Syrians fall victims to their own weapons
Syria gained its independence from France on April 17, 1946. It has a population of about 25 million people and covers an area the size of Washington state, 71,000 square miles.
From the day of its independence, Syria failed to develop its infrastructures and utilize the abilities of the Syrian people and was plagued with internal and external conflicts. They owned guns, but forgot the bread. Syria was engaged in a war with Israel just two years after its independence. And their defeat in 1948 was one of the reasons that triggered a military coup in 1949.
This military coup was the first in the Arab world. The instability in Syria continued due to continued violent changes in the governments and the many military coups. Also, the 1970 coup, which was the last in Syria’s history, was a result of the defeat in the 1967 War with Israel. The 1970 military coup was led by Hafez Assad who overthrew the government in a bloodless coup. His son, Bashar Assad, was elected after his father’s death on June 10, 2000. Ironically, Syria didn’t encounter any major attempts to overthrow the government of Hafez Assad and his son Bashar. Syria became relatively stable even though they were engaged in the 1973 war and an Islamist uprising in the late 1970s until 1982.
But generally Syria remained stable. Yet it continued to be in a state of war with Israel and had no serious intentions to reclaim the Golan Heights from the Israelis in a peace agreement like the Camp David agreement, which brought the Sinai Peninsula back to Egypt. Instead, Syria continued to be a police state with military rule. This prevented the country from developing social and political systems.
Historians say that Israel’s easy seizure of the Golan Heights was due to the lack of development of the Heights and the ignorance of the well being of the people living there. The Heights had few schools and lacked basic necessities. And what was worse, the Syrians adopted the Soviet-style of governance. True, they had many army tanks, but not enough basic daily life necessities.
Under the Assad’s rule, Syria had two golden opportunities to open up to the world and make major reforms. One was under the rule of Hafez Assad in the 1990s after the liberation of Kuwait. Syria was on the same side with more democratic countries at a time when its strategic ally, the Soviet Union, simply ceased to exist. And the other opportunity was in 2000 when Bashar Assad took over the helm. He was a respected figure at the time and was Western educated doctor. Bashar was also married to a woman who was exposed to Western lifestyle, politically and socially. Many analysts expected many changes in the economic, political and social systems. The young generation of people of Syria were ready for the reforms. And Syrians who left Syria for the West were ready to come back to participate and contribute to their native country in whatever experience they gained in the West.
Syrians who lived abroad enjoyed good reputation for their hard work, and most importantly the Syrians enjoyed the reputation of being one of the best law-abiding people who respected their host countries.
But Bashar Assad stayed the course in making Syria a police state. The promised reforms by Bashar evaporated and the country’s assets were spent on rusty Russian tanks, outdated airplanes, chemical warfare and a lethal weapon called the Scud missile.
All these weapons were bought to liberate the occupied Golan Heights and liberate Palestine. The Syrians always say, all these weapons will be the Israeli enemy’s nightmare. But all these weapons became the nightmare of Syrian innocent women and children. And in the middle of the Syrian civil war, the president’s wife, Asma Assad, was busy shopping online — which was the only economic reform she brought with her from the West — at a time when Syria didn’t have modern banking system. Syrians keep their money in their homes. Asma Assad is the same women who shed tears when score of Palestinians were killed in Gaza few years ago, but didn’t shed a tear when the number of deaths in Syria reached around 100,000.
Syria is going to be the Arabs’ open wound for a long time. The killing will continue even after the fall of Assad, or if there was a truce with the government. But the sad story is not only the number of dead, because sooner or later, the dead will be mere statistics. The sad story is that the Arabs and Syrians will have to deal with millions of men women and children who are being displaced. The number of refugees will increase dramatically, and there are many who are so desperate, they take refuge in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon.
More ironic is that many Syrians who are wounded end up being treated at Israeli hospitals by Israeli doctors. We thought the only reason a Syrian would cross the border to Israel is to kill Israelis not to get medical treatment. But who blames the Syrians?
The Syrian regime of Bashar Assad is not throwing potatoes at them. The Syrians are being attacked by weapon of mass destruction. The poor Syrians paid for the Russian Scud missiles in hard cash that should have been used to build hospitals and schools. However, they ended up being the targets of their own weapons. It is a shame to see planes firing at civilians and it is going to take long time to heal for the Syrians when they see that they are the ones who shot sown their own air force planes. For the Syrians, they wish their president used the money from the national budget to buy pistachio ice cream not Russian Scud missiles. As for the wounded Syrians who were treated by Israel, they are saying, with an enemy like Israel, we don’t need the friendship of Russia, Iran or North Korea.
At the end of the day, Syria suffered 100,000 deaths, countless wounded. Isn’t it ironic that Syria’s friend, Russia provided the Scud missiles and Syria’s enemy Israel provided the bandages?
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