Syria was rapidly descending toward civil war this week, as government troops used tanks and heavy weapons to crush rebel strongholds on the outskirts of Damascus. Dozens of people were killed in fierce fighting between the army and rebels, whose ranks have been swelled by army defectors. Western and Arab states urged the U.N. Security Council to unite behind a resolution calling on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step aside and designate a deputy to hold talks with the opposition. “We all have a choice: Stand with the people of Syria and the region or become complicit in the continuing violence there,” said U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. But Russia threatened to veto any U.N. action against Damascus, fearing it would open the door to military intervention, just as an Arab-backed resolution led to NATO airstrikes in Libya last year.
The Kremlin won’t budge, said Yagil Beinglass and Daniel Brode in The New York Times. Not only is the Assad regime a major importer of Russian arms, spending $700 million on weapons in 2010, but it also hosts Russia’s only Mediterranean naval base, Tartus. While Russia has strong economic and strategic reasons to stand by the Syrian despot, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin especially relishes this diplomatic showdown as a “chance to counter the West’s influence in the Middle East” and revive Russia’s superpower status.
Syria will pay a heavy price for Putin’s grandstanding, said Peter Harling in ForeignPolicy​.com. If the U.N. resolution fails, the opposition will conclude that “the world has forsaken them, and that the regime can only be fought with its own methods.” The 11-month revolt, which has claimed at least 5,400 lives, will become more brutal, emboldening “the more thuggish components” of Syria’s many ethnic and religious groups.
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There’s not much the West and its Arab allies can do to stop this catastrophe, said The Economist. They will have to wait until Russia realizes that it can no longer prop up Assad’s crumbling regime. The Kremlin might then back a deal offering Assad exile and immunity from prosecution. In the meantime, Western nations should help opposition groups by implementing sanctions and sending medical supplies. “Such aid is modest and piecemeal, but at least it will not make things worse.”
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