Zaglul Ahmed Chowdhury The Syrian conflict is increasingly becoming less volatile and this development has come as a relief. This is a positive omen, raising hope that the current war-like situation will be reversed and a condition will be created for a peaceful resolution of the crisis through talks. This augurs well for the world as the spectre of a full-blown war centring Syria that looked almost inevitable sometime ago has now receded considerably. The peace process received another boost as the experts began the process of destroying the chemical weapons of Syria under the terms of a UN resolution that will see Damascus dismantle its arsenal of such weapons. Earlier, a silver lining emerged, delaying an anticipated military strike by the United States against Syria. The high-level negotiations between the United States, which champions the cause of the Syrian rebels, and Russia, the main international backer of the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad, in Geneva made remarkable headway. US secretary of state John F. Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov held complex talks and succeeded in reaching an understanding on Syria's deadly chemical weapons and this helped avert an impending American assault on Syria. The positive outcome came following Moscow's initiative to defuse the tensions as Russia seized the US proposal that the air and missile strike against the Damascus regime may be put on hold if Syria agreed to hand over the dangerous chemical weapons to the international community. Moscow is steadfastly supporting the Assad regime, but welcomed Washington's overture that has also been agreed by Damascus authority. The last-minute Russian initiative caused US president Barack Obama to back way from the planned air strike against Syria. However, the US says that its readiness for attack in Syria would remains in place while it wanted to give diplomacy a chance to avoid tough action against the Assad regime. Russia, which says that any American attack against Syria could be a catastrophe, hopes that the on-going discussions may help find a settlement of the larger Syrian tangle. But because of myriad complexities, the efforts for reaching common ground on the resolution of the Syrian conflict through talks may prove quite difficult. Nonetheless, the understanding on chemical weapons has come as a major step forward towards settling the conflict. Earlier, President Barack Obama sought US Congressional approval before the strike although he said that approval from the United Nations and the US Congress were not mandatory for attacking Syria. Obama never said that he would not launch the military strike if the Congress rejects his plans, but he at least tried to be respectful to the Congress, which was lukewarm to his strike plan. The United States was expected to launch the air and missile strikes in Syria, responding to alleged use of chemical weapons by Bashar al-Assad regime there, but withheld the assault after British parliament rejected Prime Minister David Cameron's proposal to strike Syria. Cameron said he would respect parliament's will. President Obama was initially unwilling to get his country involved in Syria though he fully supported the rebels against the regime. He later veered towards attacking Syria without, however, involving ground troops in the assault. He said the Syrian regime had crossed the "red line" by using chemical weapons against its own people and this warranted a tough American response. The US is haunted by the scars of long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that were initiated by Obama's predecessor George Bush. Hence, most Americans are believed to be against getting involved militarily in another country. Besides, Obama is known to be seeking to get the US troops out from Afghanistan and Iraq. For him, involving US in Syria militarily contradicts his position. Nevertheless, Obama administration could not probably shy away from the challenge of attacking Syria as the issue appeared as most critical in his nearly five year's presidency. It is like a double-edged sword for him - acting against the will of most people at home and abroad and, on the other hand, "punishing" an errant autocrat for using gas in the 29-month-long civil war that has claimed more than one hundred thousand lives, in addition to displacing more than 1.5 million Syrians, most of whom have taken shelter in neighbouring Turkey and Jordan. The focus of the Geneva parleys between the US and Russia was clearly on the stockpiling of the Syrian chemical weapons that the US wanted to be deposited to international authority. Now that significant progress is being made in that direction, the US has praised President Assad for his cooperation in implementing the accord. Russia and China are two key allies of Syria and exercised their "veto" in some anti-Assad resolution earlier in the UN Security Council piloted by the Western nations. President Putin said that he would support UN actions against Syria if its culpability in using poison gas is fully established beyond any iota of doubt. Damascus and its allies, including Russia and Iran, say that the use of gas was done by the Syrian rebels and their backers, including Israel, as a pretext of foreign involvement in Syria. The US is under pressure from its Middle East allies like Israel, Saudi Arabia and Turkey to act against Assad. Syrian rebels are also mounting pressure on the foreign powers supporting them for stern measures against the Syrian regime. The Arab nations, including Saudi Arabia and UAE, have announced more assistance to the Syrian rebels while Iran has said that any attack against Assad regime would result in further complications of the tangle. Although tensions still persist surrounding Syria and the situation remains volatile, the possibility of the US getting directly involved militarily in Syria has now been greatly reduced. It is also a good sign that the accord on destroying Syria's chemical weapons is being honoured by all sides. The international team of experts faces a massive task of destroying an estimated 1,000 tonnes of nerve agent sarin, mustard gas and other banned weapons in a nearly dozen sites in Syria by mid-2014 in line with the UN resolution. President Assad had initially denied having such weapons under his possession, but admitted after more than 1,000 people were killed by the nerve gas at a Damascus suburbs. This infuriated the US and its allies who prepared to strike Syria, but the Geneva talks brought them back from the brink of the war. It is possible that the chemical weapons settlement may run in trouble, jeopardising the current peace efforts. But the bottom line is that the tensions are lessening, at least about involvement of America militarily in Syria though the civil war drags on. President Obama earned more appreciation than criticisms at home and abroad for averting the attack on Syria and this is seen as a reflection of wisdom and mature policy on part of his administration. zaglulbss@yahoo.com
The silver lining in the Syrian conflict: Destruction of chemical weapons
FE Team | Published: October 09, 2013 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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