Have We Learned Nothing From the Nineties? #Syria is the Balkans All Over Again

Radwan Ziadeh 22/03/12

As the international community continues to debate high-minded principles of national sovereignty, Syria continues its downward spiral into unmitigated chaos. The bitter truth is that the longer this situation continues, the deeper the scars will be once the nation has been freed of Bashar Al-Assad. Increasingly, crimes against humanity are being committed by both sides, as the Free Syria Army struggles to incorporate and maintain control over its armed rebel brigades.

But as harrowing as the details of the current situation are, the basic principles at stake are very clear. Indeed, the United States, and other countries in the West, ought to reflect on the Syrian conflict’s strong resemblance to the situation in Yugoslavia in the 1990s. That would clarify, if the events on the ground have not already, that the international community has a responsibility to intervene. More than that, it would underscore that the main source of regret, years from now, will be that it delayed so long in doing so. 

The most obvious, and sobering, comparison that presents itself is between Bashar Al Assad and former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic. Both are guilty, of course, of wide-scale crimes against humanity. Indeed, the military strategies of these two dictators also bear strong resemblances to one another. Assad’s siege of Homs clearly recalls Milosevic’s bombardment of Sarajevo.

But these two men also shared a similarly cynical political sensibility: Any and all ideologies were subordinate to their desire to establish personal power. Both had a record of supporting unity when it was in their interests, only to switch to supporting virulent sectarian nationalism when circumstances changed. In short, they are leaders who acquire influence in the least sustainable of fashions, by constantly manipulating their own people. 

There are also more personal resemblances between the two leaders. Heads of state who met with Milosevic leader frequently noted that he had a mercurial personality, which fluctuated between uncompromising public positions and a relaxed and removed private demeanor. Bashar al-Assad seems to have a similar cast of mind. Leaked emails sent to and from Bashar’s personal account that were acquired by The Guardian show that, in his consultations with his small circle of advisors, he often flip-flops on his positions without much semblance of independent thought or decision-making.

(Those emails also show a disconcerting similarity in their cultural tastes: Both dictators seemed to eschew high culture for (sometimes crude) popular art. Milosevic’s colleagues have recalled his affinity for Disney comics and Frank Sinatra tunes, while Bashar’s emails show him to be a fan of Chris Brown, LMFAO, and Harry Potter.) 

The Free Syria Army, for its part, invites parallels to the Kosovo Liberation Army. Like Milosevic once did with the KLA, Bashar has tried to label the FSA a terrorist group. The United States should have the foresight, as it did then, to resist such propaganda.

That is not to say that any of these groups are entirely innocent: Indeed, the KLA committed deplorable acts in the 1990s, like enlisting children, just as the FSA has been recently accused of committing crimes in a report by Human Rights Watch. But this serves only to highlight the importance of international assistance to the FSA, in order to ensure that they comply with international human rights standards and war conventions. Of course, the considerations here are not only humanitarian, but strategic: The reason that the KLA was militarily successful in the 1990s was that it received military, intelligence, and tactical assistance from Germany, and possibly from the intelligence agencies of the United States, Britain, and Switzerland.

Fortunately, prominent U.S. congressmen are rising to the occasion now with their support for the FSA, as they did then with the KLA. Representative Dana Rohrabacher was outspoken in opposing ground troops in Kosovo, but he passionately advocated arming the KLA. Senator John McCain, for his part, has gone even further in his statements regarding the FSA, saying that arming and supporting them is necessary, but insufficient at this point. McCain has suggested that, “at the request of the Syrian National Council, the Free Syrian Army, local coordinating committees inside the country, the United States should lead an international effort to protect key population centers in Syria, especially in the north, through air strikes on Assad’s forces.” This is the type of leadership that history justly tends to reward.

There is, however, one potential similarity that we should desperately hope does not recur: further delay. President Bill Clinton’s notorious reluctance to act in the Balkans came at the expense of many lives. Unfortunately, President Obama has displayed a similar reticence toward Syria. Now, as then, oppressed populations are being asked to invest their hopes in a U.N. envoy. It is at times like these that history’s tendency to repeat itself has the perverse and horrific effect of forcing us to relive a nightmare. 

Source: tnr.com

#Syria’s sectarian war goes international as foreign fighters and arms pour into country

After years of Syrian insurgents and weaponry infiltrating Iraq, now the traffic goes the other way

The attack at night was sudden and fierce, mortar rounds followed by machine-gun fire. There was panic among some of the inexperienced Syrian rebel fighters. But Sadoun al-Husseini had seen it all before.

Mr Husseini got his combat experience in Iraq, fighting first against American forces and then as a member of the “Anbar Awakening”, when Sunni nationalists turned their guns against foreign fighters affiliated with al-Qa’ida.

His presence inside Syria, where an overwhelmingly Sunni uprising is taking place against Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite-dominated establishment, can be interpreted as an example of the country’s civil war turning into an international sectarian conflict, a source of great unease in the region. Or it could be, as the 36-year-old engineer from the Iraqi city of Ramadi insisted, an expression of solidarity with oppressed brethren sharing a common heritage.

What it does illustrate is a reversal of roles between two countries. For years after the US-led invasion of Iraq, weapons and fighters slipped in across the border from Syria. Now the roles are being reversed with the flow coming the other way, although the numbers involved remain unclear.

Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden’s successor as head of al-Qa’ida, declared this month that it was the duty of all Muslims to take part in jihad in Syria. The organisation’s Iraqi arm was, according to some American officials, responsible for recent bombings in Damascus and one in Aleppo. A message on the website of al-Qa’ida in Iraq said: “A lot of people fought side-by-side with the Islamic state of Iraq and it is good news to hear about the arrival of Iraqi fighters to help their brethren in Syria.”

Mr Husseini had already been into Syria through Iraq’s Anbar province. He maintained that his visit to the Idlib area, a circuitous route through Turkey, was part of a humanitarian mission. He got caught up in violence, he said, when regime forces attacked a village.

Speaking to The Independent inside Syria, he said: “Our Syrian brothers are fighting their own war. I am not involved. But it is the duty of all true Muslims to help people in this struggle. We are just trying to work out what help is needed. People in Iraq and other countries are seeing the suffering that is taking place and I am working with a group that is giving support – but it is all peaceful.”

Mr Husseini acknowledged some arms may be coming across the Iraqi border. “This is something I have heard,” he said. “There are plenty of guns, rocket-propelled grenades, other things one can buy in Iraq. So some businessmen are maybe doing this.”

He did not want to reveal details of the group he is working with for “security reasons”. But he said: “We are the same family. There may be a lot of refugees coming into Iraq and we must look after them, just as the Syrians looked after us when people from Iraq had to escape there. Yes, I have heard all this talk of al-Qa’ida doing things in Syria. But that does not have the support of true Iraqis… this is propaganda, spread inside Iraq by people who want to damage solidarity with Syria.”

The Shia-dominated Iraqi government has said it is taking urgent steps to stop arms going into Syria. The office of the Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, said he held a meeting at the weekend “to work on closing all the gaps over the border with Syria, which terrorists and criminal gangs are using for all kinds of smuggling, including arms”.

Yet the worry of sectarian strife spilling across the region continues to grow. Yesterday, in the southern Turkish city of Antakya, a demonstration took place in support of the Syrian regime by about 3,000 people, the vast majority of them Alawites, chanting: “We shall shed our blood for you, Assad.”

Inside Syria, meanwhile, the official news agency, Sana, reported that gunmen killed a state prosecutor and a judge in Idlib province. They blamed “terrorists” – a catch-all phrase the regime uses to describe anyone opposed to President Assad’s rule.

Source: independent.co.uk