SYRIA

 

As it is Syria is a very troubled and is prone to violence and turbulence all the time. The USA got involved in Syria in 2013 itself when it gave an aid of about USD 1 billion annually to the anti-government forces. No reason for the USA to intervene in the country’s internal politics like that.

Finally in Sep 2014 a US aided coalition got militarily involved in the conflict. This in turn pushed Russia in to Syria to stop the expansion of the US interests. This American intervention led to about 300,000 people dying in the Civil war between 2014 and 2017 in a period of 3 years. There are very few army deaths and most of these dead are civilians.  

SYRIA AND THE POLITICS OF COUNTRIES.

Syria got Independence from the French in the year 1946 when the British forced the French to evacuate their troops from Syria.

In 1948, the Syrian forces invaded Palestine along with other Arab states and attacked the Jewish settlements. The idea behind this attack was to stop the formation of Israel. For this Syria took the services of former Nazis. Syria was defeated in this war and that resulted in 2 rapid coups in Syria in 1949. The person who came to power in the later coup abolished the multiparty system altogether. He was himself overthrown in 1954 and the Parliamentary system was restored.

However, by that time power got concentrated in the military and the security establishment. This gave rise to various civil and religious movements and unrest. In 1956, Syria signed a pact with the Soviet Union in exchange for military equipment.

In 1958, Syria and Egypt announced a merger of Syria and Egypt creating the United Arab Republic. This led to the cessation of all dissident activity in Syria. Then a group of military officers of the Baath (Communist party) feeling their party’s waning influence in the union formed a secret military committee. One of the 3 members of the committee was Captain Hafez El Asad. Syria seceded from the Union after a coup in 1961. This coup led to another coup by the Baath party in 1963.

Schisms again emerged in the Baath party and by 1970 Hafez El Asad managed to emerge as its leader.  In 1967 a state of war existed between Syria and Israel. When the 6 day war broke out between Egypt and Israel Syria immediately joined the war. After taking care of Egypt, Israel attacked Syria and took their Golan Heights in a matter of 48 hours. This caused a split between Baath party leaders. This led to the bloodless coup in 1970 in which Asad came to power.

In 1973 Egypt and Syria initiated the Yom Kippur war against Israel. Israel reversed the initial Syrian gains and pushed deeper into Syrian territory.

In the later 1970’s there was an uprising by the Islamic Brotherhood when Islamists attacked civilian and military installations. This led to retaliatory strikes by the army on civilians in the movement. In the 1982 Hama Massacre some 10,000 to 40,000 civilians were killed by Syrian troops.

Syria had a schism with other Arab states when Syria participated in the US led Gulf war. Later it negotiated with Israel but the talks  failed.

Hafez Al Asad died in the year 2000 and his son Bashar Al Asad was elected as President in an election which he had no contest.

In 2003 Israel bombed a site near Damascus claiming it to be a terrorist training facility. In 2004 Syrian Kurds and Arabs clashed in a couple of cities. In 2005 Syria withdrew its army from Lebanon. In 2007 suspected Israeli jets carried out Operation Orchard against an alleged nuclear facility in Syria.

The current on-going Civil war began 2011 as a chain of peaceful protests. The Syrian army took action on them. Then army defectors formed the Free Syrian Army and started fighting the Syrian army. The government is dominated by ALAWITES which is a Shia Muslim group whereas the opposition is Sunni. The war also involves the Islamic groups IS and Al Nusra and of course foreign countries as well. By October 2017 itself 300,000 people were killed in this civil war between 2014 and 2017, most of the being civilians. That is some 1.4% of Syria’s population of 2.2 crores.

In 2013, the US aided anti-government forces to fight the government. In Sep 2014 a US led coalition intervened militarily in Syria and supported the Syrian opposition that was fighting against President Bashar Al Asad. In Oct 2015 it supported the formation of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) which is made up of Kurdish militia.

In Sep 2015 Russia actively intervened in the Syrian Civil war to aid Bashar Al Asad and deployed its forces. It leased an Airbase and Naval base in Syria for 49 years and stationed its troops there. In the Kurdish majority Northeast Syria, Russia is building a new base. Russia has also supplied Mig 29’s to Syria.

So as usual in Syria too there is a proxy war between the USA and Russia, with the USA actually initiating the race.