Humanitarian Intervention in Syria

This article discusses the crisis in Syria and the need for humanitarian intervention to protect the rights of the Syrian people. It explores the involvement of international powers and organizations in the Syrian civil war.

Running head: HUMANITARIAN INTERVENTION
Response to the crisis in Syria (2011-2018)
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Response to the crisis in Syria (2011-2018)
Syria has been suffering from a severe civil war since 2011. The peaceful protest that
started against the government of Syria in March 2011 became an enormous full-blown civil war
by 2012 where the military and armed forces and the international powerhouses got involved.
The protestors wanted the president Bashar al-Assad to undertake democratic reforms, but the
government responded with extreme violence. As a result, some protestors teamed up with the
military defectors for forming the Free Syrian Army with an overview to overthrow the
government, which triggered the violent civil war since 20121. The war has killed more than
millions of people and displaced billions. As per the report by the United Nations, around 6.1
million people were displaced within Syria and around 5.6 million went to other countries as
refugees2. Currently, two major international powers have been involved in the Syrian civil war,
Russia and the United States. The rebel group calls itself Islamic State (IS). There are various
dimensions of the civil war in Syria. The major conflict was between the two major groups of the
Islam religion, namely Shia Islam and Sunni Islam and in the Syrian war, Saudi Arabia and Iran
got involved as Saudi protects the Sunni muslims and Iran protects the Shia muslims. The
conflict began to address the issues like high unemployment, corruptions and lack of political
freedom under President Assad3. Along with that, there is absence of accountable government
which created the scope for the international powerhouses to get involved. The protests that only
wanted democracy and greater freedom, soon turned into a huge protest asking the President to
1 Sharara, S.L. and Kanj, S.S., 2014. War and infectious diseases: challenges of the Syrian civil war. PLoS
pathogens, 10(11), p.e1004438.
2 Bbc.co.uk, "What's happening in Syria?.". in Bbc.co.uk, , 2018, <https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/16979186>
[accessed 22 April 2019].
3 Laub, Z, & J Masters, "Syria’s Crisis and the Global Response.". in Council on Foreign Relations, , 2013,
<https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/syrias-crisis-and-global-response> [accessed 22 April 2019].

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resign due to the irresponsible and violent behavior displayed by the government military force.
The Islamic State (IS) is a militant group, and it joined to rebel group to get access to the
weapons to pursue their own violent ideas. It captured Raqqa in early 2014 and went on to
capture other major cities to continue the fight against the government and that increased the
severity of the civil war in Syria4. Thus, Syria is not only in fight with the rebels but both these
groups are fighting with the IS also.
The Syrian government got the support from Russia and Iran, while the USA, Saudi
Arabia and Turkey back the rebels. Other international powers such as France, the UK, and other
western countries are providing different levels of support to the moderate levels. The crisis that
has been going on since 2011 has resulted in severe tragedies for the Syrian people, such as,
millions of people have been killed, brutalized, displaced, injured, bereaved, tortured, or
impoverished and it has brought the issue of lack of protection of the innocent civilians in the
front, which opened the path for humanitarian invention by the other political powers and
voluntary welfare organizations5. The involvement of IS has made the situation much worse and
in September 2014, the USA intervened in Syria to attack the IS through air strikes.
The need for intervention in Syria was highlighted once the UN Under-Secretary General
for Humanitarian Affairs reported the consequences of the crisis in Syria. As of December 2013,
within Syria, 9.3 million people needed humanitarian assistance. Among them 6.5 million fled
their homes, the number of Syrian refugees approaching neighboring countries was almost 2.3
million and increasing, unemployment reached to 3 million and 3 million children had to leave
4 Holland-McCowan, J., 2017. War of Shadows: How Turkey's Conflict with the PKK Shapes the Syrian Civil War
and Iraqi Kurdistan. International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence.
5 Averre, D. and Davies, L., 2015. Russia, humanitarian intervention and the Responsibility to Protect: the case of
Syria. International Affairs, 91(4), pp.813-834.

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their education6. By 2018, the numbers increased significantly, that is, 13.1 million need
assistance, and 6.1 million are displaced within the country, 5.5 million fled the country and 8.1
million children need education7. Along with that the cultural heritage is getting destroyed and
there is increase in illegal human trafficking. Another rising issue that has been affecting Syria is
the use of chemical weapons by the Assad government to handle the civil war, which has been
condemned by the United Nations and all other political powers. It was first used in August 2013
while both the rebels and the government denied the responsibility.
Humanitarian intervention has been introduced in Syria by political powerhouses like
Russia and the United States, along with the UK, France, and other European countries and
various non-governmental welfare organizations, such as, the United Nations. Russia has been
supporting the Assad government in Syria since long and it has helped it to build the modern
Syrian military. Russia is backing Syria by supporting the claims of Assad about not using
chemical weapons and reported that the attack in Khan Sheikhoun or Douma in April 7, 2017 is
staged. On the other hand, USA has got involved in the Syrian war to stop the foothold of the
militant group IS and lunched air strikes to destroy the IS bases8. Eventually the USA sent
military troops to Syria and it also condemned the Assad government on a humanitarian ground
that is, for using chemical weapons such as chlorine gas and sarin on the civilians9. However,
6 Aaronson, M, "Syria and the Crisis of Humanitarian Intervention.". in E-International Relations, , 2014,
<https://www.e-ir.info/2014/02/11/syria-and-the-crisis-of-humanitarian-intervention/> [accessed 22 April 2019].
7 Unesco.org, "Syria Crisis Response | United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.". in
Unesco.org, , 2019, <http://www.unesco.org/new/en/syria-crisis-response/> [accessed 22 April 2019].
8 Hehir, A, "Trump strikes in Syria: illegal, ineffective and dangerous.". in The Conversation, , 2017,
<https://theconversation.com/trump-strikes-in-syria-illegal-ineffective-and-dangerous-75936> [accessed 22 April
2019].
9 Erickson, A, "7 basic questions about the war in Syria.". in Washington Post, , 2018,
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/04/12/syria-explained/?utm_term=.21b5c1696dc2>
[accessed 22 April 2019].

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even after impositions of regulations on using chemical weapons, a terrible strike took place on
April 2017, where almost 100 people were killed in Khan Sheikhoun due to sarin attack. This led
to another cruise missile strike by the USA on a Syrian air base, making it the direct U.S. strike
on the Syrian war regime. Although USA and Russia are supporting two different sides in the
Syrian crisis; in 2013 September, they both came to an agreement that no chemical weapons
should be used by the Syrian government under any circumstances. However, this regulation is
not being followed in Syria10. and the instances of chemical attack have increased significantly.
Between 2013 and 2018, it has been confirmed by the Human Rights and other international
organizations that there have been at least 85 chemical weapon attacks in Syria, among which
most were perpetrated by the Syrian government11. Thus, the situation has become much worse
than it was in 2011.
The United States has sent their military troops to Syria in support to the Syrian
opposition and air strikes are continued to destroy the militant bases of IS. However, Trump
Administration said that the troops would be withdrawn from Syria very soon, as they claim that
IS have been defeated. Various international organizations, such as, Red Cross, and Syrian Arab
Red Crescent, have been providing aid in terms of food and medical treatment, which are basic
factors for people to survive in war-torn Syria12. In comparison to the civil war in Libya, it is
found that Libya consists of mostly Sunni Arabs and hence, internal conflicts are less in Libya.
Moreover, being the largest producer of oil in Africa, the economy of Libya is better than in
10 Bbc.co.uk, "What's happening in Syria?.". in Bbc.co.uk, , 2018, <https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/16979186>
[accessed 22 April 2019].
11 Human Rights Watch, "World Report 2019: Rights Trends in Syria.". in Human Rights Watch, , 2019,
<https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2019/country-chapters/syria> [accessed 22 April 2019].
12 Charap, S., 2013. Russia, Syria and the doctrine of intervention. Survival, 55(1), pp.35-41.

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Syria, which is completely destroyed and no natural reserve exist to support its economy13. Thus,
the need for humanitarian intervention is more in Syria than in Libya.
Armed conflict between the world powers supporting different sides in Syria has been
contributing in the number of deaths and amount of collateral damage. After the demise of
Ghaddaffi in Libya, the world attention has shifted to Syria, especially in terms of humanitarian
invention for putting a stop to the killings and violation of the human rights under the presidency
of Assad. Apart from Russia and the USA, many political powers got involved in the Syrian war
to protect the people14.
Thus, it can be said that there are various measures taken as a humanitarian intervention
to stop the civil war in Syria and bring back peace and a stable economy, however, although
there are regulations by all international organizations to stop the war, majority have not been
fruitful. The number of chemical attacks are still continuing, there are violence by the IS,
destruction of national properties and emergency facilities like hospitals, which are making the
condition much worse. As stated by Weiss (2016), humanitarian intervention refers to the
measures taken by international human rights organizations to put a stop to the violence and
gross violation of the activities affecting the basic human rights in a country in which the
government is unable or unwilling to protect its own citizens15. It is seen in case of Syria that the
Assad government is facing challenges from the rebels on the grounds of incapability of
13 Cronogue, G., 2012. Responsibility to Protect: Syria The Law, Politics, and Future of Humanitarian Intervention
Post-Libya. Journal of International Humanitarian Legal Studies, 3(1), pp.124-159.
14 Erameh, N, "Humanitarian intervention, Syria and the politics of human rights protection.". in The International
Journal of Human Rights, 21, 2017, 517-530.
15 Weiss, T.G., 2016. Humanitarian intervention. John Wiley & Sons.

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protecting its citizens and giving less freedom. The government responded with violence and
attacks on the people which not only resulted in the formation of Islamic State (IS) militant
group, but also led to the necessity of international intervention to protect the rights of the Syrian
people,. Hence, humanitarian intervention is highly necessary in the crisis situation like the civil
war in Syria. As the government is unable to protect its citizens and other national assets and
properties, the human rights organizations of the world must intervene to protect the basic rights
of food, shelter and medical facilities of the victims of the war torn regions like in Syria.

7HUMANITARIAN INTERVENTION
Bibliography
Aaronson, M, "Syria and the Crisis of Humanitarian Intervention.". in E-International
Relations, , 2014, <https://www.e-ir.info/2014/02/11/syria-and-the-crisis-of-humanitarian-
intervention/> [accessed 22 April 2019].
Averre, D. and Davies, L., 2015. Russia, humanitarian intervention and the Responsibility to
Protect: the case of Syria. International Affairs, 91(4), pp.813-834.
Bbc.co.uk, "What's happening in Syria?.". in Bbc.co.uk, , 2018,
<https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/16979186> [accessed 22 April 2019].
Charap, S., 2013. Russia, Syria and the doctrine of intervention. Survival, 55(1), pp.35-41.
Cronogue, G., 2012. Responsibility to Protect: Syria The Law, Politics, and Future of
Humanitarian Intervention Post-Libya. Journal of International Humanitarian Legal
Studies, 3(1), pp.124-159.
Erameh, N, "Humanitarian intervention, Syria and the politics of human rights protection.". in
The International Journal of Human Rights, 21, 2017, 517-530.
Erickson, A, "7 basic questions about the war in Syria.". in Washington Post, , 2018,
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/04/12/syria-explained/?
utm_term=.21b5c1696dc2> [accessed 22 April 2019].
Hehir, A, "Trump strikes in Syria: illegal, ineffective and dangerous.". in The Conversation, ,
2017, <https://theconversation.com/trump-strikes-in-syria-illegal-ineffective-and-dangerous-
75936> [accessed 22 April 2019].

8HUMANITARIAN INTERVENTION
Holland-McCowan, J., 2017. War of Shadows: How Turkey's Conflict with the PKK Shapes the
Syrian Civil War and Iraqi Kurdistan. International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and
Political Violence.
Human Rights Watch, "World Report 2019: Rights Trends in Syria.". in Human Rights Watch, ,
2019, <https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2019/country-chapters/syria> [accessed 22 April
2019].
Laub, Z, & J Masters, "Syria’s Crisis and the Global Response.". in Council on Foreign
Relations, , 2013, <https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/syrias-crisis-and-global-response>
[accessed 22 April 2019].
Sharara, S.L. and Kanj, S.S., 2014. War and infectious diseases: challenges of the Syrian civil
war. PLoS pathogens, 10(11), p.e1004438.
Unesco.org, "Syria Crisis Response | United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization.". in Unesco.org, , 2019, <http://www.unesco.org/new/en/syria-crisis-response/>
[accessed 22 April 2019].
Weiss, T.G., 2016. Humanitarian intervention. John Wiley & Sons.