Despite 10 years of murderous strife, it is ‘politics as usual’ in Syria
Talmiz Ahmad
More than half of the country’s 20 million people have been displaced. (AFP)
Short Url
https://arab.news/4hjzk
Ten years after an innocuous piece of graffiti scrawled on the walls of Deraa by some children led to fratricidal confrontations across Syria, the figures of death and destruction are mind-boggling as nearly half-a-million Syrians are now dead.
Among the dead are 12,000 children and one out of every six Syrians has had one of their parents killed or wounded.
More than half of the country’s 20 million people have been displaced, half of them refugees. In north Syria, a million displaced people live in about 1,300 camps that lack basic infrastructure roads, water supply, or sewage facilities. More than 80 percent of the population is experiencing poverty, 12.4 million are food insecure, 15 million do not have access to clean water, and 2.5 million children are without educati
March 11, 2021: The fighting in Syria has been going on for ten years, and there is no end in sight as long as Iran continues to use Syria as a staging area for a direct attack on Israel. This has turned Iran into the into the widely accepted bad guy in Syria. This was something Iran sought to avoid, but Iran’s “allies” Russia, Turkey and the Assads are now all working against Iran. Popular opinion and governments in Iraq and Lebanon are now actively hostile towards Iran. Back home most Iranians see the Syrian War as a disaster for Iran. The cost of the war is pushing more Iranians into poverty and the religious dictatorship that has ruled Iran since the 1980s considers the destruction of Israel as worth any cost. Most Iranians, and everyone in the region, disagree with this. The Iranian leadership is not dissuaded because they are on a Mission From God which means no earthly power can interfere. This will not end well.
The Syrian armed opposition factions are accusing the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces of planting explosive devices in fuel-laden trucks along the border with the opposition areas to prevent smuggling of fuel.
Russia is trying to extort the Syrian Democratic Forces in northeast Syria by threatening to retreat from its locations and leave the SDF at the mercy of the threats of the Turkish army and its allies, if the SDF does not respond to Russia’s demands and interests.
Is 2021 the year for decisive steps towards repatriating the foreign children held in northeast Syria camps? syriadirect.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from syriadirect.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.