If not now, when?

Ordinary people of Syria continue to pay the price for the extended conflict

Over the past nine years, the Syrian revolution-turned-war keeps slipping from news headlines, only to occasionally reclaim the spot.  The return to the headlines in most cases is mostly after a major catastrophe and that usually does not last that long.

During these years, the country has witnessed extremes that include torture, state-sponsored massacre of civilians, barrel bombs and even the use of chemical weapons.  Each episode of brutality has had one common casualty — the ordinary people of Syria who continue to pay the price for the extended conflict.

Last week’s Russian-backed attack on Idlib, the last rebel stronghold, has once again targeted the civilians. The assault triggered the largest mass displacement of Syrians in the war to date, leaving hundreds of thousands camped on the Turkish border in subzero conditions. This latest mass exodus comes at a time when clashes between the Syrian army and Turkish forces have moved the two countries closer to all-out conflict, perhaps allowing the simmering crisis to return from absolute oblivion to reclaim the headlines one more time. While Syria may have assigned itself to the position of a footnote in a long list of world crises, it remains one of the most crucial issues that has single-handedly destabilized the Middle East and the world.

The latest catastrophe in Idlib not only appears as a symptom of the utter failure of diplomacy, and the international community’s abandonment of Syrian people but also serves as a grim reminder to world leaders about the harrowing consequences of their absolute disregard of the situation. For leaders, who convene major summits to decide the future of the world, the conflict in Syria, that once transfixed everyone in horror, the events in Idlib are a clear warning, that requires meaningful solution-oriented intervention. If not now, when?

 

Published in The Express Tribune, February 17^th, 2020.

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