Syria, the ‘Survivor’ — the name is apt — after almost a decade of bloodshed, a sectarian and fratricidal civil war, which attracted jihadists from across the world, Syria has emerged victorious. The regime of Bashar al-Assad has won, prevailing over all the different forces that had allied against it – the Free Syrian Army, and the numerous jihadist groups like the Al-Nusra Front, with support from states like the US, Turkey, Qatar, and the ISIS. A UN report says that more than 40, 000 fighters from 110 countries traveled to Syria and Iraq to join the ISIS.
Of course, Syria’s victory has largely been made possible because of the support that Syria received from countries like Russia and Iran, and organisations like Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Yet it has to be acknowledged that it would make for a very strong willpower and determination to overcome all the myriad adversaries arrayed against it.
Syrians are the True Heroes
Syria was thrown out of the Arab League; Arab states severed relations with it; the Western powers rallied against it; America imposed sanctions on the country. Yet, like the proverbial phoenix, Syria is rising again. Syria, the survivor, Bashar al-Assad the survivor, but most of all, it is the Syrian people who are the survivors and the heroes.
There is no official count of the death toll and casualties, estimates range from 65,187 to 100,187 deaths of soldiers alone; some other estimates say that 400,000 lives have been lost in this war. The war has resulted in massive displacement of the population, or million Syrians are said to have fled the country, while six million remain internally displaced. The recent military incursions by Turkey in north-east Syria alone has resulted in displacing 190, 000 people.
It will take a long time for the reconstruction of Syria, and of course Syria will never be the same again.
The destruction and devastation is incomprehensible, and even for those who have known Syria from a distance, especially those who value history, heritage, beauty, aesthetics, have mourned the often willful destruction and loss of so much heritage and culture.
Syria: Champion of Secularism & Arab Nationalism
Western sanctions mean that even those countries which want to re-establish full fledged ties with Syria, are unable to do so, or are able to only partially do so, both diplomatically and economically.
Yet, apart from the victories on the football field, Syria’s resilience was reflected at the recently-concluded Damascus trade fair, in which 39 countries participated. Besides Damascus’s traditional allies Russia and Iran, some of the other countries that participated in it were China, UAE, Indonesia, Philippines, Iraq, the Chamber of Commerce of the Sultanate of Oman. Slowly but surely, countries like the UAE and Bahrain, which had severed ties with Syria soon after the start of the civil war, have once again opened their representative offices in Damascus.
One of the major reasons for this reconciliation process with Damascus is that Syria, the survivor, proving its resilience, has now emerged as a bulwark against the Muslim Brotherhood, and religious fanaticism in the region.
The one big threat that most leaders in the Middle-East now face is that of a resurgent Muslim Brotherhood, with the active support of countries like Turkey. Always a champion of secularism and Arab nationalism, Syria has been at the forefront of the fight against religious radicalism since decades. It has now emerged even more battle-hardened, and will make for a valuable ally in the fight against terrorism.
India’s Bold Stance in Sending Back its Ambassador to Damascus
As analysts and counter-terrorism pundits have noted (and warned), the threat of groups like the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) are far from over. There are credible reports that Turkey’s incursion into northeast Syria since October this year has resulted in numerous prison breaks and flight of prisoners belonging to the ISIS. There are other terror groups also operating in the region.
India has taken a bold and resolute stand in sending back its ambassador back to Damascus, at a time when many other Arab countries like Egypt and Tunisia are dithering.
India has also extended 1,000 scholarships for Syrian students for capacity-building in different fields under its ITEC programme.
During the recent visit of Mohsen Bilal, the head of the Syrian Ba'ath Party, as a special guest of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, both External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, and Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu, expressed and affirmed strong support to Syria in its war against terrorism, for its territorial integrity, and for its reconstruction efforts.
Why India Needs a Strong Syria
It is possible that Syria is now destined to play an even bigger role in the region, which is now coming around to understanding the futility of religious and sectarian politics. Powers that had once stoked are now trying to blunt the religious radicalism. If earlier Syria had been at the forefront of Arab nationalism, then now it is the front line state in the region against Islamic extremism and terrorism.
Like India, Syria has been a victim of cross-border terrorism – most of the jihadists who flocked to the country from other parts of the world used Turkey as a passage. Turkey has become the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood, whose ideology provides the base for ISIS and other Islamist groups.
It is also the twin face of the subcontinent’s Jamaat-e-Islami, which has shaped Pakistan’s politics and has wreaked havoc in Kashmir.
Turkey and Pakistan are forging ever-closer ties. Turkey recently hosted an international conference of the Muslim Brotherhood, where, amongst other things, participants recommended setting up a think-tank for Muslim minority studies. Perhaps not coincidentally, Turkey, last week, hosted a conference on Kashmir. Turkey has roiled India with its support for comments on India’s decision to re-organise the state of Jammu and Kashmir, and support for Pakistan. A strong pluralist Syrian state is therefore in India’s interest, and forging close ties with it will serve both countries well.
(Aditi Bhaduri is a widely-published journalist and political analyst. She tweets @aditijan. This is an opinion piece. The views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)
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