A decade has passed since the Arab Spring uprising spread to the Middle East and reached Syria. The protests devastated southern Syria and eventually advanced to the capital Damascus – the home of the country’s leader, Bashar Al-Assad.
The protests called for Assad’s resignation, but unlike what happened in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, where rulers were expelled from power, Assad and his regime have not backed down. Syria’s military quickly trained its deadly force against peaceful protesters, drawing the condemnation of international leaders and human rights groups.
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Today, after 10 years of civil war, the country is in ruins. According to the United Nations, more than 400,000 people have been killed. It is estimated that more than 1 million people were injured. Half of the country’s population before the war was expelled from their homes, with the UN estimate that more than 5 million have become refugees outside the country’s borders and another 6 million internally displaced.
“Obviously, we are witnessing one of the biggest humanitarian catastrophes,” London-based human rights lawyer Toby Cadman told Fox News.
The tragedy “has transformed,” said Cadman, co-founder of the human rights law firm Guernica 37, “from a pro-democracy revolt against Assad’s authoritarian regime” to “a massive armed war, with Syrian artillery hitting the redoubt city. rebel of Homs and elsewhere. “
Simply put, the international law expert said, the world is watching “a country waging war against itself”.
In 2012, there were reports of Assad using chemical weapons against his own people. The reports have been verified by the UN and other organizations. “Although he did not admit it, he said he would get rid of his illicit arsenal,” said Cadman, “he did not.”
Later, “along the border between Turkey and Syria,” said Cadman, the situation worsened “when the radical Islamic group ISIS entered the conflict … taking over cities like Kobani and many others”.
According to the human rights lawyer, “what started as a peaceful protest has turned into a conflict for which there is no responsibility”.
The confrontation within Syria’s borders has become a proxy war with Iran and Russia, supporting the Assad regime. Regionally, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar supported the rebels.
The United States entered and exited the conflict. The Obama administration supported the rebels by attacking the Islamic State. The Trump administration launched a rocket attack in 2017 in retaliation for yet another chemical attack by the regime. After just one month in office, the Biden government launched a rocket attack also against facilities in eastern Syria that, according to the Pentagon, are used by Iranian-backed militias.
Now, Assad remains in charge, having regained control of much of his country. But Syria is in ruins; the health system is on the verge of collapse, the economy tightrope with the currency losing much of its value. About 80% of Syrians now live in poverty, while 60% are at risk of starvation.
Ironically, Bashar al-Assad is expected to be re-elected soon in the so-called democratic elections. The al-Assad family has governed Syria since 1971, when Hafez al-Assad and his Ba’ath Party took control of the country. After his death in June 2000, his son Bashar succeeded him.
Despite the country’s decimation, al-Assad showed no sign of willingness to commit or participate with the UN or other international organizations to rehabilitate his destroyed country.
“There is no future for peace and prosperity in Syria as long as the Assad regime remains in power,” said Cadman.
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To that end, Cadman and his human rights law firm have asked that Assad’s British wife, Asma, be indicted by British authorities for inciting and encouraging the practice of war crimes, through speeches sympathetic to her husband’s policies.
Cadman doubts that the Syrian government will cooperate. It will probably serve as just one more effort on the part of an international community that has so far failed to bring the once beautiful country back to civilization, while the world community – and especially the Syrians – are paying the price.