Hope Is Lost.  Still, We Have One Chance Left. The Living Hope

By Chaden Hani

Eastern Ghouta is considered one of the largest strongholds of those factions making up the Syrian opposition. It is controlled by organizations like “the Army of Islam,” the “Rahman Corps” of the Free Syrian Army and the “Sham Liberation Organization,” which includes the former “Nusra Front.”

Most of the fighters in these movements are local citizens, according to the Syrian Observatory. The Syrian regime targets these “terrorist” organizations, as it claims, with military campaigns and other attacks. However, most of the victims are civilian and consist of women and children. Eastern Ghouta is considered important because of its strategic location, being adjacent to the capital of Damascus and close to the international airport. In addition, it is not far from important military sites such as the Marj Al Sultan Airport. The presence of opposition factions in Damascus makes the capital vulnerable and an easy target for attacks.

Security Developments in Ghouta

At the beginning of 2013 government forces, backed by sympathetic militias, began attacking Eastern Ghouta, sometimes with the use of internationally banned weapons, and implemented a suffocating blockade. In August 2013, Ghouta was targeted by chemical weapons, killing more than 1,400 people and injuring thousands. By the end of 2013, the siege was tightened and has resulted in a human massacre, slow death resulting from hunger and malnourishment – especially among children. We must also take into consideration that the only road in Eastern Ghouta passes alongside a refugee camp. Serving as the only humanitarian corridor in the area, it is under the control of government forces who are not allowing passage through it.

On the other hand, the regime has itself suffered from the barbarity of resistance organizations for more than seven years. After a series of negotiations, the armed groups adjacent to the capital rejected all proposals made by the regime or its allies to leave the area and the besieged citizens in Ghouta. To prevent bloodshed the Syrian state accepted making Eastern Ghouta a de-escalation zone, but the armed groups did not accept de-escalation and intensified their attacks on government forces and the Damascenes. In response, the Syrian army exercised its constitutional rights to protect the capital and its citizens after militants intensified the bombing of residential neighborhoods in Damascus. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) confirmed that the Syrian army and its allies currently control 80% of Eastern Ghouta.

We cannot forget the brutal escalations Ghouta witnessed last February, whereby regime forces supported by Russia began a largescale military campaign against Eastern Ghouta in an attempt to break past its defenses and subjected it to a bombing campaign that resulted, according to the SOHR, in the deaths of 628 civilians, including 151 children. Many others were injured. Most of the hospitals and medical clinics operating in Eastern Ghouta were also targeted. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made several statements about Eastern Ghouta, saying that the “Nusra Front” and affiliated groups had used civilians as human shields.

Meanwhile, the Turkish army and its allies within the Syrian opposition launched a military operation two months ago in an attempt to pacify Kurdish units protecting the city of Afrin, in the northwest of Syria, and its surroundings – areas with a Kurdish majority. Today, the humanitarian crisis in and around Afrin is worsening as Turkish troops and allied Syrian insurgents approach. “The water supply lines have been completely cut off from Afrin as a result of the Turkish shelling of Medanqi dam, and hundreds of thousands of people are now without water,” says Roslyn Omar, co-chairman of the Water Foundation in Afrin. In the London daily al-Hayat, Hazem al-Amin writes:

Today, we stand in Syria before an open massacre. Meanwhile, the facts reveal that a mafia is being managed by the actual parties to the conflict, mostly non-Syrians. Ghouta for Afrin. This is another situation the Syrians find themselves facing. The regime and its Russian and Iranian allies capitalized on the Turkish desire to eliminate the Kurdish influence in Afrin and decided it was the right moment to attack Ghouta. There are civilians here and civilians there and tens of thousands of displaced people on both sides. The world is silent. This is a blood-for-blood equation.

Analysis

On the one hand, what are Russia’s interests in Syria? It is known that Moscow has significant economic and military interests in Syria:

1. Military Strategy: In particular, there is the Russian Naval base located in the strategic Mediterranean port city of Tartus. In addition, Russia has established a military aircraft-base in Lattakia. Therefore, it has imposed a permanent military presence in Syria, a perceived need in its quest to become America’s heir as suzerain over the Middle East.
2. Economic Interest: According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Russia accounted for 78 percent of Syria’s arms purchases between 2007 and 2012. Russian arms sales to Syria between 2007 and 2010 amounted to $ 4.7 billion.

On the other hand, Turkey’s plan to control Afrin is based on three basic goals:

1. First, eliminating the Popular Protection Forces, which is seen as an extension of the separatist PKK in Turkey;
2. Second, preventing the establishment of an autonomous Kurdish entity near the Turkish border;
3. Finally, the establishment of a “safe zone” 30 to 50 kilometers in depth for those displaced from their children who fled to Turkey along with millions of Syrian refugees.

It is certain that the entry of Turkish troops into the city and the raising of the Turkish flag over its official buildings suggests that a new chapter, and a great deal of danger, has begun for the war in Syria.

Theological Reflection

Today, the Arab world lies in darkness. Corruption has emerged from a range of external behaviors and public interests and entered the hearts of the people, pushing man to kill first himself and his humanity before killing those who stand before him.

In light of these tragic developments and a lack of foreseeable solutions, what should we do? As Christ cried upon the tragic death of his friend, Lazarus, he cries over the death which continues to plague this world, and the Church today is authorized to weep. Like the prophet Jeremiah, we are allowed to lament and mourn: “My eyes have poured springs of water upon the crush of the daughter of my people: my eyes shall be poured out, and shall not cease without interruption” (Lamentations 3:48). We cry over the destruction of our country before our eyes, we weep the loss of our dreams, we cry for loved ones who have borne hunger and pain, we weep the death of humanity and cry for tomorrow. But as children of faith, have we lost hope?

Yes! We have lost hope. The cries of sorrow and pain have become more perceptible than the voices of faith or doctrine. But the book of Jeremiah tells us that hope is not about circumstances, but about looking to the divine vision. Jesus wept before resurrecting Lazarus. The Church today is authorized to weep in her grief, but at the same time hold on to the hope of the resurrection of Christ. The loss of hope is ultimately a denial of God’s power and ability to keep His promises. The Church is the project of God. Our hope today is in the living church and the living hope of resurrection. If the Church does not extend its hand to receive the power of Christ and realistically transform our Arab reality, what remains for us here?