Two years of brutal fighting, over 70,000 lives lost, yet no international intervention for Syria

A Syrian man with the Syrian Flag painted on his face.

The Syrian Uprising, which started on April 2011, is a civil war between rebels, whose goal is to oust their ruthless leader, and the Assad government, who show no desire of stepping down. According to the United Nations, over 70,000 people have died throughout the past two years of the war, of which most are civilians. After a lot of bloodshed, displacement of Syrians into refugee camps set in bordering countries, i.e. Jordan, Turkey, etc., and destruction of historical cities, why hasn’t there been international intervention? Yes, there has been a lot of financial aid, the United States recently said it will donate two hundred billion dollars, however, not a single international army has been sent to end the war.

Three UN Draft Resolutions

The UN in New York City.

The United Nations is an international institution whose aim includes encouraging and assisting peace, human rights, social rights, stopping wars, etc. Insofar the UN Security Council has drafted three resolutions for Syria.  One of these was a resolution that called for President Bashar Al-Assad to step down. Another was brought forth by the Arab League in an attempt to end the then 11 month old conflict. The latest, a British sponsored resolution, was aimed at punishing the Assad government with economic sanctions after Syria failed to abide by a UN peace plan drafted by then UN and Arab League special envoy, Koffi Anan. After so much time spent in meetings and voting by the international community, and a lot of media coverage, why has there been no outside intervention in Syria?

China-Russia Veto

Russia’s President Putin and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad shake hands at a meeting in Moscow.

Both the Russian government and Chinese government, at first, supported    President Assad by objecting to any UN resolution that would endorse the leader  for fighting to maintain his family’s rule of four decades.  While China has withdrawn its support for the Ba’ath party, Russia is, till today, strongly backing the Syrian government. Furthermore, the Russian government, President Assad’s biggest foreigner supporter, has accused western nations of encouraging support for the rebels. While Moscow does not fully agree with the actions of the Ba’ath government, it opposes any external intervention, especially the likes of the Western intervention in Libya. Additionally, Russia continues to deliver arms to Syrian forces. It has been reported that contracts between the two nations total up to about 1.5 billion dollars.

Russia remains to be President Assad’s only ally within the UN Security Council and the Middle East. Also, throughout the world today, only Russia is strongly opposing sanctions that would put an end to the rule of the Ba’ath party. While there have been a lot of speculations as to why Russia is so intent on making sure no international intervention comes to Syria, Russia stands by its belief that President Assad should have the chance to resolve the issues within his country. Furthermore, according to analyst Alexei Vorobyov, “Russia is constantly losing allies… there are practically no countries that may be called our friends.” Perhaps Russia’s support is due to its lack of allies and its desire to maintain its close relationship with Syria. Or maybe it is because of the good relationship that the two countries share? Russia has a navy facility in the port city of Tartus. Also, Russian exports to Syria amount to billions of dollars.  No matter what Russia’s reason(s) for backing the Assad regime is, according to BBC specialists, Moscow is only benefiting very little from it. According to three New York Times writers, Russia has lost its international position and is increasing its isolation by vetoing UN sanctions for Syria. Also, apart from the Ba’aath party, Moscow seems to be losing its influence on the Arab world as most, if not all, Arab nations want the UN Security Council to make it possible for Assad to step down as president.

The Guardian recently published an article titled, “Syria: the failure of our so-called international community” by Desmond Tutu. After writing about the bombs that are tearing down the homes of Syrians and the millions of refugees who are fleeing to Jordanian, Lebanese, and Turkish shelters, Tutu asks the question when help will be provided to Syrian civilians. Out of the 70,000 dead, most are civilians and children, who seem to be suffering the most.  When asked by the BBC if he misses playing with his friends, he responded, “They are all dead.”

A Syrian Girl holding a, “Help The Syrian People” sign.

Whatever Russia’s reasons are for being on the opposite side of the rest of the four Permanent Five members of the UN Security Council, let’s hope it does not veto any more draft resolutions. And that Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN-Arab peace envoy to Syria, is able to “help reach a breakthrough in the crisis very soon.