(Zaman Al Wasl)- Another anniversary of the Syrian revolution stands witness to the torture and slaughter of its people, and to the lack of humanitarian stand from the international community to stop the unlawful attacks on civilians by internationally banned and indiscriminate weapons.
Nine years of daily killings of children, women, and elderly have passed. The UNICEF has recently declared that, “a child is killed every 10 hours in Syria”, not counting the massacres and the children in camps with no protection from the cold or the heat, or those who are besieged inside their towns by the army.
On the anniversary of the revolution, Geir O. Pederson, UN special envoy for Syria, stated that, “The horrific and enduring nature of the conflict is proof of a collective failure of diplomacy,” and that “The suffering of the Syrian people during this tragic and terrible decade still defies comprehension and belief.”
The Syrian Network for Human Rights has reported the death of 226,247 civilians, including 14,391 under torture, the forced disappearance of 100,000 civilians, the displacement of 15.2 million Syrians, documenting 222 chemical attacks, 492 cluster munitions, and 81,916 barrel bombs.
Ahmad Tallawy, member of the White Helmets, said that despite the documentation of the regime’s many massacres and crimes, no one has been held accountable. He was disconcerted by the lack of international protection for civil defense teams, who have been specifically targeted after raids. Civil Defense centers have been the first to be targeted by the regime and Russian forces in every bombing raids, preventing them from providing assistance to civilians.
The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that, “Millions of civilians continue to face protection risks, over half the population has been forced to flee their homes with millions living in precarious conditions as refugees and 11 million continue to require life-saving humanitarian assistance. We have seen nine years of horrific atrocities, including war crimes. Nine years of human rights abuses on a massive and systematic scale, eroding international norms to new depths of cruelty and suffering.”
Activist and journalist Mansour Al-Omari confirmed that, "The international community, with its organizations and governments, has taken a firm stance on Syria since March 2011; statements of condemnation without action, as it stood by and watched Syrians being massacred with thousands of detainees tortured in Assad's prisons.” International laws have effectively prevented intervention by force except by a decision of the Security Council, mostly based on the interests of nations. “From an activist standpoint and monitoring violations in Syria, international human rights organizations have made clear efforts to document the crimes committed in Syria, and to communicate them to the Security Council and the United Nations, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and Reporters Without Borders.” However, these organizations do not have the authority or capabilities to intervene like countries. Al-Omari said that the priority of the European Union is the refugees, which is what drives it to support the UN efforts to develop a constitution and a political solution that includes the regime, in order to classify Syria as safe for the refugees to return.
Journalist Abbas Al-Dairi said that, "From my point of view, the international community deliberately and intentionally chose to not support the revolution. Western organizations mostly supported specific institutions, first, to promote their ideas, and second, for intelligence purposes.” He said that young journalists in Syria worked diligently to broadcast and report news around the year, able to compete with even the largest Arab channels. However, Arab intelligence forces and international organizations wanted to silence their voices and the voice of the revolution, closing the channel and deporting many of its workers to other countries.
On the military side, the Free Army factions were denied any weapons any real support from the great powers that claimed to stand by the people.
Colonel Dr. Abdullah Al-Asaad stated that the Assad’s security military’s response to peaceful movement forced them to raise arms to protect the demonstrators. In the second year of the revolution, Friends of Syria Group was formed, at the time, consisting of 117 countries unanimously recognizing this revolution as a legitimate right for the Syrian people. Rooms were created to support the revolution and arm them, until the end of 2015, when Russian forces intervened. At the time, the revolutionaries controlled 70% of Syrian territories, and although they were civilians, they have achieved great military victories.
“With Trump ruling the US, none of the 117 countries are left. The CIA program that armed moderate opposition factions was cancelled. With no one to arm the forces of the revolution, the reconciliation took place, finding themselves alone, except for Turkey, which, since the interests of the Syrian people are compatible with its national interest, is now fighting alongside the Free.”
Al-Asaad believes that, despite disputes over regional and international loyalties, there is no “dispersion” among the revolutionary factions. “In nine years, the Free Army achieved great victories, standing in the face of superpowers, including Russian forces and Chinese and North Korean battalions. Some Arab countries gave weapons to Assad to strengthen it, to spite Turkey, which stood with the oppressed Syrian people… Most leaders and the Syrian people in the liberated areas have faith in the Turkish state, which they consider as a liberator from the Russian occupation, the regime’s tyranny and the hidden Iranian hatred.”
By Mohamed al-Hammadi
Zaman A Wasl
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