Helping Syrians will weaken Putin

Ukrainians are undergoing the hellish attacks that Syrians suffered for years from Russian-supplied weapons to dictator Assad and from direct Russian bombing by its air force. On April 4, four children were killed by Syrian regime’s artillery shelling on Maaret al-Naasan village. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the children were killed on their way home to school. On the same day Russian planes bombed in other areas of northwest Syria.

Assad-Russian attacks are pitiless, with marketplaces, schools and medical facilities often targeted. In 2016, Doctors Without Borders reported that “Hospitals in opposition-held parts of Syria are refusing to share GPS coordinates with Russian and Syrian authorities because of repeated attacks on medical facilities and workers.” Normally facilities would make that information public because that would prevent attacks, but in Syria it was giving Russia/Assad coordinates that was used to make bombing hospitals easier. In Syria, Russian planes often used a “double-tap” strategy, bombing a target once and then waiting a while and bombing the rescue workers who came to dig victims out of the rubble.

It seems obvious that the world should rush to send supplies to Syrians right now both for humanitarian reasons and to divert some of Putin’s attention from Ukraine. There is much that can be done. Several million residents and internally displaced Syrians live in the northwest Idlib area that is not under Assad control.

I asked a Syrian what’s needed most and he said, “Everything.” He mentioned bread, plus warm clothing and boots for winters. Trailers should be sent in to replace the thousands of tents people have been living in year after year. Syrians really need solar-powered generators to supply electricity. Concrete should be sent to reinforce hospitals and shelters from bombings. Government and citizen contributions to the Syrian rescue workers “Syria Civil Defence” (better known as the White Helmets) should be increased.

Then there is the special case of AlRukban. It’s a windswept desert area on the Iraq and Jordan border of Syria where perhaps 12,000 Syrians are living. They’re Syrians who fled both Assad and ISIS attacks. It’s under siege by Assad forces and troops of the Russian army. The area is within a within 55-kilometer exclusion zone around a U.S. base called al-Tanf established in 2016 as part of the U.S.-backed coalition’s effort to fight the so-called Islamic State in Syria with Russian agreement. Even though the Syrian men from the camp secure the al-Tanf base, the U.S. will not supply Al-Rukan. If the rationale in the past has been to not upset Russia, post-Ukraine invasion world conditions compel a complete rethinking. Immediately furnish the area with food and supplies and give it regular medical services.

Another thing that should be done is to highlight the continuing horrors of Assad prisons. Tens of thousands have been put in detention by security forces. In 2016 Amnesty International released a terrifying report on Sednaya Prison explaining that from 2011 through 2015 over 17,000 prisoners had been executed or died because of torture or other conditions in Sednaya. That was six years ago, so the total numbers are worse now. We in Promoting Enduring Peace are highlighting two cases. One is of the family of Rania Alabbasi. She is a former Syrian chess champion who was arrested with her husband, six children and her secretary in 2013. None of them have been heard from since. Rania’s brother Hassan told me that 5,000 children have been taken away by security forces. The other case we’re highlighting is that of a U.S. citizen. He is a therapist named Majd KamAlmaz. In 2017 he went to Damascus to pay respects after his father-in-law’s death and he was picked up by police. His family has heard nothing about him or his conditions of detention ever since.

We’ll be holding an online event at 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 14, to keep alive the hopes of families of prisoners. It will feature members of the families whose loved ones have been disappeared. See PEPeace.org for details.

There is more than one way to resist Putin’s aggression against Ukraine. Yes, support Ukrainians directly, but also create a “second front” with humanitarian aid for Syrians. It’s the smart thing to do and the right thing to do.