WHILE it is positive that the international community has pledged $10bn to provide relief to the Syrian people, all such well-intentioned efforts will come to nought unless the guns in Syria fall silent. One indication that the conflict may heat up further came in the shape of reported comments from a senior Saudi defence official, who ‘offered’ to send ground troops into Syria. The proposed move, to be carried out in coordination with Turkey, is ostensibly aimed at pursing the militant Islamic State group. The Saudi proposal has elicited a strong response from Iranian military figures. The humanitarian effort to address the Syrian people’s plight is commendable, considering that the civil war between Bashar al-Assad’s government and a variety of opposition groups is about to complete its fifth year, and has cost over 250,000 lives. Yet eclipsing such welcome efforts is the fact that there is now a very real threat of the Syrian civil war transforming into a wider regional conflagration. As British Prime Minister David Cameron noted recently in London, despite the humanitarian pledges “we still need a political transition”. It is highly doubtful that further foreign military intervention can help bring about this peaceful transition.
In fact, any moves to send ground troops into Syria by the Saudis, Turks or others to pursue extremists, without the willingness of the government in Damascus, will be a recipe for disaster. And coordination between Damascus, Riyadh and Ankara is presently highly unlikely, considering the latter have no love lost for Mr Assad. Moreover, Iran, Bashar al-Assad’s primary external backer — along with Russia — has reacted strongly to the proposal, with the head of the Revolutionary Guard on Saturday terming the Saudi move “suicidal”. If Syria is a mess right now, further foreign intervention will only complicate the situation. Besides, the Saudi military’s intervention in Yemen has failed to pacify the country or defeat the Houthi militia; in fact a stalemate persists in that impoverished state and civilians have borne the brunt of the violence. Instead of adding to the chaos in Syria, all regional powers, as well as the international community, must put their energies into reviving efforts for a political settlement to the civil war. And while there indeed needs to be an international effort to uproot IS and other militant groups from the region, this should be done with the Syrian and Iraqi governments on board.
Published in Dawn, February 7th, 2016