - Syrian war enters its tenth year
No one is able to accurately count the numbers of the piling dead anymore. However, we know that the victims of the Syrian conflict are estimated at about five million children who have been born since 2011 and have known nothing throughout their lives but war. Nine years have passed since conflict exploded in Syria. Over the past year, the country has been shaken by more violence, contributing to even greater suffering.
“What was the most terrifying moment? When the first bombs fell. We lived in peace, and suddenly I had to run away, I ran with the children, not even knowing which direction,” Jazi, a Kurd from Northern Syria, said to journalists. In Autumn, together with four sons, they joined over five million Syrians who fled the country because of war and persecution.
Nine years ago, tensions reached a boiling point in the Middle East and North Africa, and the Arab Spring continued spreading. Protests also reached Syria, ruled by dictator Bashar. On March 6th, 15 teenagers in the city of Daraa wrote on a wall, the slogan: "People want the regime to fall", a phrase chanted in many countries of the region. Secret police arrested and tortured the teens, and people went out onto the street demanding their freedom. Protests grew. On March 15th, people in major cities, Aleppo and Damascus, were already marching. Security forces began to shoot people with live rounds. In July, some of them deserted, and the "Free Syrian Army" was created. The protests turned into a revolution, which over time was taken over by jihadists and suffocated by Bashar Al-Assad with the support of Russia and Iran.
Now the war in Syria is entering its tenth year. This gloomy anniversary is overshadowed by other world crises. Perhaps also because of the scale of the suffering in Syria, it is no longer possible to measure. After nine years, no one knows how many people died in the war. Estimates vary - from 380,000 to nearly 600,000 people. But how do you count "indirect victims”? Refugees who drowned at sea, froze on the roads, took their own lives in the midst of depression? Syrians in the country and in exile who died because of lack of money or treatment options? Over five million people fled the country, and in total, half of the population had to leave their homes.
"The suffering of Syrians is inconceivable"
The UN brings attention to other victims. Five million children who have been born since 2011 and have known nothing but war and the uncertain life of a refugee. "The suffering of the Syrian people during this tragic decade is still inconceivable and beyond belief," said Geir Pedersen, United Nations Special Representative for Syria. “Hundreds of thousands of Syrians, men and women, have lost their lives. Hundreds of thousands have been detained, abducted or disappeared. Human rights violations, crimes, destruction and misery have taken place on a large scale,” he assessed. He emphasized that it was "the failure of diplomacy".
The last year of the war in Syria began with the apparent freezing of the conflict, but over time it escalated. In Autumn, Turkey's attack on the Kurds in Northern Syria (after the US withdrew) created a new humanitarian crisis and forced thousands to flee. A new offensive by Al-Assad and Russian forces has been taking place since December on the last enclave of the armed opposition - the Idlib province in Northwest Syria. There are about three million civilians in the small repertory, including refugees from other parts of the country. And also tens of thousands of fighters from opposition and Islamist militias, supported by Turkey. After a dangerous escalation between the rebels and Turkey, and the regime and Russia, a ceasefire was negotiated in March - but previously, such agreements fell apart over time. Meanwhile, the province is in the midst of a humanitarian crisis, hundreds of people have died or have been wounded due to bombing, nearly a million have fled their homes towards the closed Turkish border and are seeking shelter in refugee camps or in the open air. During the winter attack in February, people, including children, froze to death.
The so-called Islamic State is weakened - not only through the loss of territory, but also its leader. The leader of the so-called Islamic State Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed as a result of US special forces operations. However, the organization has not ceased to exist and continues to carry out attacks in Syria and other countries and inspires extremists around the world. On the one hand, dormant jihadist groups and “lone wolves” are a huge problem, and on the other - thousands of ISIS fighters and their families are being kept in prisons and camps. Many of them are citizens of other countries, including Western countries who do not intend to accept them back or judge them at home.
In the 10th year of the war, Bashar Al-Asad seems to be close to a victory. He controls most of the country, except for the Northwest (where the rebels are supported by Turkey) fragments of territory by the Turkish border, and areas where American troops are present (guarding the oil production near the Iraqi border). However, it is difficult to say that the situation is heading towards stability. Above the country hangs a speeding economic crisis, inflation and growing poverty. The dictator, with the help of allies from Russia and Iran, broke the armed rebellion, but Syria and its society are wrecked by the war.
The World Daily | News Desk
