Syria

Tuesday

Seth J. Frantzman

Donald Trump would be foolish to rush into the Syrian conflict

Donald Trump has promised Syria’s bloody regime that it will pay a ‘big price’ for the chemical weapons attack in eastern Ghouta, which left dozens dead. And many agree Bashar al-Assad should face the consequences of his appalling actions. But the United States – and the West – would do well to stop and ask themselves a question before they rush in: what are they actually hoping to achieve? After all, the United States’ approach to Syria and its pattern of failed strategies does not inspire much confidence. The US has pursued three distinct policies in the country over the last five years: its diplomatic process was designed to lead to a post-Assad

Dominic Green Dominic Green

The West’s defeat in Syria is complete

The Syrian civil war is in its endgame, and the ‘political solution’ that the leaders of the Western democracy talk about is in sight. That is one meaning of the appalling images from the chemical weapons attack on Eastern Ghouta. In 2011, Western intelligence agencies unanimously declared that Bashar al-Assad was finished, and that it was only a matter of time before he fell. Today, Assad, with massive Russian and Iranian support, has regained control over most of Syria. After the chemical attack on Eastern Ghouta, Arab news sites claimed that the Jaish-el-Islam militia had announced that it was willing to negotiate a ceasefire. This is another meaning to be

Robert Peston Robert Peston

Why May must back Trump on Syria

It is inconceivable that Theresa May will refuse support to Macron’s France and Trump’s America in any military action – airborne – they are likely to take against Assad in Syria. If she did not manifest that solidarity, she would be snubbing the two governments and individuals who offered the most important cooperation she received in the international response to Russia’s perceived role in the Salisbury atrocity. She would also be flagging that post-Brexit Britain lacks the confidence to take a leading role in maintaining global security – because no one doubts that British intelligence and ministers shares the presumption that Assad was to blame for the appalling use of

Monday

Katy Balls

What will Theresa May do on Syria?

The suspected poison gas attack in Syria that killed dozens of people at the weekend continues to send shockwaves through Westminster. Speaking on an official trip to Sweden, the Prime Minister said she ‘utterly’ condemned the ‘barbaric’ attack. As for what action to take, Theresa May said that if it was confirmed as the doing of President Bashar al-Assad both his regime and its backers, including Russia, must be ‘held to account’. May said Britain is ‘discussing with our allies what action is necessary’. But just as news of a chemical attack in Syria comes with a sense of déjà vu, so does the UK response. Ever since MPs rejected

Sunday

Steerpike

Labour spokesperson’s very curious Syria statement

The UN Security Council will meet on Monday to discuss a suspected chemical attack in Syria on the rebel-held town of Douma. With dozens of people killed, today there has been widespread outrage, with President Trump one of many to criticise Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his allies Russia and Iran – saying there will be a ‘big price to pay’. However, over in Labour HQ a more vague response is underway. The Labour press office have today issued a statement which is so bold as to suggest that ‘anyone found responsible’ for using chemical weapons should be ‘brought to justice’. It goes on to criticise the atrocities of this war ‘whether committed

Wednesday

Seth J. Frantzman

The West has shamefully abandoned its Kurdish allies

Not for the first time, Kurds in Iraq and Syria are facing an uncertain future. In Syria, an estimated 150,000 people were displaced by fighting in the mostly Kurdish region of Afrin in the space of a few days this month. When the Turkish army, backed by Syrian rebel allies, rolled into the city of Afrin, Kurds fled in trucks and cars, their belongings piled high. For many it conjured up the memories of Kurdish suffering which some hoped was a thing of the past. In March of 1988 and 1991, Kurds fled Saddam Hussein’s brutal oppression, often seeking refuge in Turkey and Iran. The loss of Afrin marks a major

Thursday

Peter Carty

A sea of troubles

Donal Ryan is one of the most notable Irish writers to emerge this decade. So far he has produced five volumes of fiction set in post-millennial Ireland. What sets him apart is a striking facility for narrative voice as well as a startling diversity of protagonists. His first novel, The Spinning Heart — about a town’s slump when the Celtic Tiger died — had no fewer than 21 narrators, mostly speaking in effervescent vernacular. His latest work revisits tragedy and loss with just four narrative perspectives. With the first, however, he puts aside Irish provincial life to tackle global tragedy. Farouk is a Syrian doctor who is working in a

Thursday

The Spectator

Letters | 8 March 2018

Pipeline politics Sir: In his article ‘Putin’s gamble’ (3 March), Paul Wood quite rightly mentions that one of the key reasons why Russia played hardball in Syria was Assad’s willingness to block the efforts of Qatar to build a natural gas pipeline through the country to supply Europe. This would have undermined Russia’s market power in Europe, and weakened Russian leverage over Europe when defending its actions in Ukraine. Some of the strategic issues at play in Syria exist in Libya, but to a lesser degree. Libya supplies Europe with gas from large offshore deposits through the GreenStream pipeline to Italy. Qatar tried for years to get Muammar Gaddafi to agree

Friday

Freddy Gray

Why won’t the Syria hawks talk about Libya?

On Coffee House today, the Tory MP Johnny Mercer says that Britain lost its ‘strength and leadership’ on 29 August, 2013,  the day we decided not to attack Assad. We’ve heard this line a lot from a certain sort of politician. Michael Gove and Nick Clegg lost their tempers in the hours that followed the Syria vote. Ed Miliband, who turned against the intervention, was called all sorts of horrible names by all sorts of MPs. George Osborne tells audiences in America with his most earnest face on that Britain lost its mojo that day (We got it back, apparently, when we decided in 2015 to bomb Isis – not Assad,

Johnny Mercer

Britain must come to Syria’s aid

Last week, while in Munich, I met Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s minister of foreign affairs. When I introduced myself to him as a British MP, he turned his heel. Cowards like him, Putin and Al-Assad respect one thing alone – strength and leadership. But Britain lost that in 2013 after Parliament voted against military action in Syria – and we have continued to lose political respect ever since. In fact, the world is so turned on its head, that in comparison, Donald Trump’s actions in the unilateral US strike in 2016 into Syria following another use of chemical weapons made him look like he was – unlike Britain – prepared to stand up for

Wednesday

Seth J. Frantzman

The prospect of another, even bloodier clash in Syria is growing

Turkey and Russia back different sides in the Syrian conflict, but they do agree on one thing: the role of the United States in Syria has grown too large. This view accounts for the recent Turkish incursion against US-backed Kurdish militias in Afrin, in northern Syria. As well as taking military action, Turkey’s politicians are now also growing in confidence in speaking out against the US. The country’s deputy prime minister, Bekir Bozdag, is the latest to do so, warning US soldiers in Syria against wearing ‘terrorist uniforms’ of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). He went on to say: ‘If US soldiers wear terrorist uniforms or are among the terrorists in

Tuesday

Isabel Hardman

The only people feeling the consequences of the Syrian conflict are the refugees

What will the consequences be for the latest chemical weapons attack in Syria? Currently everyone is accusing everyone else, but doing very little. The United States says Russia is covering for President Assad. Turkey is accusing the United States of ‘calculations against’ Turkey, Iran and maybe Russia too. So a war of words, but no consequences for Assad, once again. The lack of consequences are all too clear for the refugees still crammed into camps in the countries surrounding their war-torn home. I visited one housing 9,500 Syrians by the Euphrates in Turkey in December, and the most striking thing was not so much the size of the camp, but

Wednesday

Alice Beale

Turkey tightens control over Syria’s war narrative

Something has changed in the way we cover Syria. In 2015, Turkey began building a wall along the length of its 550-mile frontier with the war zone. The reasons were valid: Turkey wanted to cut the jihadi highway through which tens of thousands of foreigners had travelled into Syria and joined up with Isis. It also wanted to stop them travelling back the other way. The wall is now almost finished. It is three metres high, made of reinforced concrete topped with razor wire, and mounted with security cameras and automated guns. The area around the wall is heavy with soldiers and parts are periodically declared restricted military zones –

Thursday

Paul Wood

The mess in Syria is putting America’s credibility on the line

 Beirut ‘If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense,’ said Alice. ‘Nothing would be what it is because everything would be what it isn’t. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn’t be. And what it wouldn’t be, it would. You see?’ For the United States, and for the rest of us, Lewis Carroll is as good a guide as any to what is happening in northern Syria right now. Turkey — America’s Nato ally — has sent tanks rolling across the border to attack the Kurds, America’s ally against Isis. Thus the United States finds itself supporting both sides in the same war. You see? Some

Wednesday

Mary Wakefield

How can any intelligent person have faith?

Ten years ago, I had a strange debate about faith with a famous Jesuit and an agnostic psychoanalyst in a monastery on a cliff-top in Syria. At the time I thought I’d made some valuable additions to the discussion. The notes I took then record my own contributions with horrible precision. Looking back on it, I was just an observer. The main players were Father Paolo Dall’Oglio, an Italian priest who’d made his life in the Middle East, and Bernard S., a highly regarded Jungian analyst: neat, Swiss, troubled. The scene of this chat was Deir Mar Musa, a 6th-century monastery that Fr Paolo had restored, perched high on a

Thursday

The Spectator

The next Iraq war

After the most intensive street-by-street combat since 1945, Isis’s so-called caliphate is no more. Last weekend, the Iraqi government won what should be the final battle and is now preparing to say that the war is ended. The jihadis still have the odd redoubt — but they have been forced out of Mosul and Raqqa after an intensive coalition campaign led by America and Britain. Donald Trump is unlikely to emulate his predecessor-but-one by appearing in front of a banner saying ‘Mission Accomplished’. Theresa May probably won’t deliver such a statement either. Indeed, the war against Isis has barely been mentioned by either politician, even though our involvement has been

Wednesday

Stephen Daisley

The West’s failure to speak up for the Kurds is shameful

The enduring image of the fall of Kirkuk is the Humvee. The advancing Iraqi forces rolled into the Kurdish-held city in them and the outflanked Peshmerga clambered aboard them to flee. The US-manufactured military truck is the vehicle of choice for America’s friends in conflict with America’s other friends. Humvees retail for £170,000 but the symbolism is free.  Washington’s shapeless, Janus-faced policy in the Middle East is easy fodder for cynics and reactionaries. These Yankee Doodle imperialists bluster into centuries-old tribal disputes thinking they can impose their clean-cut version of democracy on the Arab world and rebuild Rhode Island on the Red Sea. Look where it ends — in the

Thursday

John R. Bradley

Putin the peacemaker

When Russia entered the Syrian civil war in September 2015 the then US secretary of defense, Ash Carter, predicted catastrophe for the Kremlin. Vladimir Putin was ‘pouring gasoline on the fire’ of the conflict, he said, and his strategy of fighting Isis while backing the Assad regime was ‘doomed to failure’. Two years on, Putin has emerged triumphant and Bashar al-Assad’s future is secure. They will soon declare victory over Isis inside the country. The dismal failure turned out to be our cynical effort to install a Sunni regime in Damascus by adopting the Afghanistan playbook from the 1980s. We would train, fund and arm jihadis, foreign and domestic, in

Thursday

Kate Chisholm

Seeing the light | 21 September 2017

‘You can’t lie… on radio,’ says Liza Tarbuck. The Radio 2 DJ was being interviewed for the network’s birthday portrait, celebrating 50 years since it morphed from the Light Programme into its present status as the UK’s best-loved radio station — with almost 15 million listeners each week. ‘The intimacy of radio dictates you can’t lie because people can hear it.’ She’s absolutely right. As she went on to explain, when you’re driving and it’s just the radio and you, no distraction, ‘You can hear things in my voice that I don’t even know I’m giving away.’ It’s what makes radio so testing for politicians, you can see right through

Saturday

Seth J. Frantzman

Iran’s growing influence points to a bleak future for the Middle East

After six years of fierce fighting and with hundreds of thousands dead, the Syrian civil war finally appears to be settling down. The country is now divided into various pockets of influence, with Turkish-backed rebels in the north, US-backed Kurdish forces and their allies in the east and the Syrian regime and its Iranian-backed militias in the centre and the capital, Damascus. This now gives Iran, with the influence it already has in Lebanon and Iraq, a sphere of authority stretching from Tehran to the Mediterranean Sea. The spread of Iranian influence in the region is largely a result of the country’s ability to capitalise on the tumultuous recent history of the Middle East. The