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Clashing Declarations for Syria |
15 June 2012by Gun Unal, JTW
The Syrian unrest has recently been one of the most disputed issues in the world. Russia and the U.S. already expressed their opinion on Syria. Foreign Minister of Russia Sergei Lavrov guaranteed that there will be no intervention in the unrest, especially by the U.N. Security Council concerning the six-point plan of Annan for a ceasefire and stabilization in Syria. On the other hand, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton explicitly expressed that Assad should leave to let Syria have peace again, and called on the international community to act on a plan for saving the Syrians who fight for their universal human rights.
The uprisings in Syria against the al-Assad government led to an international incident in world politics and caught the attention of the U.N. and U.S. in terms of an attempt to stabilize the chaotic environment in Syria that stems from the clashes of rebel forces and the government’s forces. The clash of these two parties is not news to either Syrian society or the government. So far 9000 casualties are reported as the total sum since the beginning of the Assad regime.
However, the massacres in Houla and Hama including children and women pushed the international authorities to intervene in the region. The government denied any connection to the massacre and accused non-government armed groups.
After a decade of the Assad government, last March violent clashes took place and quickly turned into a sectarian conflict due to the top positions in Syria being occupied by Alawites supporting Assad while the majority consisting of Sunnis is against Assad.
The U.N. and especially Annan came up with a plan for a solid political transition to end the unrest in Syria jointly with Secretary of State Clinton's attempts to intervene in and end the turmoil in Syria, therefore partially in the Middle East. Their agenda is to form a multinational task force for a legitimate and efficient action plan, and on the way persuade specific states that oppose any possible intervention in Syria, specifically Russia which rejects any action by the U.N. Security Council for the Syrian uprisings.
Russia also calls the killings “provocation,” the struggle of the U.N. Security Council a pro-rebel bias, and simply objects any military intervention under the U.N., as does China though it sincerely supports Annan's plan to bring peace in Syria.
An efficient intervention in terms of a common act by the Security Council has Russia in its way. If the U.S. fails to persuade Russia, or even China, the U.N.'s call to end the turmoil is off. On the other hand, Annan's peace plan might form an international front and call for intervention via other sources such as media and non-governmental organizations, and help Syria out of the sectarian clashes.
Riots in Lebanon
Since the beginning of 2011, even before Lebanon was on and off in terms of clashes as the home of many ethnicities and religions, including sects. Recently, the chaos in Syria led to unrest in Lebanon, the clash of pro-Syrian Alawite Muslims who advocate for al-Assad and anti-Syrian Sunni Muslims who prefer Assad overthrown, leading to severe consequences. Initially, the killing of two Sunni clerics who were anti-Syrian at the border of Tripoli in the north of the country started the whole turmoil. Tripoli has become an area of bloody clashes and at least ten casualties have been reported so far.
The uprisings in Syria against the al-Assad government led to an international incident in world politics as much as it did in neighboring countries such Lebanon. The ethnic structure of Lebanon is quite vulnerable to being effected by the clashes in Syria, which have already turned into s sectarian conflict between Alawites and Sunnis.
The previous unrest in Lebanon including the two sects involved the 2005 riots and had a different reason: the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. This unfortunate incident had united Lebanese citizens regardless of their sects since Hariri was a prestigious statesman and favored by Lebanese society.
The current clash concerns people from different sects and especially political views built on these characteristics. The conflict seems it will carry on until an efficient solution comes to Syria and ends the imbalance of the current dynamics of sectarian politics. |
15 June 2012
Journal of Turkish Weekly
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