Is Russia involved in Syria’s civil war?
Observers have recently been grappling with what role can Russia play to avert the escalation of the Syrian crisis into a civil war with grave regional consequences. Many American officials floated the idea that Russia could step in and help defuse the crisis by swaying Assad to step down and allow for a peaceful transition of power. Encouraged by positive remarks made by Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov, many thought of Russia’s new attitude as a game changer.
But, in a dramatic development, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accused Moscow of shipping attack helicopters to Syria thus escalating a conflict described by increasing number of Western officials as a civil war. If Clinton’s accusations of Russia’s supply of Syria with advanced attack helicopters are true, then we have the right to question the approach of luring Russia to play a constructive role in defusing the conflict. In light of this report, Kofi Annan — who has been exerting efforts to rein in violence — may need to rethink his approach of drawing Russia into his effort.
I think it is about time that all concerned in the tragedy of the Syrian people realized one basic fact. While the international community is talking about stopping violence, no concrete step has been taken to compel President Bashar Assad to withdraw his forces from restive cities and towns across Syria. On the contrary, since Annan stepped in, violence has been taking a huge toll on people particularly children. Moscow is not expected to admit its subversive role in Syria. Therefore, it is likely that Russia would argue that its supply of weapons to Syria is in line with the UN regulations and most of its arm supplies are for air defense system, which is not going to be used against rebels. Gennady Gatilov, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister, told reporters a few weeks ago that Moscow believed “it would be wrong to leave the Syrian government without the means for self-defense.”
While Moscow and Western capitals can argue for a long time over the shipment of attack helicopters, the truth of the matter remains that Moscow has been a stumbling block facing the international community’s effort to save the Syrian people from the brutality of the regime. Apparently, some Western diplomats are fed up with Russia and seek to move on more decisively. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told reports of the option of imposing no-fly zones.
Simply put, the world will run the risk of helping Assad in his bid to crush his opponents if they keep waiting for Russia to assume leadership and positive role. Take for instance Russia’s attempt to include Iran in the effort to solve the crisis! “We want this event to be effective. In order to be effective all the sides with any influence on the sides in the Syrian conflicts should be represented there. Iran is one such country,” Lavrov said. Needless to say that Iran has been supporting Assad in his brutal crackdown on the Syrian revolutionaries. Tehran shares with Moscow the opinion that if Assad is to step down then it should be the outcome of a political process rather than a condition imposed on Syria by the outside world.
Unfortunately, it seems that the whole world is begging Russia to interfere in the crisis at a time when Russia has made it perfectly clear that it blames the opposition and opposes any foreign efforts to eject Assad from power. For a long time, the Arabs on the whole have looked at Russia as an ineffective power that should not be taken into account. We have witnessed almost two decades after the end of the Cold War when Russia proved its ineffectiveness. This time around, it seems that the West is giving Russia the opportunity to rehabilitate itself as an influential power in the Middle Eastern affairs. If anything, this is a colossal failure of the West and a statement on their relative decline in the Middle East. Obviously, Moscow has been part of the problem. For this reason, action on the ground should be considered. Therefore, leaving the rebels and civilians under the mercy of a brutal regime is not human in the first place. It is time to arm the opposition, as refraining from arming the opposition has not impressed the regime in Damascus.
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