The Masks Have Fallen, Revealing the Ugly Faces of Imposters; We Are Left Alone to Face our God

By Chaden Hani

English translation by Jade Kassis

News

The Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has accused the US-led international coalition against ISIS of committing what it called a “brutal massacre” in the countryside of Deir el-Zor, following a military strike by the coalition against the headquarters of the “Syrian Democratic Forces,” an ideological militia comprised of a variety of ethnic and religious minorities.

Meanwhile, Al-Ghouta, an area under the control of the Syrian opposition, has witnessed the highest number of casualties in a single week since 2015, with 229 deaths, as a result of relentless bombing by Syrian government forces.

Further North, the Turkish army launched a military operation last month under the paradoxically named “Operation Olive Branch,” claiming to target military positions of ISIS and the (Kurdish) PKK in Afrin. This has led to numerous deaths and injuries among both Turkish soldiers and Kurdish forces.

For its part, the United States has expressed deep concern about reports of several chemical attacks carried out by the Syrian regime. As State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert put it, “We are yet again appalled by the recent reports of the Assad regime’s use of chemical weapons and the escalation of bombings that has resulted in dozens of civilian deaths in the last 48 hours.”

Paolo Pinheiro, Chair of the international UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria, said the committee had received numerous reports of toxic gas attacks leading to suffocation in the town of Saraqeb in the Idlib province, as well as in Douma in the eastern Ghouta area near Damascus. He described the government’s blockade of the eastern Ghouta and indiscriminate shelling as “war crimes.”

Meanwhile, on Saturday the 10^th of February, Israel carried out what it referred to as its largest air strike in decades on targets inside Syria, against the backdrop of an Iranian drone penetrating Israeli airspace, which was brought down by the Israeli airforce. Israel responded further by breaking into Syrian airspace to target the control platform from which the Iranian drone was launched. The Syrian regime’s air defense forces shot down an Israeli F-16 jet.

In a meeting on the 8^th of February 2018, the UN Security Council failed to reach consensus on the establishment of a humanitarian truce in Syria, where the situation is getting worse by the day, particularly in eastern Ghouta near Damascus, the Idlib Governorate in northwestern Syria, Afrin in northern Syria, and Al-Raqqa in eastern Syria. The UN Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, Mark Lowcock, expressed his concern that Syria is currently experiencing the worst phase of the conflict since 2015, adding that the population is suffering from malnutrition, as no humanitarian convoy has been able to enter the area of Ghouta in two months. Around 700 people are in urgent need of evacuation.

Analysis

The war in Syria has been going on for more than five years. During this time, the various countries involved have been able to agree – despite their many differences – on one goal: the elimination of ISIS, identified in light of its brutality as the “ultimate terrorist enemy.” After the elimination of ISIS, the world, to a certain extent, began to imagine that the war in Syria was nearing an end; but, it turns out that other wars were ready to break out as soon as the common enemy was eliminated. In Al-Ghouta, we witness a clash between opposition and government forces. In Afrin, the failure of the Kurds to agree on the establishment of a state prompted Turkey to wage war against them. The situation in Syria appears to be taking a new turn, which could well be the beginning of a fracture between the various actors, no doubt driven by economic interests.

Despite the influence of the great powers and their vast stockpiles of weaponry, they have thus far failed to bring about any agreement in Syria or to help the Syrian people, who are suffering today from the worst cases of crime, poverty, and displacement they have ever known. The Syrian conflict has escaped the control of the Syrian government and has turned into a conflict between superpowers, which raises an important question: are we witnessing the beginning of a power-sharing arrangement, or even the partition of the Syrian state?

Partition signifies the emergence of states within the state, or cantons, along sectarian or ethnic lines, where such cantons become substitutes for the unified state, which ultimately disappears. As for power-sharing, it results in all form of weakness within the central government, which might survive, but often becomes fraught with weakness and fragmentation, and subservience to the interests and agendas of other parties. These will take control of the geography, the resources, and ultimately of political sovereignty.

The Syrian social fabric has been torn, not to mention the devastation experienced by ancient Christian communities in Syria who continue to suffer from ISIS-like terrorism even beyond the ISIS era.

Theological Reflection

Where does my help come from?

“I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth” (Psalm 121:1-2).

What is the position of the church community on the developments in Syria, and what can be done? Our minds are filled with conflicting questions, which seemingly run parallel with the actual conflict in Syria.

If we consider that our refuge is Christ, then it is on him that we rely in our difficulties, and to him that we resort in our times of trouble. So, to whom do we offer our political loyalty? Do we act as Peter did when he answered Jesus saying, “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will” (Matthew 26:33), and then subsequently deny him our loyalty and offer it instead to the political authorities who promise us assurance of security and protection? Do we not read in the Book of Jeremiah about the strong rebuke directed toward the people of Israel, who abandoned God in their pursuit of those who would guarantee their protection and safety?

“Have you not brought this on yourselves by forsaking the Lord your God when He led you in the way?… Do not run until your feet are bare and your throat is dry. But you said, ‘It’s no use! I love foreign gods, and I must go after them.’ As a thief is disgraced when he is caught, so the people of Israel are disgraced—they, their kings and their officials, their priests and their prophets. They say to wood, ‘You are my father,’ and to stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ They have turned their backs to me and not their faces; yet when they are in trouble, they say, ‘Come and save us!’… You of this generation, consider the word of the Lord: ‘Have I been a desert to Israel or a land of great darkness? Why do my people say, “We are free to roam; we will come to you no more”? Does a young woman forget her jewelry, a bride her wedding ornaments? Yet my people have forgotten me, days without number.” (Jeremiah 2:17-32)

The masks have fallen, behind which superpowers and political leaders had hidden, under the pretext of fighting terrorism. Their true intentions have today been revealed, for their interests clearly surpass the security and safety of the people who had devoted their loyalty to them. The result is what we see today in Syria. Our Arab history teaches us that tyrannical regimes and violent revolutions thrive on the fuel of the loyalty and blind devotion of the masses. Have we not had enough?