Syria and over 300,000 deaths: Gulf, NATO, and Islamists
Sawako Uchida and Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times
The nations of Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen, the Sahel region, and the embattled Serbs of Kosovo have had their worlds turned upside down. Hence, the intrigues of NATO, Gulf powers, the mass media that incites, and politicians focusing on their latest nation to destabilize are endless banes to the world.
The nations mentioned above are all unrecognizable compared to the former past. Nobody doubts that the rule of Saddam Hussein was bloody – especially for Kurds and the Shia. However, the development of this nation was at a higher level. Therefore, the functioning state provided a bulwark against Islamist terrorism and kept the ambitions of Iran in check.
Once outside nations meddled in Iraq – then untold numbers perished. Ultimately sectarianism, the enslavement of the Yazidis, 80 percent of Christians fled, Al-Qaeda and ISIS (Islamic State – IS) butchered untold numbers, women forced into the shadows, and mass poverty. Thus Iraq is now a failed state where graveyards are full because of the intrigues of NATO and Gulf powers.
After America became emboldened by the demise of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt and the violent overthrow of Colonel Gaddafi in Libya by NATO, Gulf nations, and various Islamist terrorist forces – greater attention focused on the destabilization of Syria.
Mubarak stepped down on February 11, 2011. The Libyan War followed from the middle of February to the fall of the government and the ultimate brutal murder of Gaddafi in October. In the same year (2011), the war in Syria began and continues today. Therefore, after the demise of Gaddafi in Libya, the focus of NATO and Gulf powers increasingly turned to Syria.
Outside of the international media gaze, the entire Sahel region witnessed massive convulsions after the demise of Gaddafi. Yemen would also feel the meddling of Gulf powers and NATO nations selling vast military arms to the Saudi-led alliance. Hence, the shadow of death, the cycle of hatred, sectarianism, terrorism, poverty, and international intrigues that began during the Obama period – and abetted enormously by America – continues today.
The United Nations (June 28, 2022) – concerning Syria – reports, “The UN Human Rights Office today published a report that, following a rigorous assessment and statistical analysis of available data on civilian casualties, estimates that 306,887 civilians were killed between 1 March 2011 and 31 March 2021 in Syria due to the conflict. This is the highest estimate yet of conflict-related civilian deaths in Syria.”
The Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs (Brown University – America) says (concerning Iraq), “No one knows with certainty how many people have been killed and wounded in Iraq since the 2003 United States invasion. However, we know that between 184,382 and 207,156 civilians have died from direct war-related violence caused by the U.S., its allies, the Iraqi military and police, and opposition forces from the time of the invasion through October 2019. The violent deaths of Iraqi civilians have occurred through aerial bombing, shelling, gunshots, suicide attacks, and fires started by bombing. Many civilians have also been injured.”
Hence, over 500,000 civilians have died in Iraq and Syria alone. This figure is higher – when deaths because of a lack of medicine and hospital care are added. However, not content, America and NATO powers are spending tens of billions on the war in Ukraine: while deaths from past convulsions continue in Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and throughout the Sahel region. Therefore, it is sickening for America, the European Union, Japan, and NATO to talk about “international law.”
The Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs (Brown University – America) says, “Millions of people living in the war zones have also been displaced by war. The U.S. post-9/11 wars have forcibly displaced at least 38 million people in and from Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, the Philippines, Libya, and Syria. This number exceeds the total displaced by every war since 1900, except World War II.”
Obama rubber-stamped the destabilization of Syria. Hence, Timber Sycamore, a CIA terrorist ratline, was launched by America. Other covert intelligence services (Saudi Arabia and others) were involved in Obama’s secret channels that fueled the crisis in Syria. Hence, by late 2012 and 2013, outside meddling stepped up various covert programs that boosted Islamist sectarian forces and mercenaries.
Irrespective of Obama’s confusing policy, America emboldened Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, international jihadists, and others to take stronger postures against Syria. Therefore, ramifications would include the growing power of al-Qaeda and ISIS in Syria that altered the dynamics on the ground.
New York Times sums up the forces that NATO and Gulf powers supported in Syria. This media group stated (2012), “This March, months before the Qusayr ultimatum, Islamist militants from the opposition’s Faruq Brigade had gone door to door in Hamidiya and Bustan al-Diwan neighborhoods of Homs, expelling local Christians. Following the raids, some 90 percent of Christians reportedly fled the city for government-controlled areas, neighboring countries or a stretch of land near the Lebanese border called the Valley of Christians (Wadi al-Nasarah). Of the more than 80,000 Christians who lived in Homs prior to the uprising, approximately 400 remain today.”
Syria no longer hits the media headlines. Similar to Afghanistan, Libya, Serbian ghettoes in Kosovo, and other past NATO and Gulf intrigues. Yemen and Sahel nations receive sporadic headlines but lower down the order.
Pity Syria – a nation blessed with high culture and a mosaic of various religions. However, a victim of outside meddling that sows death and destruction.
PLEASE DONATE TO HELP MODERN TOKYO TIMES
Modern Tokyo News is part of the Modern Tokyo Times group
DONATIONS to SUPPORT MODERN TOKYO TIMES – please pay PayPal and DONATE to sawakoart@gmail.com
http://moderntokyotimes.com Modern Tokyo Times – International News and Japan News
http://sawakoart.com – Sawako Utsumi’s website and Modern Tokyo Times artist
https://moderntokyonews.com Modern Tokyo News – Tokyo News and International News
PLEASE JOIN ON TWITTER
https://twitter.com/MTT_News Modern Tokyo Times
PLEASE JOIN ON FACEBOOK