Syrian Political Crisis - Coursework Example

Syrian political crisis: Introduction:- The Syrian political crisis amount to one of the most dangerous and deeply rooted political disputes in the modern times. The importance of the crisis has grown multi fold based on the fact that international players are involved in it directly and indirectly. Furthermore, the geostrategic positioning of Syria has made the overall situation further complex and difficult to resolve. This paper looks into the current state of crisis in Syria, the brief background and historical perspective behind the Syrian crisis, the global domains and dimensions of the war, the civilian and social aspect of the war, the possible solutions and other important dimensions associated with it. Geographical and historical background: Syria remained under the colonial empire rule for a large portion of 18th to 20th century and it got its independence towards the middle of 20th century. Syria is surrounded by number of Arab states namely Lebanon, Jordan. An important factor that adds to its geographical importance is that of the sharing of Syria’s border with Israel. Based on this, Syria has had its disputes with Israel over share over parts of places. Since Israel is the Jew state in the region, any country that has its border with it will have an important strategic positioning. The Golan Heights which are significant on account of historic and strategic perspective are also split between Israel and Syria. Another geographical importance of Syria is the fact that a narrow strip runs deep down till the lower end of Iran. Since Iran itself has had a troubled past with regard to the recent years global activities, direct engagement, exchange of goods, supplies, arms and other trading elements are point of concern and at times violations owing to the overall sanctions on Iran. The Hezbollah strip sequence in Jordan and Syria’s links there are another political concern that is added through the geographical existence of Syria. Demographic facts: Syria is a multi cultural society that has the different communities existing within. These include Sunni Muslims in a large proportion making up for the majority. The Sunnis are the Salafis. The Shiites make up for the next largest ethnic group however their percentage is less as compared to the Sunni population. The next in line are Kurds that are spread across different parts of Middle East including Turkey and Iraq. There are traces of Jews living within Syria as well. The point of conflict and concern: Since Syria itself is a Sunni population dominated country, the ruling regime in place is representative of the Shiite community. The Shiite in contrast make up for at best 18 to 20 percent of the population. This has severe concerns and resentment among the common masses towards the true representation and absence of democracy within the country. The Sunnis have felt being ignored by the Shiite favored and Shiite centric government. The other factors that have led to the dissatisfaction including the overall working of the government. Syria has become a virtual one party state. More so, it has become a dynastic seat of power where the power has been exchanged and forwarded from the father to the Son. Bashar AL Asad who is the incumbent President of Syria got the authority after his Father Hafiz Al Asad has had over thirty years of rule as a dictator. Hafiz Al Asad himself was a defense minister of Syria from 1963 till 1970 and in the year 1970, Hafiz Al Asad staged a coup, ousting the government and establishing himself as the de facto ruler of the country, paving way for long and unending dynastic rule in the form of modern day Syrian government structure. Hafiz Al Asad has failed to deliver in terms of basic human rights, democracy, people’s concerns, inflation, economic troubles, educational uplift, media and its freedom, and equality and equal representation of the masses based on their population and their respective representation. Similarly, the curbing of other political parties and enjoining only one party to rule in the country has been another point of conflict. The element of Arab Spring: The Arab spring that dawned on the Middle East and other adjoining areas has had an impact on the mindset of the people of Syria. Since they saw their neighboring states and its people rising in hands against the tyrants, the people got their motivation from it and rose in revolt against Bashar Al Asad towards early part of 2012. Their demand has been election, free and fair representation and elimination of the dynastic politics and family rule in the form of abolishing of the rule of Bashar AL Asad. As a result of this, the country has been split into a virtual civil war. The war that started in 2012 has become the deadliest in the history of Syria. Fact file: The Civil war is getting bloodier by the day. According to the reports of United Nations and other Human rights watch dog, the war has so far eaten up over a hundred thousand citizens. The refugees’ camps present a dismal state of outlook. With over four million displaced out of the country into the bordering countries like Turkey, Jordan and Iraq and over two million people displaced internally within Syria (Epstein). Furthermore, as many as over thirty thousand people have been reported to be missing due to the atrocities and the reactionary policies of the Syrian army working under the Bashar Al Asad regime. Global community’s stance: The global community along with the United Nations human rights entities has shown concern on the overall growing crisis and the civil war that is engaged within. United Nations General Assembly has shown its concerns. United States of America brought a move aiming to take grant from the global community towards the possible offensive against Bashar Al Asad. However the split between the veto powers in the form of Russia, China on one side and the Western Allies on other has led to split and did not allow the combined offensive being engaged against Bashar Al Asad regime. Bashar Al Asad’s regime’s offensives: The Kurd population that has long demanded its protection of the basic human and civil rights has been subjected to atrocities. The event of extent went up to the level of using chemical weapons against them. In July August 2013 an alleged usage of chemical weapons was reported from Bashar Al Asad against his own people. This resulted in massive killing of the people and a direct outcry from the global community asking for actions against it. The existence of the secret police forces and other secret agencies is part of the same atrocities that are visible within Syria. The rise of F.S.A: Free Syrian Army comprises of the rebels group that do not accept the status of Bashar Al Asad any more .Similarly, the opposition parties that were not allowed contesting freely previously have joined together and made a group of seven parties under one banner opposing and resisting Bashar Al Asad. Further entanglement: At present the country is virtually split into the state of a civil war. Bashar Al Asad and his forces are largely dominant in the capital Damascus. The rebel groups are in the other cities. The point of conflict and concern has grown alarmingly dangerous with the presence and encroachment of the I.S.I.S who have established their control over parts of the region. They have even declared a capital city which is part of Syria. The way forward: Sanity needs to prevail and a solution needs to be devised. The civilians are in the direct line of fire and the United Nations need to find a way to solve these issues. The local political parties, as well as the Middle East forces in the form of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Iran need to play a role towards resolving the issue. The sovereignty of Syria must also be respected, at the same time, it should be taken into account that the Bashar AL Asad and his tyrant rule cannot go on for further long since it has constantly violated and overlooked the people’s rights and the people have lost their confidence over his leadership and representation abilities. The Arab League as well as the O.I.C has got its work cut out and each of these need to at first bring the two parties to table. The second immediate step should be enforcing a truce and ceasefire and after that aim at finding a political solution to the crisis. This in parallel should look into the immediate and quick rehabilitation of the common man that has been displaced in millions. General Assembly of United Nations should also take into account the facts that have led to it. the Syrian crisis as a whole is a wakeup call that even demands an addressing and re assessing the role of Security Council that was exposed in its inefficiency due to the split between the two blocs within the security Council. References: Epstein, Kayla. Syria crisis: reader responses on how the global community should respond. Aug 28 2013. 8 Dc 2014 Read More