The gruesome pictures that emerged of the Houla massacre in Syria have shocked the world, and brought the situation in the country back to global attention. More than 100 civilians were killed, including dozens of children who had their throats cut. According to a UN doctor, fewer than 20 were killed as a result of shelling – the rest were executed.
The Assad regime is denying any responsibility and blames terrorists for the killings. However, the UN accused government-backed militias of committing the atrocity. Eyewitnesses also testified to TV cameras that pro-government Alawite militias were responsible.
In addition, a Channel 4 news crew interviewed ex-Syrian security and military personnel who said that they were ordered to open fire on demonstrators during the current uprising. The orders allegedly came from senior figures, including the president’s cousin Atef Najib, the former head of political security in Daraa.
History also shows that the regime will do anything to stay in power. In 1982, Hafeth Al-Assad – the father of the current president – ordered to suppress an uprising in the city of Hamah. Hafeth’s brother Rifaat was in charge of the operation. Hamah was shelled by tanks with artillery that destroyed half of the city, killing anywhere between 10,000 and 40,000 civilians. Rifaat currently lives between London and Paris.
Another rarely mentioned massacre by the same regime, with the participation of Lebanese right-wing Christian militias, was the slaughter of 3,000 Palestinian refugees in Lebanon’s Tal El-Zaatar refugee camp in 1976.
Bashar Al-Assad came to power in 2000 after the death of his father, who ruled the country since 1971. The Assad family belong to the Alawite minority, a sect of Shia Islam that makes up about 11-12 per cent of the population. The majority of Syrians are Sunni Muslims. Other minorities include the Christians and the Druze. However, the Syrian uprising is not sectarian: it is part of the Arab Spring that brought down four dictators in a matter of months.
It is the regime that wants to turn the uprising into a sectarian feud. The Houla massacre was probably the turning point they were seeking. By doing so, Assad reduced himself from the leader of a country to the head of a sect. He also turned the biggest sect in the country against him and damaged his reputation.
Meanwhile, the lack of action by the international community is a green light for Assad to carry on with his human rights abuses. Nato countries are not interested for a variety of reasons. For starters, Syria has no oil. Politically, the Baath regime is important to maintain the balance in the Middle East. Syria also borders Israel – America’s closest ally – and hosts the leaders of the Palestinian opposition, and has influence over their actions.
Although Syria has not made peace with Israel, the two are not at war either, and the former has not even asked to end the Israeli occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights.
Additionally, as politicians in Britain and America are predicting a sectarian conflict, the same countries that orchestrated the same thing in Iraq are less likely to do anything to stop one in Syria. Even if Nato countries decide to intervene, unethical foreign policy by Russia and China will block any UN attempt to authorise any action. For sectarian reasons, Iran is supporting Assad. Other Sunni Arab leaders are dictators as well and less likely to do much.
Since an intervention is unlikely to happen soon, then the expulsion of Syrian diplomats must be followed by a weapons embargo, increasing the number of UN observers and the freezing of state assets and a travel ban on state officials. The Syrian people should be supported in their struggle against tyranny.
Mohammed Samaana is a free- lance writer based in Belfast.
