It is like the return of the old cold war days with
vengeance. Russia and the United States are in intense battle of wits against
each other after 18 humanitarian trucks clearly marked and carrying wheat
flour, medicine and clothing were attacked and destroyed in a dastardly attack
in Syria.
The relief materials comprised nine tons of medicine
and clothing for about 78,000 people for violence hit northern Syria. The
attack on humanitarian convoy has severely weakened
the pact reached sometime back between the United States and Russia aimed at
halting the war. The U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry blasted Russia for
allegedly changing its explanation about the attack that killed 20 people.
“This is not a joke,” Kerry said at a U.N. meet.
Predictably, irked by the attack, the United Nations have
suspended all aid convoys in Syria and also described the bombing as a possible
war crime.
The Obama
administration has held Russia responsible for the attack, while Moscow has
denied it. Russia has said, the major mishap that destroyed 18 of the 31 trucks
had occurred as a result of a fire mishap.
The UN Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon said the attack on the convoy was “sickening, savage and
apparently deliberate.”
However, amid the
battle of wits a positive aspect remained that despite
the outrage and continued bombing of rebel-held areas, both the US and Russia have still decided to salvage
the Syrian ceasefire. But the
repeated major mishaps are seen only as a part of greater designs. The destruction of these humanitarian
trucks was the second disaster in three days. Experts see these only as
attempts to subvert the agreement between Russia and the United States, which
had called for a cease-fire and delivery of humanitarian aid.
Earlier, on Saturday last week, Americans had to tender an
apology when a US airstrike supposed to target Islamic State militants in Syria
instead had killed 60 people that Syria’s government and its Russian allies
identified as Syrian soldiers.
Despite American apologies, Russia and Syrian government have
called the misdirected air strike as deliberate.
Now the question comes, are the two big
powers serious about a global response to counter the terrorism in Syria?
The US-Russian agreement has been ironically
the first truly serious attempt to reduce the violence.
The blood-soaked
conflict in Syria is probably easy to track by figures than understanding the
basics. It has almost claimed 5 lakh (50 million) lives, displaced several
millions, opened space for the Islamic State and has involved powers like the
US and Russia into it.But the complex
problems involved probably have not been understood and analyzed well as
allowing these conflicts to linger can only harm the world. Going into basics, the
core conflict has been between forces loyal to President Bashar Al-Assad
and the rebels. In the meantime, Syria’s ethnic Kurdish minority took up arms
and an ominous group Islamic State with their ruthless style has come to steal
the limelight.
There is a vital international angle into all these. Syrian President
Assad receives support from Iran and Russia and a Lebanese militant group
Hezbollah, the “rebels” are said to be backed by the United States and some oil-rich
Arab states.
Thus, there is a very complex war theatre on the table and the
roadmap to peace and a tangible solution looks difficult.
Even as the Russia-US pact had evoked some hope because the two
sides - the world’s sole
superpower the United States and Russia, which aspires to be a super power have
shown interest to work for peace.
But the agreement has a weakness also as
in the absence of any institutional mechanism the success of the pact lies
solely around goodwill and sincerity. Goodwill, they say, has been in short
supply in Syria since many of the players have varying interests. So a doubt
remains how the US and Russia are able to force their allies to chose the path
of peace and reconciliation.
ends
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