The Next Failed State?

It seems that Syria may become the world’s latest addition to its failed states list. The violence that has been raging for two years has torn the country apart, the UN estimates over 70,000 Syrians have been killed, 1.2 million internally displaced and around 500,000 have fled to neighbouring countries. Unfortunately for the Syrian people, the end is nowhere in sight. The rebels have grabbed control over vast proportions of the north and east of the country, whilst the government still controls most of the major cities as well as the southern and coastal areas. Whereas the Assad loyalists have aircrafts and tanks, the rebels mostly have AK-47s and other small weapons. The international community has been totally inept in dealing with Syria, the UN Security Council won’t ever be able to act as Russia (which can veto any resolution) remains an ally of Syria. America and Britain both back the rebels over Assad but remember vividly the spectacular failure of the Iraq War and subsequent violence. Russia and Iran still back the Assad regime, providing him with arms and money which render Western sanctions largely ineffective.

The West must change its position on Syria, our current approach is simply not working, to many Syrians have died already. A good start would be to create a no fly zone over Syria and enforcing it, this would help the rebels deep in rebel held territory as the regime would find it harder to attack them. It would also give Syrians fleeing Assad’s henchmen a safe haven and it would give the rebels a chance to gain strength. Limited arming of the rebels should be carried out, strictly to non-Islamist/Salafist groups, this would give the rebels a better chance of winning against tanks and other heavy machinery. Over the past decade the West has tried to stamp out terrorism wherever it finds it, if Syria were to fall into pure and unadulterated chaos, then we would have another area of the world perfect for breeding terrorists.

Tomorrow a group of countries called the “Friends of Syria” will meet in Rome along with leaders of the Syrian opposition. The group contains over 100 countries, including America, France and Britain and aims to help the rebels. Previous meetings don’t seem to have had much effect on Syria, let’s hope this meeting goes better.

Whilst the world watches and discusses action in Syria, many more will die. We must act soon, to save lives.