Opportunity for hope after decade of agony for war-torn Syria
- It has been 10 years since the start of the popular uprising against the Assad regime that quickly evolved into a civil war. The cost of the conflict has been appalling but now a fragile ceasefire may be a chance for a countrywide truce and a push to lasting peace
Syrians have lived with conflict, destruction, loss and suffering for the past decade. The popular uprising against President Bashar al-Assad that began 10 years ago this week quickly evolved from peaceful protests to civil war.
Hundreds of rebel and jihadist groups joined the fighting and foreign powers with regional ambitions muddied the waters, Russia and Iran siding with the regime, and Turkey, European countries and the United States backing opposition forces.
Ceasefires have repeatedly collapsed, peace deals foundered and the diversion of international attention and resources as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic would seem to bode poorly for an end to the misery for the nation’s 23 million people, with more than half displaced and 80 per cent living in poverty and 60 per cent at risk of hunger.
The cost of the conflict has been appalling. About 500,000 people, most of them civilians, have been killed.
Of the 12 million who have been displaced, 5.6 million are refugees, the majority in neighbouring Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. The remaining 6.6 million are still in Syria, unable to return to their homes, which are either in urban battle zones, occupied territory or in ruins.
Assad has regained about 70 per cent of the country and is firmly in control. But the economy has collapsed, hit by the strains of war, Western sanctions and the pandemic, and cities including Aleppo and Homs have been largely reduced to rubble.
The northwestern province of Idlib is still dominated by armed groups and Turkish-backed rebels are in charge of long stretches of the border with Turkey. Politically, Syria remains deeply divided and while refugees in Lebanon, hit by a financial meltdown, are eager to return home, many of the estimated 4.5 million in Turkey have new lives with jobs and schools for their children and no intention of leaving.
But while circumstances for many Syrians would seem grim, a window of opportunity has opened that warring sides should not ignore. A fragile ceasefire is in place between government forces and the rebels in Idlib, the first time front lines have been static for a protracted period.
The United Nations’ special envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen, sees it as an opportunity for a countrywide truce and fresh push to negotiate a power-sharing deal and lasting peace. That could lead to a rebuilding of the nation and help restore stability to an arc of the Middle East fractured by sectarian conflict that also includes Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.
10 years on, no end to suffering in war-torn Syria
Assad has so far refused to negotiate. Without resolution, though, the conflict could drag on for years more.
Covid-19 has led to distractions and sapped valuable financial and material resources, but governments that have furthered the crisis, the US included, have an obligation to push for peace talks. Syrians have suffered enough.
