Let Al-Assad Be, For Now.

by Eze Eluchie, 

Any objective observer of Arab and Middle Eastern affairs will affirm that foreign induced change of rulers in the region has always been a recipe for prolonged and violent pogroms. The very recent examples of the overthrow and murder of Iraq’s Saddam Hussein and Libya’s Muammar Qhadaffi and the continuing mayhem and destruction foisted on not only that region but with the blood spilling globally, should have ordinarily served as trite warning to outsiders who meddle in what they least know about - to desist therefrom.

From its very inception in the wake of the Arab Spring series of revolutions which engulfed Arabia and the Middle East some 5 years ago, sectarian and ethnically influenced efforts to oust the Al-Assad regime in Syria (which served, alongside the very shaky government in Lebanon, as liberal regimes in the Middle East where Muslims, Christians and persons of divers ethnic origins had access to high political offices with women accorded tangible freedoms and equal rights) elicited much greater interest from across the world than earlier episodes of the Arab Spring which in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain and Libya, which had largely been considered as internal affairs of those countries. With benefit of hindsight of the outcomes of what had been erroneously considered populist mass-led revolutions in other parts of the Middle East, particularly the revolutions in Iraq and Libya which had replaced stable, though authoritarian leaders, with mob-rule and territories largely ungovernable which now serve as breeding grounds for international terror syndicates, there was a felt need by some in the international community, particularly UN Security council veto-vote wielding countries Russia and China, to prevent a repeat of the ugly situations now existing across much of Arabia.

Fears that an ouster of the Al-Assad regime would have led to sectarian exterminations against Christians and other religious minorities, ethnic genocide against Alawite tribes and the enthronement of extremist Islamists in Syria, a whittling away of the erstwhile liberal society that had existed in Syria and retrogression of gender and people’s rights has been further brought to the fore by the reality that the so-called rebel forces striving to oust Al-Assad, inclusive of the Free Syrian Army, derives much of their fighting stamina from either the Al-Nusra Front and other Al Qeida linked terrorists organizations. The war in Syria long ceased to be a civil war as much of the so-called rebel fighting force is populated by foreign fighters from as far flung territories as Tunisia, the Russian caucuses and other areas where jihadist elements were imported to fight an extremist Islamist cause. In the event that the Al-Assad regime had been overthrown, Syria would certainly have gone the way of Libya, Iraq and Egypt (under the Brotherhood) – back into damnation and a period where women in accord with extremist Islamic philosophies, disappear from public view and become mere chattels of their menfolk.

It was, is and continues to be right and appropriate in the interest of the peoples of Syria and their neighbours and the international community in general, that for now and the foreseeable future to heal the wounds of the debilitating battles, the Al-Assad regime and its structures continue to superintend over Syria. The United States and its allies can for now forget their untenable insistence on ousting the current Syrian regime – previous regime change has left the Middle Eastern countries where such has occurred, and the Middle East region generally, far worse off.

Should the assertion in the foregoing paragraph be mistaken as an approval of all tactics used in prosecuting the war against the ‘rebels’, ‘moderate extremist Islamists’ and terrorists?  Certainly not! Wars by themselves are necessarily bloody, moreso when the war is being prosecuted against terror elements who adopt such unconventional tactics as suicide bombings, chemical weapon attacks, use civilians and civilian-structures as hostages and other quite lethal and effective means to gain whatever advantages they need to, without the slightest of reservations.

As the Syrian war crosses the 5 year mark with daily reports of heart rendering fatalities and battles and wastages to which entire communities and several millions have been subjected to, it has become pertinent in the interest of Syrians and overall humanity that an immediate or expedited end be put to the wars in Syria. The following steps are recommended:

1. A ceasefire to allow for safe and free passage of civilians from the war zones, particularly Aleppo and its adjacent territories into areas where they can be adequately protected and given much needed humanitarian assistance.

2. Armed combatants in Aleppo and other rebel held territories should be encouraged to lay down their weapons, surrender. The instrumentality of the United Nations can then be adopted to superintend over reconciliation and rebuilding efforts and other transitional arrangements.

3. Efforts will thereafter be focused to extinguish Islamist terrorists, ISIS and Al Qeida and their affiliates.

At an appropriate time, issues of who committed which war crime or crime against humanity against whom in the course of the ‘Arab Spring’ across Arabia and the Middle East, inclusive of crimes against the peoples of Libya, Iraq, Bahrain and Syria will then be objectively addressed – raising such issues now appears to be deliberate ploy to continue the sufferings of the peoples of Syria in particular and the Middle East whilst allowing extremist Islamist terror elements a crack through which to flourish and establish their horrendous strangle hold over that region.

Picture: Pictorial comparison of parts of Syria’s second largest city, Aleppo, before and during the war.

After Finally Affirming Saudi Government Culpability for 9-11, What Next?

by Eze Eluchie,

Almost 15 years to the day Islamist Terror visited America, United States authorities (at least the Congress) have finally begun genuine effort to address the root cause of the dastardly attacks of 9^th September 2001. By its passage of a Bill which identified Saudi Arabia as the origin of the 9-11 attacks and making it possible for victims of the 9-11 attacks to sue the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for losses suffered therefrom, common sense and good judgement appears to be finally taking root in US response to terror.

The initial knee-jerk reaction of attacking, overthrowing and eventually killing President Saddam Hussein of Iraq had been based on a near-childish resolve of then President George Bush to ‘finish off the job his father had not finished’ and well orchestrated lies and deceit that the Iraqi authorities were acquiring Weapons of Mass Destruction which they will use to hurt US interests. This reaction has irreversibly destabilized the Middle East, institutionalized extremist Islamist terrorism as a fad and preferred option for thousands of misguided Muslim youths across the world, and unfortunately served to garner and deepen enmity against Western values by survivors of the atrocities unleashed against the Middle East.

The rush to vilify and condemn what was obviously one of the most liberal regimes in the Middle East (in terms of its ability to be all inclusive, allowing some level of equity amongst religious sects and appreciative of all genders) has since proved to be one of the most unwise steps ever taken in the anal of human history.  Blinded by pecuniary interests in the Black gold and a felt need to continue the maintenance of a suspect friendship with a most repressive dictatorial regime, the US had in its initial response to 9-11, incredulously opted to dispense with critical evidence that linked the perpetrators of 9-11 to the Saudi regime and mysteriously focused its arsenal on the Saddam regime that loathed Al Qeida to its core, a regime that should have served as a ready and willing partner in efforts to contain Osama bin Laden and his followers.

Will properly identifying the enemy 15 years down the line serve any useful purpose? Considering the damage already occasioned to the entire region resulting from the wrongs of the past 15 years: inclusive of the horrendous fatalities in Iraq, continuing bleeding of Libya, Saudi involvement in the civil war in Yemen, and of course the devastation Syria has now become, it will be extremely difficult to expect a mere token, the recognition of where guilt rightly laid for 9-11 attacks, to make much impact in the process – one cannot even refer to it as the ‘healing process’ or corrections as the expectations of the US Congress in declaring the Saudi Government culpable for 9-11 losses is again focused on pecuniary issues and in no way related towards addressing underlying issues.

The recognition of the culpability of the Saudi Government is however a step forward as it, in the very least, recognizes truth, a critical element in the healing process for any hurts. Yet another timeless historically error will be made if the recognition of the Saudi Governments culpability in 9-11 is viewed only in terms of the pecuniary rewards litigants may extort from the Kingdom. The US Congress Bill should, when passed into law, serve as a pedestal upon which genuine reconciliation may begin, starting obviously with apologies and redress (the damages done to these peoples is far and above what can be compensated for) to peoples whose countries and psyche has been destroyed in some instances, irreparably, particularly the Iraqis.

With the commencement of the processes of such reconciliation and redress, it will then be possible to come together and extinguish the vermin of extremist Islamist terrorism which is principally founded on the perception of the perpetuation of wrongs.

Picture:  Members of Saudi Royalty with the burning twin-towers in the backdrop.

Airstrikes Against Peace In Syria.

by Eze Eluchie,

One is really beginning to pity the people of Syria over the seemingly unending depreciation of their lives, country and future they have been made to endure these past 5 years. Without any doubts, there might have been genuine grievances against the Al-Assad regime which led to the commencement of efforts at revolt in 2011, at the same time the Arab world was engulfed in the now infamous Arab Spring. What has since become clear now is that foreign forces are now using the different sides in the Syrian conflict as pawns in a most atrocious proxy war which is leaving Syria and its people utterly devastated.

More worrisome is the unfolding reality that the conflict in Syria, going by observed trends, may continue in perpetuity, at least for the foreseeable future. This worry is rooted in the fact that any efforts at addressing critical issues in the conflict or opportunities to arbitrate or attain meaningful ceasefires are deliberately undermined in such a manner that encourages the various combatants in the conflict to dig deeper into their trenches.

Two instances of these ‘dashing-of-hopes-for-peace’ instances readily come to mind. Firstly, the Turkey shoot-down of a Russian Air Force jet at a time when ISIS and other collateral terrorists in the Syrian conflict were feeling the dire impact of sustained Russian air-power. The downing of the Russian jet by a NATO member-state, which was obviously hiding under the cloak of collective security offered by NATO membership, served to dampen Russian efforts at strafing ISIS out of existence and created a crack in the resolve by the international community to destroy ISIS. 

The more recent scuttling of the Syrian ceasefire agreement painstakingly arrived at in the course of several meetings between the Foreign Ministers of the United States and Russia, via lethal airstrikes by US soldiers which killed over 60 Syrian soldiers in the area around the Deit al-Zour, is particularly unfortunate. The US airstrikes in question, attacks which accorded opposition/terrorist elements some advantage over the Syrian Government positions prior to the inception of the ceasefire, occurred barely 48 hours to occurrence of an important milestone in the ceasefire processes - the 7-day observance of cessation of hostilities, a milestone that would have for the first time witnessed the harmonization of intelligence capabilities of the US and Russian militaries towards confronting an identified adversary, extremist Islamist terrorist organizations. The world did indeed miss out on an opportunity to unify resources and efforts against ISIS, and by extension, global Islamist terrorism.

The US airstrikes against Syrian soldiers practically ended the ceasefire agreement. Feeble excuses of mistakes in targeting rendered by US authorities were rightly discountenanced – mistaken mass murders indeed! The official announcement of the end of the ceasefire agreement some 24 hours later by the Syrian Government was expected by all except the undiscerning. Once more, a unique opportunity to end the Syrian war and its attendant humanitarian crisis had been lost. The declaration of the end of the ceasefire was immediately followed by a most dastardly attack on the convoy conveying much needed United Nations humanitarian supplies to the besieged people of Aleppo, an attack which killed several humanitarian workers and volunteers.   

Opinions have been expressed in some quarters that the attack on the aid convoy and the killings of humanitarian workers therein amounts to war crimes. There is nothing wrong with that line of thought, so long as it also accepts that the perpetrators of the precipitating factor of the attack, the airstrikes on the Syrian soldiers in Deir al-Zour, should likewise be held accountable as accomplices to the crime.

It appears quite clear that forces outside of Syria and the control of Syrians are intent on ensuring the continuation of  war in Syria, and bombing this most historic of countries back into the dark ages. To end the multiplicity of conflicts raging concurrently in Syria, it is incumbent on the sitting Government of Bashir al-Assad to begin to exercise genuine leadership by firstly requesting all foreign forces not in sync with its authority to depart from Syrian territory and follow up with spirited extermination of the ISIS forces in its territory. Genuine peace overtures should thereafter be extended to the myriad of warring elements operating in Syria, some of which are affiliated to extremist Islamist entities, with a view to getting them on board a ‘transitional unity government’. The current Syrian Government and those willing to work in collaboration with it should not be deterred in frontally confronting any forces, internal or external, which continues to meddle in Syrian affairs after the olive-branch had been offered to all concerned.

The continuing carnage in Syria is a shame on all humanity.

The Syrian Government under Bashir al-Assad have a duty to stop, as soon as possible, the continuing bleeding of Syria and its peoples.

Picture: Continuing devastation in Aleppo, Syria’s second largest city.