Two years after it began, Syrians are still living amid a violent civil war. Their President Bashar al-Assad continues to clash daily with his opponents in his determination to stay in power.More than 100,000 people have been killed since the fighting began, while two million have fled across the border to neighbouring countries, and four million more are internally displaced.
A record number of Syrians fled into Turkey on 12 August after Syrian government forces bombed the city of Ar-Raqqah, some 90km from the northern border. In one single day, some 3,000 Syrians entered Turkey’s south-eastern province of Åžanlıurfa through the Akçakale border gate – adding to the half a million refugees already living in and around makeshift camps.
Meanwhile, extremist groups like al-Qaeda – fresh from tormenting Iraq and stirring up ethnic tensions with their sectarian violence – are exploiting the chaos, under the pretext of supporting the rebels. The city of Aleppo in the north-west is now completely under their control; women are forbidden to be seen in public without a burqa, in one example of the oppression they’ve imposed.
Another group, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, is responsible for attacks around the Syrian capital Damascus as well as both Sunni and Shia mosques throughout neighbouring Iraq, which has been suffering greatly from violent surges that have claimed more than 5,000 lives since April this year alone – the latest suicide bomb attack on a funeral in Baghdad killing at least 96 people.
And with these terror groups spreading their influence wider across Syria and Iraq, Turkey is responding to what it perceived as a national security threat by enforcing stricter controls on the border crossings, staggering the influx of refugees. What’s more, the 17 camps are being perceived as a strain on the Turkish economy, already costing the state in the order of $1bn,
All of this was before Syrian government forces attacked Gouta on the morning of 21 August, allegedly using chemical weapons in the assault that killed more than 1,400 people. The government has strenuously denied the claims via state-run media, calling them “completely baseless”. But Dr Khalid Mahmood, who is working in the region, claimed that Sarin gas was “used in a large number of affected people”.
International condemnation of the alleged chemical attack was almost unanimous, and a UN commission was sent to Syria to ascertain the facts, narrowly dodging death by sniper fire while performing their duties.
Regardless of their findings, however, the USA led the charge of countries, including France and Turkey, who said the use of chemical weapons is certain and demanded some form of intervention.
Russia, which has an important role in Syrian policy and has long scuppered efforts to persuade Assad to back down in his strong-arm campaign, offered to broker a deal that would see any chemical weapons transferred to international control to destroy them.
US foreign minister John Kerry almost scoffed at their gall, quipping that if Syria delivered their chemical weapons within a week, only that would prevent a US military strike. But that’s exactly what Syria did, admitting to possession of chemical weapons – though not of using them against civilians – and agreeing to put them under international control by next summer.
“I am announcing the Syrian Arab Republic welcomed the Russian initiative, to preserve the life of our citizens and security of our country,” said Syria’s foreign minister Walid al-Moallem. The truth of that statement, however, is open to interpretation.
Eda Halis is an intern with Metro Éireann from Turkey.
