Syrian Resolutions
There are three specific obstacles that are inhibiting peaceful resolutions. If these three obstacles are eradicated then peace can be achieved in Syria:
- Whether the current Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, is replaced or allowed to stay in power under certain guidelines.
- To extinguish terror groups within Syria.
- The Western allies need to loosen control over the government in Syria.
What are practical solutions to deal with Bashar al-Assad?
Between the five major international powers which have influence in Syria (The United States, Russia, Iran, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia) there is an obvious schism between ideas on how to proceed into the future with Bashar al-Assad. Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the United States all agree that their main priority is to impeach Bashar al-Assad from office and appoint a new president that all three countries agree on. Russia and Iran have plans to first eradicate all terrorist and rebel forces within Syria and then to focus on holding a ‘free election’ where the people of Syria will vote on who their next president will be; not allowing the United Sates and allies to implement their own candidate into power. After a meeting involving international groups involved in Syria President Barack Obama declared: “Russia and Iran must decide whether they want to prop up Syrian President Bashar Assad or save the Syrian state.” However President Barack Obama’s statement is seen as an entry into the same situation that Libya is currently going through because of NATO and Arab allies attacks on Libya. The former president of Libya, Qaddafi, was over thrown by NATO and Arab allies because they believed that he wasn’t fit to manage Libya, but to this day Libya is still under constant turmoil and has been seen as being a failed state. During a meeting in Vienna of international countries it was agreed that “Syria’s unity, independence, territorial integrity, and secular character are fundamental” and that its “state institutions will remain intact.” The collapse of Assad, even though his military use has been seen as inhumane, could lead to a collapse in the military structure. If the the current Syrian military and security forces were to collapse it would become nearly impossible to secure the territorial integrity of Syria. The effectiveness of the Syrian military against terrorist organizations such as the self-proclaimed Islamic State, Al Qaeda, and Jabhat al-Nusra has come with more victories than loss. It has become apparent that the support from the West and its Arab allies, the Free Syrian Army, has been ultimately ineffective.
The priority in Syria should be to clear out terrorist organizations, reestablish Syria’s territorial integrity, create healthy and safe conditions for returning Syrian refugees, and let the people of Syria decide their leadership; not allowing international countries to elect a new president for Syria.
How should terrorist organizations in Syria be dealt with?
The Islamic State, Al Qaeda, and Jabhat al-Nusra have all made significant strides in establishing their control over several areas of the Syrian territory. Organized air strikes are effective but only when there is a well coordinated military partner on the ground to give accurate coordinates to enemy locations. Within Syria, the largest contributor to eradicating organizations such as ISIS is the Syrian military. The United States and Arab allies have been indirectly supporting terrorist organizations due to the fact that they want the Syrian military to fall from power with Assad. In order to effectively extinguish terrorist organizations the United States and Arab allies must understand that it is a lost cause to fight terrorist organizations and Assad’s government regime at the same time and expect Syria to fix all of its problems. In order to extinguish all terrorist organizations there would need to be a coalition of ground and air forces between NATO, the Syrian Army, Russia, Iran, and Arab allies.
Why should NATO and Arab allies loosen ties with Syria?
Organizations such as Al Qaeda and ISIS are supported by their core ideology as well as financial and military support indirectly from closest allies of the West in Syria’s region. If the Western allies and Arab allies want to eradicate terrorist organizations such as Al Qaeda and ISIS it needs to be understood that the defeat of these terrorist organizations can only be met if the Western allies and Arab allies do not promote their ideology. Former U.S. Ambassador Curtin Winsor said, “The Saudis have spent at least $87 billion propagating Wahhabism abroad during the past two decades … The bulk of this funding goes to the construction and operating expenses of mosques, madrassas, and other religious institutions that preach Wahhabism. It also supports the training of imams; domination of mass media and publishing outlets; distribution of Wahhabi textbooks and other literature; and endowments to universities. By comparison, the Communist Party of the USSR and its Comintern spent just over $7 billion propagating its ideology worldwide between 1921 and 1991.”
It is no doubt that the major Western powers efforts to change certain countries through military and political interventions has failed in almost every sense. The Western powers approach to solving political and military issues in Syria has added fuel to almost every terrorist organization involved in the Syrian territory. This approach in Syria has led to a political order in danger of being overthrown in favor of a self proclaimed Islamic State taking control of a majority of the country of Syria. Until Western powers abandon their approach in favor of pragmatism, then the war on terror will not end and terrorist attacks in Syria and on Western powers will continue until they stop imposing their own ideologies in the Syrian region.
