Turmoil in Syria

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Published on Tuesday, 14 February 2012 00:00

Written by Thandeka Mujati

United Nations officials estimate that 6 000 people have died, while approximately 13 000 are  now in detention and subject to torture, since protests began in Syria last March.

Syria’s current turmoil has come to resemble a civil war in recent weeks due to the regime’s willingness to deploy armed forces to suppress challenges to its authority.  

Syrian President Bashar Assad has been accused of emulating his father and predecessor Hafez Assad’s ferocious crackdown on the Syrian city of Homs.

On February 4th 2012, the United Nations Security Council voted on a resolution that would demand for President Bashar Assad to cede power. 

Thirteen council members voted in favour, while Russia and China challenged the West and vetoed the resolution. Russia complained that the resolution was “unbalanced” because it did not make sufficient demands on opposition groups to end attacks on the regime. They also felt that the resolution was a possible violation of Syria’s sovereignty.

China’s state news agency Xinhua says the Sino- Russian veto “aimed at further seeking peaceful settlement of the chronic Syrian crisis and preventing possible drastic and risky solutions to it.”

The international community was enraged and disappointed after the Security Council meeting. On Sunday 5th February, US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton called for “friends of democratic Syria” to unite and ally against President Bashar Assad’s regime. 

Clinton intends to consult with other UN allies on how to “rescue this deteriorating situation before it is too late.” The US President Barack Obama went on to add that Assad had lost his legitimacy as a ruler.  

In addition to an alliance of Arab countries, several other nations announced on Tuesday, February 8th, that they were calling their ambassadors home from Damascus. Tunisia has expelled Syria’s ambassadors in response to the “bloody massacre” and will no longer recognise the regime.