Syrian crisis: Is there a way to end the violence?
The background
World leaders are scrambling to find a solution to the increasingly bloody violence in Syria. But divisions remain, with China and Russia still reluctant to sanction any regime change that would see President Bashar al-Assad entirely removed from power.
Here are five key developments in the escalating crisis.
Read more about the backdrop to the conflict in Syria at The Periscope Post.
Violence on the rise in Syria
The end of June and early July 2012 have seen the death toll climb in Syria. “The carnage has spiked in recent days, with at least 109 people killed Sunday, 114 people on Monday and 71 on Tuesday, opposition activists said,” CNN reported.
Human Rights Watch publishes torture report
Human Rights Watch released a report, Torture Archipelago, based on the testimony of 200 former Syrian detainees including women and children, who were held in 27 detention centres around the country. Almost all of those interviewed had experienced or witnessed torture: “Interrogators, guards, and officers used a broad range of torture methods, including prolonged beatings, often with objects such as batons and wires, holding the detainees in painful stress positions for prolonged periods of time, often with the use of specially devised equipment, the use of electricity, burning with car battery acid, sexual assault and humiliation, the pulling of fingernails, and mock execution.”
Opposition meeting ends in fighting
A meeting of Syria’s opposition groups in Cairo ended in “fistfights and scuffles” and a walkout by a Syrian Kurdish faction, reported Reuters. The meeting was intended to build a spirit of national unity between the country’s disparate anti-Assad groups. But it failed “to resolve many of the differences between the rival Syrian opposition groups, further complicating efforts to find a viable alternative to rule by Assad”.
“Bony-thin and mediocre in appearance, with a scrubby moustache, he looks for all the world like a cretin impersonating a toothbrush”: this was Christopher Hitchens’ assessment of Bashar al-Assad, noted Michael Moynihan at The Washington Post.
Syria deal: No place for Assad
World powers including Russia and China agreed a deal on Saturday 30th June for ending the violence in Syria, which involved the establishment of a transitional government. “Saturday’s agreement stated that members of the present Syrian government could be included in the new body and it was initially unclear whether Assad could be part of that transitional government,” said The Guardian. But the French and British foreign ministers subsequently clarified that Assad would play no part – to the annoyance of Russia.
Assad ‘regrets’ shooting down Turkish jet
Assad appeared to express regret that Syria shot down a Turkish fighter jet in June, claiming it was a misunderstanding: “We learned that [the plane] belonged to Turkey after shooting it down. I say 100 per cent ‘if only we had not shot it down’,” the Syrian president told a Turkish newspaper, reported The Independent. Tensions have been rising between the neighbouring countries, and Assad’s statement is considered to be an attempt to diffuse the situation.
