Why is Syria at War?

By: Satarupa Mishra

Image Source: Getty Image

When life gives you lemons, make your own lemon cheese cake out of it. In case you are in doubt about the recipe, shift to lemon and coriander soup or any recipe that you know. But for God’s sake, do not allow master cooks from neighbourhood to cook a lemon dish for you. You never know when the authority over your kitchen is seized in a flicker by your neighbours, leaving you kitchen-less and hungry. Oh! If only Syria could have had a chance to follow this!

When political stagnation had given Syria dictatorship personified in Hafez al-Assad, and later in his son Bashar al-Assad, the country decided to follow the footsteps of Tunisia to unleash an era of democracy. But what began as a revolution for democracy in the line of Arab Spring, have turned into a spoilt broth of civil war… err reinforcement of Islamic fundamentalism… err the clash of the neighbours called Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey… err the clash of the titans called the US and Russia. While the Syrian citizens are massacred and displaced from their own homeland, the country of the size of Washington DC is turning into a proxy battleground for diverse factions and intentions.

The number of elements operating in Syria right now would have left Dmitri Mendeleev baffled if he had to develop the Periodic Table at today’s date. An opposition rose in protest, demonstrating against the government and demanding Bashar al-Assad to step down. Following oppressive measures taken by the Assad regime, the demonstrations assumed an armed rebellion, thereby shaping the first element, the rebel group Free Syrian Army (SFA). And then enters the second element, the US – the fair peacemaker. Tagging the rebels as moderates, skilled and organized, our fair peacemaker decided to invest money and resources to train the rebels with weaponries in order to terminate Bashar al-Assad’s dictatorial tenure. But uprooting the dictatorship isn’t easy when it has a superpower-full friend in the third element, Russia. Having been allowed a naval base set-up in Syria that gives them access to the Mediterranean belt, how could the superpower afford to see the Assad regime topple down! Also, if the US and the European nations are taking side of the rebels, how could Russia have not done otherwise!

One bombastic day, it so happened that our fourth element, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) began to arm-storm its presence by capturing areas of the country over the SFA rebels. Adding to the worse, some members of the SFA now decided to fight for Islam than for democracy, and joined the jihadi groups like the ISIS and the fifth element, the al-Qaeda affiliated al-Nusra Front.

We also have the Syrian ethnic minority, the Kurds, playing a vital role here. Retaliating against the Syrian government for alleged discrimination and mistreatment, the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) was created to control the Kurdish-inhabited areas in Syria. Significantly, a YPG-dominated alliance was formed of the Arab, Assyrians, Armenian, Turkmen and Kurdish (mostly Sunnis) militias, demanding for a democratic and federalist Syria. This alliance is our sixth element, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Although the alliance was made to oppose the Assad Government and establish federalism in the country, it, however, directs most of its efforts fighting the al-Nusra Front and the ISIS. And its fight is formidably backed by the US.

A revolution for democracy is now also turning into a fight for supremacy among the Islamic factions of the Shia and the Sunni. Here enters the neighbours, our seventh and eight elements – Iran and Saudi Arabia. While the Shia-dominated Iran is backing the Shia-Alawite Syrian Government with its arms and military resources, the Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia is trying to consolidate its influence over the rival Iran by providing military and financial assistance to the Sunni-majority rebels.

Turkey, the ninth element, has been staunchly supporting the rebels, barring the YPG, which according to the nation, is an extension of the banned Turkish Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has been waging an armed rebellion against the Turkish state demanding equal rights and self-determination for the Kurds in Turkey.

Image Source: The Guardian

If Syria had a single lemon (issue) to tackle or battle, with the actions, interactions and reactions of all the elements coming in, even that lemon has confused its original chemical formula (the root of the issue). A battle to reinforce a Government of the people, for the people, and by the people has been supremely elevated to a battle of religion, human egos, world powers and everything else, except for a battle to re-establish humanity. Isn’t it an irony that the US had to bomb Syria in order to warn the Assad regime to establish peace and non-violence after its alleged deadly chemical attack in April 2017?

None of us can see the horizon at which this war would cease because this war has lost its core purpose and direction. All the master chefs are trying to cook their own favourite lemon recipes while the lemons have turned rotten. And when I relate this unfortunate story to my mom, she asks me with puppy-eyes, “But why is Syria at war?” Her innocent question has the depth to which I have no real answer…