NEWS

The city of Homs in Syria. Credit: Shutterstock.com.

By Odile Hugonot Haber and Regina Birchem
Middle East Committee

June 2020

The war in Syria, ongoing for nine years, leaves the country with a shattered infrastructure, more than 400 medical facilities damaged or completely destroyed, and schools, markets, and homes in rubble. It is estimated that 10.5 million people are in dire need of food, medications, clothing, and are traumatized. This makes them vulnerable to being recruited by one faction or another. To save their own lives they become pawns in what has become a high-level, violent, international conflict.

From 2006 to 2011, Syria and the whole eastern Mediterranean endured high temperatures, long-lasting drought and dust storms. Syria was already a poor country, so the devastated agriculture and food economy led to political unrest. What started on March 15, 2011 with civilian protests against President Bashar Al-Assad’s economic and social policies was met with military attacks by the government Baath Party forces. In July 2011, military defectors created the Free Syrian Army. Assad troops responded violently, imprisoning and killing hundreds.

A month later in August 2011, then-US President Obama called for Assad to step down. Obama was following the path of his US predecessors who in 2002 had placed Syria on their list of “axis of evil” countries, followed recommendations to “destabilize Syria”, and in 2004 imposed sanctions.

In December 2011 the Al-Nusra Front, a new Al-Qaeda affiliate, staged a suicide bombing in Damascus. Thereafter various rebel groups became part of the multi-faceted international conflict with state and non-state actors taking sides in pursuit of their different agendas. The conflict became about more than just regime change.

Here is a brief timeline of important events in Syria from 2012-2019.

Hostilities Continue

As this is being written in late May 2020, hostilities show no sign of abating. Even though Assad’s military has retaken much of the country, there is no peace.

According to the 2020 Report to the 43rd Session of the UN Human Rights Council by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, violations of international law continue with little protection for civilians. There is no effective peace process. Access to humanitarian aid and independent monitors and journalists is prohibited.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based organization, documented deaths of 384,000 persons over the nine years as of March 14, 2020. Opposition activist groups estimate the number of deaths are much higher, at least 586,100 people as of March 2020. Due to secrecy and lack of documentation, an estimated additional 105,000 persons have been tortured and killed in prisons and detention centers or in remote areas since 2011.  

The Syrian pre-war population was 20.8 million. More than half the population is displaced: 6.1 million internally displaced move about for safety; 1.5 million of these suffer permanent disabilities including 86,000 with loss of limbs. Outside of the country, 6.7 million Syrians make up ⅓ of the world’s refugees with 93% in Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan.

A Proxy War in Need of a Solution

What started as a civil war has now become a full-blown international conflict.

• Several New York Times articles have reported that President Obama had secretly authorized the Central Intelligence Agency in 2016 to arm Syria’s rebels in 2013 as partners of Saudi Arabia. (See "U.S. Relies Heavily on Saudi money to Support Syrian Rebels").
• According to this BBC article, "Why Is There a War in Syria?": In 2018 the US, France, and the United Kingdom carried out a series of military strikes against multiple government infrastructures to support what they considered to be the “Moderate Rebels.” But they have prioritized non-lethal assistance since jihadists became the dominant force in the armed op-position.
• Russia began bombing raids from on September 30, 2015, that continue to this day in sup-port of pro-regime forces. They also are known to target many hospitals.
• Israelis acknowledge doing many raids inside Syria and in the Golan heights.
• According to this October 16, 2019 CNN report, Turkish President Erdogan said a cease-fire was off the table. “Declare a ceasefire, they say. We will never declare a ceasefire," Erdogan said. "We do not sit at the table with terrorist organizations.”

The overall proxy war is for oil and gas, and for international and regional agendas. For the US, it is an international proxy war against Iran and Hezbollah, against multiple factions of Islamic terrorists, and against government forces. It is an extremely volatile and dangerous situation. All actors, including the United States, have violated International Law.

Though rubble is moved about, there has been no real reconstruction by the UN, NATO, or countries responsible for the destruction, nor have countries been held accountable for international law violations.

Most of the six UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Syria representing their ancient culture are destroyed or damaged.

Meanwhile, COVID-19 will continue to kill many people that have survived the war. It is a calamitous situation.

What is the solution? The UN Security Council is at an impasse, paralyzed due to the five nations holding veto power. All militants should leave Syria and all countries must stop providing weapons, profiteering from war and conflict, and harboring and training militants. Once these actions are taken, though it will still be difficult, Syria will be more able to address its future.

Note: On May 14, 2020, the US State Department notified Congress that Syria, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, and Cuba have been designated as non-cooperative countries in fighting terrorism.

Additional Sources:
https://borgenproject.org/top-10-facts-about-living-conditions-in-syria/
UN Human Rights Council, 43rd Session 2020 (A/HRC/43/57)
www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/16979186
www.sandersinstitute.com/blog/americas-true-role-in-syria

June 2020

There are two Earth Days this year – April 22 and November 4, Election Day. For the 50th year anniversary, the Earth Day International Network launched the global Earth Day 2020 "Vote Earth" Campaign. Now, we are facing the COVID-19 election emergency.

The organizers of Vote Earth state: “We face an environmental crisis that requires an urgent and transformative response.” They describe Vote Earth as “a global initiative that mobilizes millions of people to demonstrate their concern for our planet by rejecting inaction and demanding change at the polls” so we can “build a more sustainable, healthier and just world.”

They urge us to:

• Educate ourselves about the issues.
• Pledge to vote.
• Be sure to register to vote or call your election office to confirm that you are registered to vote.
• Talk to our young family members to encourage them to register and to vote.

In the past, voter suppression and access to the vote was a major focus of reform and legal challenges to protect the right to vote for African Americans and felons who had served their time. Now how we vote – whether at the polls or through vote-by-mail – has become dangerously politicized and contentious, and the foundation of our democracy is being shaken.     

To understand what is at stake and solutions, please read this introduction to the May 22, 2020 “Position Statement” by the National Election Defense Coalition. The entire Position Statement link includes extremely important and timely guidelines for election protection. The National Election Defense Coalition (NEDC) has built the only bipartisan movement in defense of election security, and is “educating, mobilizing, and moving the agenda for significant policy reform. The NEDC’s partners and allies range from trusted research institutions to leading advocacy organizations, and from progressive public interest groups to conservative national security organizations (see this list of national NGOs and leaders).  I am on the NEDC’s Board of Directors.

THE COVID-19 ELECTIONS EMERGENCY: FINDING BIPARTISAN COMMON GROUND AND COMMON SENSE SOLUTIONS  

In recent weeks a veritable tsunami of fundraising appeals have flooded Inboxes as partisan NGOs look to capitalize on the COVID-19 elections crisis, focusing on Vote by Mail (VBM) as either the solution to protect democracy, or an evil nexus of corruption. Some on the left insist that Democrats must promote universal VBM if they are to defeat Trump. Others on the right proclaim that the Democrats must be stopped from stealing the elections through VBM fraud, despite virtually no proof that such fraud existed in past elections.

The recent campaign for VBM federal mandates has unfortunately now made it a “Democratic wish list issue” and, unsurprisingly, a lightning rod for political opposition from Senator McConnell and President Trump. Particularly after VBM became a major part of a new $3.6 billion dollar House funding bill pushed by Democrats.

Turning VBM into a weaponized wedge issue, now expanded into a grass roots campaign aimed at the Senate, has not only created an inevitable Mexican stand-off, it has overwhelmed the discussion about other urgent and viable mitigations to the dangers posed by the pandemic this November.

Common ground and reasonable solutions do in fact exist, but time is quickly running out for a strong bipartisan push to ensure that effective, state-based efforts are funded and ready for 2020, and that our ballots are secured from hacking and counted with accuracy and transparency.

Every American has the right to vote and have their vote counted accurately. Please share this "Position Statement" with your family and friends, and encourage them to do all they can to defend election security and ensure we have effective, state-based systems in place by November 2020.

On Sunday we honor mothers. In this pandemic period, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom US honors all mothers and women nationwide who have lost their lives to COVID-19, including 88 (mostly female) nurses, as of this writing. Two women who had cared for both Civil War soldiers and community health needs founded Mother’s Day. In that horrific time of social and economic crisis, they advocated for peace. During this catastrophic pandemic, we, too, call for healthcare for all and peace as we celebrate Mother’s Day.

Today’s nurses carry on this dedication of the Mother’s Day founders. This year’s Nurses Week 2020, May 6-12, founded in the early 1990s, comes during the World Health Organization’s International Year of the Nurse and Midwife. Executive Director Bonnie Castillo, RN, of National Nurses United (NNU), the largest union of registered nurses in the United States, recently said: “In a year supposedly dedicated to us...we cannot emphasize enough that praise is empty – even insulting – without protections.” On May 7, in front of the White House at the line-up of white shoes representing nurses who have died, Stephanie Sims, RN, said, “We are here today to say that nurses are not being valued by our employers and our government who are failing to provide us safe workplaces and optimal protection as we care for others during the COVID-19 pandemic.” For both caregiver and patient, healthcare is a critical issue!

Covid-19 has exposed fault lines too long ignored; now we see clearly those who have been hurt the most. This hurt is not just because of the virus, but because of the social structures in which it has taken hold – structures characterized by gender, racial, and ethnic discrimination plus economic and political disparities. These people and communities are the ones who must be at the table, to propose solutions based on their harsh experiences of discriminatory policies, lack of representation, and continued inequality.

On this Mother’s Day, we call for:

• thorough investigation of the failure of this administration and Congress to exercise “due diligence” in being prepared for a pandemic and the delayed, disorganized and fragmented response that has cost so many lives and pitted state against state; this failure comes on top of a healthcare system already decimated for years by federal and state “austerity” cuts and private care facilities protecting their profits;
• universal healthcare as a basic human right, with funding now for mental health services, to respond to increased gender-based violence and domestic violence;
• appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) for all essential workers – in health care, transportation, all aspects of food production and sales, sanitation, public safety, and in other essential areas; it is reported that one in three jobs designated as essential are held by women, with non-white women most likely doing these low-wage job often no healthcare;
• decarceration and other serious steps, including PPE and immediate safety and health measures, to protect prisoners, and adults and children in ICE detention, from surging COVID-19;
• restoration of tens of millions of dollars repeatedly cut from underfunded Indian Health Services, to provide urgently needed COVID-19 treatment for underserved, vulnerable Native Americans and Alaskan Natives;   
• an end to the military-industrial-congressional complex stranglehold on our economy and lives; systematic annual cuts in the over $750 billion military budget, including closing the 800 US military bases around the world and ending unneeded weapons purchases, nuclear weapons upgrades, and new weapons systems;
• an end to all unilateral US sanctions undermining emergency response to COVID-19 in the “targeted” countries.

While those currently in power in Washington and in corporate boardrooms – weapons manufacturers and investors – would like us to believe we must sacrifice everything for “security”, we reject this policy of militarism and propaganda of fear. “True security is found not in domination and weapons of war, but in peaceful international cooperation.” (Patricia Hynes, Traprock Center for Peace and Justice)

Accordingly, we call upon all nations, including the US, to join us in endorsing the call of UN Secretary General Guerres and supporting inclusive peace negotiations – with women equally represented at the peace table.

When all children of the world have access to clean water and affordable health care, are well fed, and live free of fear in homes with loving people around them – then, indeed, we can celebrate a happy Mother’s Day!