In this file photo taken on August 30, 2021, US soldiers patrol in the Syrian village of Jawadiyah, in the northeastern Hasakeh province, near the border with Turkey. (DELIL SOULEIMAN / AFP)
The presence of foreign troops in Syria has not only failed to eradicate terrorism, it has exacerbated the eleven-year long civil war in the country, causing misery for millions of people, experts said.
Syria has also become “embroiled in broader regional conflicts” between key regional players in the Middle East such as Israel, Iran and Turkey as well as major powers like the United States and Russia, said Juline Beaujouan, a post-doctoral research fellow with the Peace and Conflict Resolution Evidence Platform at the University of Edinburgh.
In the latest flare-up of hostilities, Syria saw attacks involving the killing of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi and civilians during a US raid on Feb 3, and clashes between Kurdish-led forces and ISIL fighters who assaulted a prison complex in northeast Syria in January
Beaujouan said that even though there are “tactical differences” among the foreign forces, Iran, Russia, and Turkey are “in charge” of what happens in Syria, including the peace process, and exert “control” over the Arab nation’s future.
In the latest flare-up of hostilities, Syria saw attacks involving the killing of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi and civilians during a US raid on Feb 3, and clashes between Kurdish-led forces and ISIL fighters who assaulted a prison complex in northeast Syria in January.
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Khaled Almasri, former dean of the Faculty of International Relations and Diplomacy at Al-Sham Private University in Damascus, said the presence of foreign troops such as those from the US and Russia have “created proxy wars” among local groups which are supported either by the US or Russia.
The US has 900 troops under a mandate to support its local counterterrorism partner, the Syrian Democratic Forces, which is mostly made up of YPG fighters, to help it defeat the ISIL – also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, IS or Daesh.
Furkan Halit Yolcu, a Middle East and security researcher at Sakarya University-Middle East Institute in Turkey, said the US troops are present to secure their stronghold in Syria and to maintain a “safe haven” for the Kurdish militias – the People’s Protection Units (known with this Kurdish acronym YPG) and the Kurdish Workers’ Party.
On Jan 23, the Istanbul-based Hurriyet Daily News quoted Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar as saying that the biggest problem between Turkey and the US is the latter’s support for the YPG in northern Syria despite the YPG’s terrorist designation.
The YPG is the PKK’s Syrian offshoot. Both are listed as terrorist organizations by Turkey, the US and European Union.
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“ISIS is just turned into a leverage for the US-sympathizers to keep US boots on the ground,” Yolcu from Sakarya University told China Daily.
Syria has been divided into enclaves since the civil war broke out in 2011, with 14 million civilians in dire need of humanitarian assistance, according to the United Nations
Syria has been divided into enclaves since the civil war broke out in 2011, with 14 million civilians in dire need of humanitarian assistance, according to the United Nations. The conflict has led to the deaths of more than 600,000 people so far, according to the UK-based war monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
In a UN Security Council briefing on Jan 26, Gier Pedersen, United Nations Special Envoy for Syria, appealed for unity and warned about a stalemate in the Syrian civil war, adding it was clear that a “military solution remains an illusion”.
In an interview with Russia Today, Luna al-Shabl, an advisor to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, rejected rumors that Iran deployed military forces in Syria.
But the advisor also said that since the Syrian government was “at war”, it was reasonable for Syria to ask its “allies” for help, taking a swipe at the “Westerners and the Americans” who were “withdrawing from their allies’ territories one after the other”.
At the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review Working Group meeting on Jan 24, Western powers and Turkey accused Syria of imposing “starvation” and siege warfare in opposition-led areas.
But Syrian officials said foreign forces have been “illegally occupying” some parts of the country and that it had been suffering from US-led sanctions, Reuters reported.
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Bashar Ja'afari, Syria’s deputy foreign minister, attended and accused US, France, the United Kingdom, Turkey and Israel of being involved in “the occupation of Syria” and violating international law.
Yolcu, the expert on Middle East from Turkey, said Syria cannot seek for peace alone.
“The main question that should be asked is this: can the Syrian regime hold the Syrian territory intact, and create a sovereign system, should the peace guarantors leave their soil?"
jan@chinadailyapac.com