West cannot walk away from the tragedy in Syria

When future historians look back on this era, they will find many things wanting. But few will stand out like the ongoing slaughter of civilians in Syria’s eight-yearold civil war.

Since 2011, Syria has been brutalized in this multisided conflict. Four hundred and fifty thousand have been killed, according to the UN Envoy for Syria. More than a million have been injured. As of February this year, an estimated 5.5 million Syrians have fled the country and 6.1 million are displaced internally. Over the weekend, dozens of civilians — many of them children — were killed in a suspected toxic gas attack in the besieged town of Douma, near Damascus.

It’s widely believed that the attack was carried out by the government of President Bashar al-Assad, which has an established record of using illegal chemical weapons against unarmed civilians. The government, of course, denied the atrocity and blamed it on rebel forces. Russia, Assad’s muscle on the world stage, actually denied an attack even took place and warned any intervention would lead to retaliation.

And the bodies, the latest ravaged by sarin and chlorine gas, continue to pile up.

Syria, it has to be said, is an unmitigated disaster for the free world which has repeatedly proven itself impotent. The Obama administration’s policy, which hinged on Assad eventually stepping down, failed. Isolationist Donald Trump has made it clear he desires nothing so much as to be rid of his country’s part in the Syrian struggle. He gave orders to his generals last week to get out as quickly as possible. American military experts have said that directive probably led to Assad and Russia feeling emboldened and eventually carrying out the chemical attack.

Now Trump is doing his best yo-yo impression, going back and forth between saying he wants out and threatening to take limited military action against the Syrian government.

It would be easy, and in Trump’s case understandable, to condemn the U.S. for its part in the failed salvation and growing death toll. The truth is less black and white.

Syria was a quagmire before the conflict started, and has only gotten worse since. In spring of 2011, prodemocracy demonstrations erupted, inspired by the “Arab Spring” in neighbouring nations. The government used brutal and deadly force to crack down on even peaceful demonstrations. The violence expanded, civilians armed themselves, and all hell broke loose. Many groups and countries are involved, all with their own agendas. There is hatred between Syria’s Sunni Muslim majority and Assad’s Shia Alawite sect. Both sides have committed atrocities. Jihadist groups such as Islamic State and al-Qaida have flourished. Syrian Kurds want self-government. Russia and Iran back the government, while the U.S., Turkey and Saudi Arabia back the rebels.

The best hope is still finding some way to pressure Vladimir Putin to bring Assad to heel, to at least mitigate the slaughter. So far, that strategy hasn’t worked, yet no one has a better idea.

The United Nations estimates that 13.1 million people inside Syria will need some form of humanitarian aid in 2018.

The West cannot walk away from that.

Syria was a quagmire before the conflict started, and has only gotten worse since . ... The violence expanded, civilians armed themselves, and all hell broke loose.