Toruń Model United Nations 2017 29Th September 1St October 2017

Toruń Model United Nations 2017 | 29th September – 1st October 2017

Forum:Security Council

Issue:The conflict in Syria

Student Officer:Matej Drdák

Position:Chair of Security Council

Introduction:

As far as the world becomes more and more globalized, events, which happen on one side of the planet, have higher and higher impact on countries from the other side. Interests of nations are very wide and they are often connected not only to global problems, but also to regional ones from places all around the world. This is the case of the Syrian conflict, too. Small regional/national conflict has become one of the main global issues because of so many other nations and groups being involved.

Nevertheless, the conflict is also very specific and it has several features which make it more complicated: The usage of chemical agents is very rare nowadays and the Syrian war is the only recorded use of this kind of weapons by government in last decade; There is many different players in the conflict, each with its own interests and impact on the war; Before the conflict, there were almost no reasons or moods in Syria to even start a civil war.

Due to all these specifics, it is not hard to imagine how complex the situation in Syria is. International community has put its efforts towards the solution via several meetings, among which many were held on the ground of the UN but so far, there is no clear solution within reach.

Definition of Key Terms:

ARAB SPRING

It was a revolutionary wave of demonstrations across North Africa and Middle East from the December 2010 to the December 2012. Both violent or non-violent protests have caused a change in the ruling regime in many countries such as Libya, Tunisia or Egypt. In some cases, international intervention supported the overthrow of the regime (Libya). In other cases, protesters have accomplished important reforms, small changes or their efforts ended in no real change.

BASHAR AL-ASSAD

Bashar al-Assad, current Syrian president, came to power in 2000 after his fatherHafiz al-Assad, previous Syrian president, died. Comparing to his father, he adopted a few measures connected to freedom in press and he also released several political prisoners which led to asmall liberalisation of the system in the country. He also worked on Syrian relations with western countries which made his rule more opened and stable. However, his reforms could not be very dramatic due to Ba’ath party, which is the governing party in Syria. Some of its members are still very conservative and have often stood against Bashar’s propositions.

ISIS (IS, ISIL)

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (or Islamic State; or Islamic State of Iraq and Levant) is a terrorist group formed in 2013 from terrorist group called al-Qaeda in Iraq, which was a part of al-Qaeda. Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, the head of the group, is most likely dead as a Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported and he did not appear anytime since November 2016. However, ISIS haven’t confirmed the information yet. The main interest of the organization is to establish an ancient state – Islamic Caliphate. Not only is ISIS involved in Syrian Civil War, but also it is very well known for its terror attacks inspired by extremist Islamic ideology across the world.

CHEMICAL WEAPONS

Chemical weapons compound one or several chemical toxins to injure or kill. The first use of this type of weaponry is dated at 1st World War. As it is a weapon of mass destruction and the world has seen the brutality it can cause, it is possible to observe great effort towards demilitarisation in this area by international pressure on accepting the Geneva Protocol (1925) and Chemical Weapons Convention (1993).

DE-ESCALATION ZONES (SAFE-ZONES)

De-escalation zones are areas which are established in order to prevent targeted areas from hostilities. It is needed that all sides of the conflict accept the safe-zone to make it safe. They are often set in locations where many people live.

Background information:

In 2011, the Arab Spring came into its full force and protests have spread across the North Africa and Middle East. These protests have also affected Syria. Although, this was not the only reason why they have erupted.

In February 2011, a group of schoolchildren has been arrested in remote city of Daraa in South-Western Syria for creating anti-governmental graffities on the wall of their school. Few days later, information about brutal police treatment and torturing of arrested children have spread and it caused several other mostly peaceful sit-in protests to pop up not only in Daraa, but also in Damascus.

Unfortunately, the police did not manage to keep the situation calm enough and some violations broke out mostly from the side of pro-governmental civilians which tried to disrupt the demonstrations. After a short period of time, police started to apply violence too. The last straw was the death of 3 men during a protest in Daraa. Due to the witnesses, they were shot by police and several other people were injured.

It is important to note, that before this violent incident, there were almost no demands for a regime change during the demonstrations. Protesters were only demanding for reforms in the country. Nevertheless, after the Daraa incident demonstrations have spread across whole country. Combining the atmosphere of Arab spring in the Middle East with the moods caused by the violence experienced mostly in Daraa, protests started to grow on strength and soon, the demand for the change of the regime was on the table.

The solution of the President Bashar al-Assad is described as brutal and it has alarmed the world. From the early beginning, he tried to stop the demonstrations by military actions: tanks enter Daraa in 2011; military troops come to the province of Hama after a mass demonstration in July 2011; Assad starts a bombardment of the city of Homs and other cities in February 2012. This has caused a direct response.

In July 2011, organization called Free Syrian Army (FSA) has been founded. It was created mainly by soldiers who defected from Syrian Arab Army – the original Syrian army. They did not want to obey orders to step against civilians in such a brutal form. FSA is considered as the main source of rebel power and it started its own missions towards the regime upset. From this moment, the Syrian Civil War has had all the specifications civil wars often have.

Major countries and organisations involved:

SYRIA

Government has taken violent steps to achieve military solution for the conflict and tried to push down all the protests which appeared after the situation started to be unwarrantable. Furthermore, the multiple times usage of chemical weapons during the conflict has only enhanced the tension. The use of Sarin in August 2013 in Damascus was one of the chemical attacks reported also by UN and almost led to direct military intervention of United States. In the end, the pressure of some members of UN (ex.: USA) made Syria give up its arsenal of chemical weapons by signing Chemical Weapons Convention and United Nations had a free hand to destroy Syrian chemical weapons. Unfortunately, Syrian regime did not stop using all chemical weaponry. Usage of chlorine was still common as far as chlorine was not a type of chemical Syrian government must have given up, because chlorine is also used for medical purposes or water cleaning. However, it is still illegal to use it as a weapon.

Moreover, the use of Sarin (the gas which must have been destroyed during the destruction of Syrian chemical weapons) on4thApril 2017 in Khan Sheikhoun has provoked direct US airstrikes on Syrian army base, even though, there wasn’t clear evidence that the Sarin gas was used by Syrian army. Syrian government denied all the responsibility forthe attack and Russia supported its statement. On the other hand, USA, UK and France blamed Syrian regime. Due to this split in opinions, Security Council was not able to come to resolution on 12th April 2017 when it discussed the attack of Khan Sheikhoun.

Until now, it does not seem that Ba’ath party and its leader – Bashar al-Assad would like to abandon their position – change the regime in the country or at least make some huge changes. In 2012, government held a successful referendum on constitutional change. Even though, its impact cannot be considered as huge as it only removed the Article 8 (which states: “Ba'ath Party leads the state and society.”) and it would keep Bashar al-Assad in power for “only” 14 years (in this case to the year 2028). Therefore, the aim of the government of Syrian Arab Republic is clear: it wants to rule in the country and with help of its international backers, such as Russian Federation or Iran, it do not plan to give up this goal.

SYRIAN OPPOSITION

It is very hard for both government and foreigners to negotiate with opposition in Syrian Civil War, because there is high number of different opposition groups. Nevertheless, the opposition is mostly represented on international level by National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, formally recognised by US, UK, France, Turkey and Gulf States in 2012 and since then, also other countries recognised National Council as legitimate representative of Syrian people.

Still, the opposition is not only about diplomacy and exile negotiations. The military part of the opposition is formed by many different groups. Free Syrian Army together with Syrian Democratic Forces (which is mainly Kurdish group) fight against Assad’s regime since their formation in July 2011 (FSA) and in October 2015 (SDF). They gain equipment, training and other kinds of support mainly from their foreign backers such as United States, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar.

ISLAMIC GROUPS

During a war, different sides try to take use of it. Chaotic situation opens the door for different players who can take advantage of the situation. In the Syrian conflict, we can find groups which are trying to do so. Sometimes, these groups are connected to radical Islam. Generally, they fight against Assad’s regime, but we can see some of these groups fighting against Syrian opposition, too. It is possible to divide these groups into 2 major categories: moderate Islamist groups and radical Islamist groups. The moderate ones often cooperate with Syrian opposition in their fight against government. On the other hand, the radical ones fight usually against everybody who stands in their way and spread violence and terror.

ISIS is one of these radical Islamist groups. Its position in Syrian conflict is very important due to its high impact not only on different parties of the civil war (government, rebels), but also on foreign nations and organizations and their interests and efforts in the conflict. From the early beginning, rebels were even fighting together with radical Islamists and jihadists which make it hard for foreigners (such as USA, UK, France, Saudi Arabia) to back them, because these nations could not afford to openly fund and help terrorists. Even when some of Islamic terrorist left rebels and created the organization called ISIS in 2013, it was not rare that arms which should have ended up in the hands of rebels, ended up in the hands of ISIS. As the power of ISIS grew dramatically, US together with 5 Arab states started airstrike campaign against ISIS in September 2014. They also changed a little bit their support towards rebels, supporting only rebels which fight against ISIS, not Assad. One year later, Russian Federation joined the airstrikes against ISIS (although, western states reported that the airstrikes where aimed not only against terrorists, but also against rebels). From the January 2015, ISIS has lost almost 2 thirds of its territory, having currently under control 36,200 km2.

RUSSIAN FEDERATION

Russia is one of the Syrian key allies. Syria had strong political, economic, cultural and defence links with Russia since last century. The Russian navy enjoys limited right to the use of Tartus port, which is the only Russian port with direct connection to the Mediterranean Sea. Many Ba’ath Party officials and senior government officials were educated in Russia. Russia was the main source of technology, defence equipment and development finance. These relations implicate the interest of Russia to preserve Ba’ath party and Bashar al-Assad in power. Russia has supported Syrian government during whole conflict and from the September 2015 it has intervened itself and started attacks on ISIS (sometimes even rebels).

IRAN

With Iran, apart from economic and political links, there was the religious factor too. Many important Shia shrines are located in Syria and used to attract tens of thousands of Iranians every year. Syria was on Iran’s side during the Iran-Iraq war. Most importantly, Syria was on the transit route for Iran’s assistance to Hezbollah in Lebanon and actively assisted Iran in this. These reasons caused Iranian support towards Assad’s regime by sending equipment, soldiers and providing training to Syrian troops.

SAUDI ARABIA

For long, Syria’s relations with Saudi Arabiawere fraught with tensions, but from 2009, relations began improving, as Riyadh wanted Damascus’s support for development in Lebanon. By 2010, Bashar had visited Saudi Arabia thrice. At Saudi request, Syria imprisoned some persons involved in drug smuggling. In October 2009, King Abdullah visited Damascus after Syria played a helpful role in Lebanon after elections, leading to Saad Hariri’s appointment as the prime minister. The two leaders visited Beirut together. Syria endorsed Saudi armed action inside Yemen against the Iran-supported Houthi rebels, and Saudis sending armed forces to Bahrain in March 2011. However, the Saudis turned against Syria in no time and extended political, financial and material support to the opposition. A Sunni religious preacher was allowed to make obnoxious statements against Bashar and to incite sectarian disaffection. King Abdullah was the first Arab leader to publicly condemn the incumbent Assad government, in August 2011, for its firm-handed handling of protests. Until now, Saudi Arabia is still one of the main opposition backers.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

United States have been from the beginning of the conflict on the side of the rebels. However, their way of support has changed. First years, they supported opposition in diplomatic way and they have almost launched a secret training of Syrian rebels. It was also their effort and pressure which resulted in “punishing” Syria for their sarin chemical attacks by making them sign the Chemical Weapons Convention. Although, except of this accomplishment, they did not represent such a valid part of the Syrian conflict. The switch in their position came up in 2014, when US and 5 other Gulf States launched the military airstrike campaign against ISIS. This, however, had a significant impact on the situation. Not only did it help to decrease the danger which ISIS has presented, but also it helped both the rebels and regime in accomplishing their goals. The last significant US action appeared in April 2017 when they have launched an attack of 59 Tomahawk missiles on a Syrian army base because of a chemical attack having been reported to take place in Khan Sheikhoun. The US response and its causes are still under UN investigation.

TURKEY

Syria-Turkey relations began strengthening with Bashar in Damascus and Erdogan in Ankara. In December 2009, the two countries signed over 50 agreements/Memoranda of Understanding. One of these formalised the borders between the two countries, as claimed by Turkey. The issue of sharing of the waters of Tigris was also resolved to Turkey’s advantage. The two countries facilitated easier cross-border movement, including abolishment of visa requirements. Even when relations were good, Turkey’s then Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan tried to convince Bashar that a political group called Muslim Brotherhood was not extremist and that they should be brought into the democratic mainstream. Bashar took some steps to appease Erdogan as also the religious sections in Syria. Among others, these include permission for sermons by clerics after Friday prayers and permission to return for many clerics exiled by his father. These did not go down well with the secular Ba’athists. Given this state of relations, one would have expected Turkey to be at least neutral when troubles began unfolding. As the situation began deteriorating, much to Bashar’s surprise, Ankara put its full weight behind the opposition. However, Turkey’s support of opposition is divided. Turkey openly backed rebels from Free Syrian Army by providing training to their troops, but it fought against other opposition group, Syrian Democratic Forces from August 2016 to March 2017. It is supposed, that Turkey do not support Kurdish SDF due to its worries, that Kurds in Syria could join to Kurds in Iraq and Turkey and create an independent Kurdish state.