Middle East crises

Published May 25, 2016

EVEN by the Middle East’s volatile standards, Monday was an incredibly bloody day in the region. The Syrian cities of Jableh and Tartus were targeted by the militant Islamic State group, resulting in the death of nearly 150 people. Meanwhile in Aden, militants also linked to IS targeted army recruits, causing at least 45 fatalities in the Yemeni city. Iraq, on the other hand, has seen hundreds of people killed in terrorist attacks since the start of the year, with militants targeting markets and other public places. The latest atrocity occurred in Baghdad last week. Of course, Syria, Yemen and Iraq have a few features in common: these Arab states have been suffering from years of internal strife, while actors from beyond their borders — especially where Syria and Yemen are concerned — have used them as proxy battlefields to either push for regime change, or prop up the existing order. The results have been obvious: most notably, growing space for militant groups like IS (active in all three states), Al Nusra (an established force in Syria) and Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (well ensconced in Yemen), as well as an unending nightmare for civilians haunted by death and starvation.

Experts have rightly termed the Middle East an ‘arc of crisis’. However, the factors behind the current crises must be clearly understood. For one, while all states experiencing turmoil have suffered from years of bad governance, corruption and internal repression, the fact is that in all three cases — Syria, Yemen and Iraq — external actors have intervened to fuel further chaos, often under the pretext of regime change or ‘liberation’. This includes regional players as well as global actors, trying to fashion the region as per their wishes. At this point, matters look bleak: the UN-backed Yemeni peace process is barely hobbling along, while Syrian peace talks are stalled. The OIC and the Arab League are, as usual, absent from the scene. The fact is that multilateral diplomacy will fail to deliver unless regional heavyweights — such as Saudi Arabia, Iran and Turkey — as well as global players — primarily the US, Russia and the European states — stop fuelling conflict and urge their local ‘clients’ to come to the negotiating table and not leave until there is some consensus on peace. The people of this devastated region need a fair chance to rebuild their lives, free from the horrors of war and terrorism.

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2016

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