Syrian horrors

Nearly three years after the civil war between Syria’s Ba’athist forces and those opposing it began, civilians in that country continue to suffer. There have been massacres before, and a horrific new one took place on February 2 as military planes allegedly bombarded the historic city of Aleppo, killing some 85 people, including six children. A British human rights monitoring group has said that barrel bombs were used. The bombs, consisting of barrels packed with explosives are considered controversial — and, of course, controversy over the charges of chemical weapon use against citizens had led to global alarm with the US threatening to attack Syria.

These latest bombings could trigger further tensions. They come just as the Syrian government and opposition representatives are meeting in Geneva to try and find ways to end the conflict. They seem to have made very little progress. Certainly, no proposals which can take the country towards peace appear to have been tabled. The latest developments have also raised concerns about Syria’s chemical weapons with talks on at the UN regarding the effort to remove them from that country. It is also clear that the war in Syria is not close to reaching an end, which , of course, only means more suffering for the citizens.

As had happened before, the allegations from outsiders of grave rights abuses and possible war crimes in Syria need to be sorted out. The difficulty in uncovering the truth in that country has created a whole range of additional problems. It has become an essential duty of the world to help Syria and its people escape its nightmare. The actions in Aleppo on February 2 have only added to the concerns about future events in this region. What the solution is to be is not easy to say. The interventions of outside forces have added to the confusion. But the Syrian people have a right to be protected from death and to gain the economic and political reforms they have been struggling for year after year.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 4^th,  2014.

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