Syria and Russia’s Reckless Attacks Against NATO Ally Should be Answered by US Action
Four days ago, over 30 soldiers of the Turkish army were killed in an airstrike fired by Syrian government forces in the northwest Syrian province of Idlib. Over 33 were wounded as well, and although government officials were careful to not publicly say so, many are suspicious that Russian jets may have been the culprit, as they have been conducting many aerial operations to support Syrian government forces in recent weeks. This complex web of relations is influenced by US actions and military might, and open warfare between Turkey and Russia would intensify the already dire humanitarian crisis in the region.
What began as a series of pro-democracy and anti-corruption protests against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 2011 quickly devolved into open warfare, and many local and foreign nations have major stakes in the Syrian civil war. To simplify the puzzle, I will be dividing the civil war into three different sides: pro-government, anti-government, and neutral. On the pro-government side, we have Russia, who serves as an advocate for Syria’s interests at the UN Security Council and provides heavy air support for troops on the ground. Iran, Hezbollah (a Lebanese Shia militia group that has been condemned as a terrorist organization by the US and others), and other Shia Muslim militia groups provide manpower and weapons for the pro-government cause. On the anti-government side, the US, Turkey, the Gulf states, and Jordan provide support to rebel groups of various kinds. Both sides were temporarily united against ISIS, and the (former) ally of the U.S, the Kurdish rebel forces, support neither side in their quest for independence.
Kurdish armed forces have been our main ally on the ground in the fight against ISIS. They defended tens of thousands of Yazidi refugees on the Sinjar mountain as US airstrikes softened the ISIS force intent on massacring them. They freed the town of Kobani from an ISIS siege while Turkish forces watched from the border, breaking the myth that the terrorists were invincible. In October 2017, they liberated Raqqa, and smashed the caliphate for good when they took the town of Baghouz in 2019. All in all, the Kurds lost 11,000 lives compared to the less than 6 lost by American forces assisting them. Kurdish forces also provided vital intelligence in the hunt for Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, allowing US special forces to locate and eliminate the leader of ISIS. The betrayal of the Kurds in the face of their tremendous efforts is not only morally reprehensible, but also poses a major security risk — guards must be pulled away from a network of prisons housing over 60,000 ISIS detainees, representing an undeniable threat of resurgence, and the Kurds will have no choice but to turn to Al-Assad, an enemy of the US and ally to the Russians, to survive.
Neither President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey nor President al-Assad have particularly encouraging human rights records. Erdogan has been unreservedly brutal in his ethnic cleansing campaign against the Kurds; Turkish armed forces have intentionally murdered fleeing civilians and deployed white phosphorus against civilian targets. White phosphorus spontaneously combusts in air and burns at over 1000℉, producing toxic gas that can further exacerbate wounds and slow effective medical response. al-Assad has commonly employed repressive siege tactics against the rebels, and also engaged in ethnic cleansing of his own against the Iraqi Yazidi people. However, Turkey’s status as a member of NATO makes it easier for the US to exert pressure against them regarding their conduct in war and is a more reliable partner in the Middle East than Russia and Syria.
Russia has a vested interest in making sure al-Assad stays in power. Their only base in the region is in the Syrian city of Tartus, and they maintain a healthy business relationship with the regime in both arms sales and exports. Without definitive US intervention, military or otherwise, more innocent civilians will suffer and die, and Russian influence in this critical region will expand. The Trump administration needs to stop its tradition of blood-stained seesawing when dealing with Moscow and act definitively to bring stability to the region — if not in support of our staunch Kurdish allies or the human rights that we purportedly stand for, then at least to address the security and economic concerns brought on by Russian increase in power.
