The Scorched Earth Campaign in Syria

The Syrian government has been carrying out a successful scorched earth campaign in Syria for the last 30 months. Troops and equipment have been deployed with the sole purpose of destruction. 

The government started by picking cities that held peaceful protests and where activism was visible, to get the word out that the people would lose more then just their freedom by incarceration and summery executions. Assad’s military started annihilating homes and businesses to install a paralyzing state of mind. Most of the destroyed buildings were residential that housed families and were never populated by violent individuals or rebels.

While we in the West were told by Assad and his government that they were chasing down the “terrorists” and “Al Qaeda” most watched in horror, but stood in silence.

The governments of the United States and United Kingdom rationalized why not to get involved with a military intervention instead selected to install ineffective financial constrictions. The United Nations Security Council stands frozen because of the action-blocking votes of China and Russia. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has refused to respond without the security councils orders even though the crimes against humanity has been recognized by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). There was the incident earlier this year of a chemical attack that killed over 1,000 people in southern Damascus that promoted the international community to gain access to the chemical warfare arsenal in order to avoid an United States military intervention and missile strike.

That brings us to where we are today: stuck witnessing the death of over 120,000 people killed by conventional warfare in Syria. The British charity Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) has published an investigation detailing 12 of the deadliest conventional weapons being used in the Syrian war. Millions have tried to flee Syria for neighboring countries and over 2.5 million have made it out. Many people were not able to pass through the borders, the Syrian government turned back people who had family members that were on the government’s capture list telling them to turn their family member over so they could leave. Others were turned away when the closing of the borders in Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Turkey happened due to over crowding in the refugee camps. In September according to United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos1cited there are “over 4 million displaced internally.” And in late October early November according to Salam Kawakibi2 a Syrian political scientist based in Paris, there are some five million internally displaced Syrians within their own country.

 The majority of people are found in the regions of Damascus, Aleppo, Homs, Deir EzZor, and Idlib. I have concluded that almost one-third of Syria’s population has been displaced by the Assad government and its scorched earth campaign. The Syrian people are facing multiple crisis’s of medical, financial ruin, starvation, murder along with false imprisonment and unlawful detentions.

Recently specialists Dr. Martin Eichner of the University of Tubingen and Dr. Stefan Brockmann of the Reutlingen Regional Public Health Office in Germany sited 10 new cases of polio in Syria and wrote “Because polio causes symptoms — including paralysis — in only about 1 of every 200 people infected, it has the potential to spread widely to others unnoticed.”3 Sarah Crowe, spokeswoman for United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) said “Without a doubt, it can go wider, go beyond Syria’s borders, Disease knows no borders.” It not certain where this strain of polio WPV1 has come from, but its best possibility is Pakistan where currently has 53 cases reported this year. The Syrian government has been requested by the UN to aid in the vaccination of millions of Syrian children however, the government has continued with their scorched earth campaign by aerial bombing in populated areas and indiscriminate ballistic rocketing. 

It is highly unlikely the Syrian government will cooperate. The government has a history of bombing hospitals, schools, and bakeries throughout the country killing civilians. According to Reuters4 - One Syrian security official called it the “Starvation Until Submission Campaign,” blocking food and medicine from entering and people from leaving besieged areas of Syria. This is yet again another form of scorched earth to make a parcel of land uninhabitable. It does not seem that Assad is planing on stopping his campaign or policies in or out of Geneva anytime soon.

For more information about the civil forces inside of Syria follow these links.  

Conventional Warfare tools; Syria’s Dirty Dozen - Business Insider http://www.businessinsider.com/conventional-weapons-used-in-syria-war-2013-9

UN Aid Chief Says 40% of Syrians in Need of Assistance.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24813902 

Stick Figures and Stunted Growth as Warring Syria Goes Hungry- New York Times.  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/03/world/middleeast/stick-figures-and-stunted-growth-as-warring-syria-goes-hungry.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&

Syria’s Opposition Coalition Picks Cabinet - AjEnglish http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/11/syria-opposition-coalition-picks-cabinet-2013111261443871405.html via @AJEnglish

Syrian National Coalition of Revolution and Opposition Forces: Coalition Principles http://www.etilaf.org/en/about-us/principles.html

Syrian Coalition Condemns Violations Against Syrian Refugees - Syrian National Coalition.  http://www.etilaf.org/en/news/syrian-coalition-condemns-violations-against-syrian-refugees.html

Syrian Opposition Coalition Says it Will Attend Peace Talks if Assad Leaves Office - The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/syrian-opposition-coalition-says-it-will-attend-peace-talks-if-assad-leaves-office/2013/11/11/84ff4c36-4b05-11e3-bf60-c1ca136ae14a_story.html

 

Syrian governments point of view; Syrian Government Makes Battlefield Gains Ahead of Planned PeaceTalks With Rebels - The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/syrian-government-makes-battlefield-gains-ahead-of-planned-peace-talks-with-rebels/2013/11/15/736f6b2a-4e18-11e3-97f6-ed8e3053083b_story.html

 

Keep current on the news from the Syrian Coalition follow them on Twitter  https://twitter.com/SyrCoalition

1 PRESS CONFERENCE BY UNITED NATIONS EMERGENCY RELIEF COORDINATORON HUMANITARIAN AIDIN SYRIA, 9/6/2013 http://www.un.org/News/briefings/docs/2013/130906_Guest.doc.htm

2Syrian Refugees A snapshot of the crisis – in the Middle East and Europe. http://syrianrefugees.eu/?page_id=513

3Syrian polio outbreak could spread to Europe, experts warn, By JoNel Aleccia NBC News, 10/7/2013. http://www.nbcnews.com/health/syrian-polio-outbreak-could-spread-europe-experts-warn-8C2013/11554125

4Insight: Starvation in Syria: a war tactic. By Bassem Khabieh Reuters, 10/30/2013.http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/30/us-syria-crisis-hunger-insight-idUSBRE99T07I20131030