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Opinion
What
Can Be Done to Save the Syrian Rebels?
The
fall of Aleppo will go down in history as the shame of global policymakers.
By Giulio Maria Terzi On 12/15/16 at 5:39
PM
Russian military video shows Aleppo
evacuation route
With the city of Aleppo now almost
completely overrun by forces loyal to Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, social
media has made the carnage obvious. Western politicians cannot claim to have
not known about it.
They saw the footage of poor Syrian
children running for cover, mothers crying for their loved ones, indiscriminate
bombings. And the response: No action. Total indifference. This will go down in
history as the shame of global policymakers.
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The moderate and pro-democracy rebel
groups have effectively lost one of their main strongholds. It is important to
note, however, that they have not surrendered their cause. Spokespersons for
the rebels have defiantly insisted that their demands remain.
These include not only the ouster of the
Assad government but also the removal of foreign influence from their country,
chiefly that of the Islamic Republic of Iran and its militant proxies.
People to be evacuated from a rebel-held
sector of eastern Aleppo, Syria, on Thursday. Giulio Maria Terzi writes that
the Western world bears shameful responsibility for the present state of Syria,
and we are running out of time to make up for our past mistakes. But it is
still possible to make it clear to Tehran that it will face serious financial
and political consequences for its nefarious role in Syria. Abdalrhman
Ismail/reuters
In charting a course for the future, it is
important to recognize what happened. It is important to remember that in the
first months of this nearly six-year war, the opposition made great strides and
Assad appeared to be on the verge of being forced from power. In a direct
competition between popular discontent and government repression, popular
discontent wins.
Related: Michael Rubin: Will Trump turn a blind eye to tyranny?
Trouble only emerged for the anti-Assad
movement when his foreign allies began to directly involve themselves in the
conflict, arming and resupplying pro-government forces and ultimately building
them up with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), with Hezbollah and
other Shiite militant groups, and with mercenaries recruited by Iran from
Afghani and Pakistani refugee communities.
But even then, the real turning point only
came after Russia moved beyond merely supporting the Assad regime financially
and logistically, and began a campaign of bombings that overwhelmingly focused on
the moderate rebels instead of ISIS militants.
It was Iran that convinced Russia to join
the conflict, and thus it was Iran that chiefly orchestrated Assad’s victories.
Shortly before the Russian bombing began, Qassem Suleimani, the head of the
Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ (IRGC) Quds Force, visited Moscow to discuss
plans for the future of Syria.
Suleimani’s trip was an outright violation
of United Nations resolutions, as he had been banned from international travel
due to his well known support for and participation in terrorist activities.
Yet neither he nor his handlers in Tehran, nor his Russian hosts faced any
consequences for this disregard of international law, as Western powers feared
jeopardizing the nuclear deal. Western lack of interest gave Tehran and Moscow
a carte blanche for the massacre of defenseless Syrians.
Long before Aleppo came to be overrun by
pro-Assad forces, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, presided over by
Maryam Rajavi, revealed the center of the Iranian regime’s activity near
Aleppo. It was headquartered in Fort Behuth, 35 kilometers southeast of the
city.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran
(NCRI) identified IRGC Brigadier General Seyed Javad Ghafari as the commander
of IRGC forces near Aleppo, who had held meetings with Suleimani, still defying
the U.N. resolutions, and also with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrollah and with
Bashar al-Assad himself.
The NCRI report also pointed out that Fort
Behuth included separate command centers for the IRGC and for Hezbollah, that
it had specific sections for a number of different militant proxy groups and
that soldiers and officers of the Syrian military were also present at the
base. The report was significant as a snapshot of the forces that are clearly
carrying out systematic crimes against humanity in conquered territory.
Syrian civilians have reached Western
audiences with horrific accounts of summary executions, including those of
women, minors, doctors and so on. It is horrifying to think that anyone in the
free, democratic nations of Europe and North America could stand by and let
this happen, but that is what we have all been doing.
This is made worse by the fact that direct
intervention may never have been necessary if we had simply taken appropriate measures
to prevent the meddling of the Iranian regime.
When we ignored Suleimani’s visit to
Moscow, we turned a blind eye to the legacy of international terrorism. When we
ignored Iran’s participation in the conflict, we tacitly endorsed the export of
the Islamic Republic’s vile record on human rights.
And not only that, the nations that sought
to negotiate over the future of Syria even went so far as to reward Iran for
its intervention by granting it a seat at the table. History is a good teacher
if one learns from it. Indifference and inaction only embolden the
perpetrators.
In the summer of 1988, 30,000 political
prisoners, mainly activists of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran
(MEK), were massacred across Iran. The reaction by the West was total silence.
Now, many of the Iranian beneficiaries of that silence are masterminds of the
atrocities in Aleppo, with Russia as their accomplice.
The Western world bears shameful
responsibility for the present state of Syria, and we are running out of time
to make up for our past mistakes. But it is still possible to make it clear to
Tehran that it will face serious financial and political consequences for its
nefarious role in Syria.
It is still possible to return the
conflict to its original state as a conflict between the popular will of the
Syrian people and the isolated dictatorship in Damascus.
The tremendous visibility of the
atrocities in Aleppo creates a clear opportunity to accomplish this goal. The
international community can stop Tehran and Moscow by demanding action from the
International Criminal Court and war crimes tribunal.
Civil organizations, dignitaries and NGOs
must make these demands immediately, and without relent And they must shatter
the silence that history will otherwise judge us by.
Giulio Terzi is a former foreign minister
of Italy and a member of United Against Nuclear Iran’s Advisory Board.
Read more from Newsweek.com:
- How Should Trump Tackle the Syrian
Civil War?
- Global Inaction Is Enabling the
Brutal Destruction of Aleppo
- Putin and Obama at Daggers Drawn
Over Aleppo
