September 30th, 2015

Putin's propaganda seems to be singing its swan song - the Syrian one. The dying regime urgently needs a small, victorious war. In Ukraine, the war is shamefully fucked up; no one even argues that #Putins leaked it. The Kremlin is urgently looking for another opportunity to win, at least on TV.In this regard, I decided to make a small educational program about Syria for the quilted jackets.

Myth No. 1. Russia has a military base in Syria, we must defend it!
I'm in awe. Anyone who says that has no idea what a military base is. Just in case, I inform you that Putin has surrendered all military bases outside the CIS. Under him, the Russian military left Cam Ranh (Vietnam) and Lourdes (Cuba). Our “peacemaker” Vova also sent us away Russian troops from Georgia, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan. By the way, according to the agreement with Georgia, Russian troops were supposed to be there until 2020, but the United States offered Vova money so that he would remove them from there. And this son of a bitch obediently carried out the will of his Washington masters in 2007, and ahead of schedule! A few months later, the war broke out in South Ossetia. We draw our own conclusions...

So, Russia does not have any military base in Syrian Tartus; since 1971, the 720th logistics support point of the USSR Navy has been located there on the territory of the 63rd brigade of the Syrian Navy. The point was intended for the repair of ships of the 5th operational (Mediterranean) squadron, supplying them with fuel, water and consumables (not ammunition!). The Mediterranean squadron of the Soviet fleet consisted of 70-80 pennants, sometimes the number reached hundreds, so a supply base was necessary. For reference: now all four Russian fleets taken together are not able to allocate even a three times smaller group for presence in the world's oceans. The Mediterranean squadron was disbanded on December 31, 1991, and since then Tartus has lost all significance.

Tell me, why is there a supply point if there is NO ONE TO SUPPLY? Actually, there is no supply point. As of 2012, the entire staff of the “military base” was 4 (FOUR!!!) military personnel, but in fact the “contingent” was half as large. In 2002, the staff was still 50 people. Of the two floating piers, one is out of order. There is no military equipment, no weapons, no repair equipment, no personnel at the 720th point; it is not able to service ships.

Well, are we going to keep talking about “our outpost in the Middle East” with an area of ​​one and a half hectares, gentlemen of the Vatans? Maybe you can fantasize about the strategic importance of two hangars on the shore, in which several tankers are rusting? However, officials in Moscow officially deny the need for a base in Tartus. Our warships, occasionally passing through the Mediterranean Sea, replenish supplies in the port of Limassol in Cyprus. The question is closed.

Myth No. 2. The Russian Federation has geopolitical interests in Syria
I wonder which ones? Well, come on, quilted jackets, list them. The Russian Federation has practically no economic ties with Syria. Moscow purchased goods worth as much as $7.1 million in Syria in 2014. Syria only consumes our weapons. Moreover, “consumes” does not mean “buys”. For the most part, they demanded it from the USSR for free and received $13 billion, of which Putin wrote off $10 billion to Damascus in 2005. Now, theoretically, the Syrians should be supplied with weapons for money, but the problem is that they don’t have a lot of money. The volume of arms supplies to Syria is unknown. In 2012, Syria ordered 36 Yak-130 combat trainers for $550 million, but the contract was not fulfilled. However, in the same year, classified supplies of military materials to Syria from the Russian Federation, according to RBC, amounted to $458.9 million. Apparently, we are again supplying weapons to the “friendly regime” for thanks.

What else connects Russia with Syria? The answer is simple: NOTHING. Before the war, the Russian Federation purchased vegetables, chemical threads and fibers, textiles from the Syrians, and sold them oil, metal, wood, and paper. However, the relative revival of trade was ensured not entirely by market methods. For example, Syria received a 25 percent discount on customs duties. After Russia’s accession to the WTO, such “friendship” is no longer possible.

In 1980, a Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation was concluded between Syria and the USSR, which, in particular, implies the provision of military assistance if necessary. It has not been formally denounced. However, God forbid that we have such military allies as the Syrians! They lost all the wars they once fought with their neighbors, even the Jordanians beat the Syrians when they intervened in their showdown with Palestinian terrorists on the side of the latter. In 1973, Syria tried to recapture the Golan Heights, but was completely defeated by Israel and, when Israeli tanks were already 30 km from Damascus, only the diplomatic efforts of the USSR saved Syria from final and shameful defeat. At the same time, the Syrians managed to repay the Russians with the most sophisticated gratitude:

“Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger told how in 1974, flying from Damascus to Jerusalem, he achieved an agreement on the separation of Syrian and Israeli troops. As Kissinger and President Hafez al-Assad were finalizing the document, Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko flew to Damascus.

“His plane was already over Damascus,” Kissinger recalled, not without pleasure. — And Assad and I were in the midst of work. The Chief of Staff of the Syrian Air Force assured me that he would sort everything out. As a result, Gromyko's plane began to describe circles over the city. Forty-five minutes later he was almost out of fuel, and I graciously agreed to let the plane land, provided that it was placed away from mine. The plane of the Soviet minister was driven into the far corner of the airfield, where Gromyko was greeted by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, since all the senior Syrian leaders were busy negotiating with me.” ().

Here's another episode:

“In the summer of 1976, the head of the Soviet government, Alexei Kosygin, flew to Damascus. While he was in Syria, President Hafez al-Assad, without warning the distinguished Soviet guest, sent troops into neighboring Lebanon. It turned out that the Syrian action was carried out with the blessing of the Soviet Union. Kosygin was extremely annoyed, but remained silent so as not to quarrel with Assad.” ().

The Kremlin flirted with the Assad regime, hoping to get a naval base and a long-range aviation base on Syrian territory, but Damascus only made vague promises and was in no hurry to fulfill them. As a result, no Soviet military bases appeared in Syria. The logistics point, as noted above, was not a military base, since warships could not be based there on a permanent basis.

By the way, independent Syria appeared on the map only thanks to the USSR - it was Moscow in 1945 that demanded the withdrawal of the French occupation contingent from the country and after fierce battles at the UN, the French were forced to stop fighting against the Syrians and leave the country.

In short, the benefits of such “alliance” have always been one-sided. But 30-40 years ago the USSR was a world power and, at least theoretically, in the conditions Cold War needed allies in the Middle East as a counterweight to Israel, which had the United States behind it. Now Moscow, in principle, has no interests or opponents in the region. The Kremlin has a very tender friendship with Israel and passionate kisses. What is the point of friendship with the dictatorial regime of Assad, which is mediocre for the region, which is doomed in any case?

Myth No. 3. Syria is our ally in the fight against “international terrorism”
Question for experts: are Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist groups? So, these are terrorist groups that were maintained by the Syrian regime. In Syria now some terrorists are killing other terrorists (Hezbollah is actively fighting on Assad’s side), and no matter who wins, the terrorists will win in any case. What is the reason for you, quilted jackets, to get involved in the squabbles of savages?

Actually, the Assad regime never hid its sympathies for terrorists, which is why back in 2004, measures were introduced against Syria economic sanctions from many Western countries. On next year pressure on Syria intensified further in connection with the terrorist assassination (bomb explosion) of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, who took an irreconcilably anti-Syrian position. Guess who was behind the killers? Our friend Basharchik. At least the UN commission of inquiry into the death of the ex-Prime Minister of Lebanon claims that he personally ordered the murder of an unwanted Lebanese politician. This was later confirmed by the country's Vice President Abdel-Halim Khaddam, who fled Syria in 2005.

The question arises: why did Hariri dislike Syria so much? Well, probably because most of the country was occupied by Syrian troops (the imposition of sanctions forced Damascus to end the occupation), and the south of Lebanon is controlled by Hezbollah, financed by Syria. It is now clear why the leaders of Western countries are so adamant in their desire to remove Assad: a man whose hands are up to his elbows in blood is not a handshake for them. Although, such a friend is just right for Pwyll.

As for “eastern humanism,” the Assad regime was one of the first. In the early 80s, a wave of Islamist uprisings swept across the country, which in 1982 even captured the city of Hama. The Syrian army has clearly demonstrated its attitude towards the disloyal population. The troops surrounded the city, exemplarily ground it into dust with the help of artillery and aircraft, and then took it by storm. It is believed that from 10 thousand to 40 thousand civilians were killed in this way - this is the bloodiest suppression of an uprising in the Middle East in modern history.

Do these methods differ from the actions of the punitive forces in the Donbass? Yes, they are different: the punitive forces, unlike the Syrian military, act a hundred times more humanely and unsuccessfully - they were never able to take at least one city by storm. And they killed a lot less population, although they have been fighting for a year and a half. But ISIS acts against the Kurds in exactly the same way, preferring scorched earth tactics.

Yes, it was not Bashar al-Assad who formally “counter-terrorized” Hama, but his dad Hafez. But the regime remained the same, and the ruling family was the same. In general, having such “allies” in the fight against terrorists, the terrorists themselves are no longer needed. ().

What's really happening in Syria. First, in the eastern suburbs of Damascus, the Assad regime is consolidating its power after months of fighting with rebels. “Battles,” as happened in Aleppo at one time, are nothing more than a war crime: Russian and Syrian planes continuously strike civilians and civilian infrastructure, both night and day. No one in the world will even mention what is happening during these “battles.” Southern Damascus is under ISIS control (organization banned in Russia - editor's note). There is no doubt that they will be the next target of total destruction and murder.

Secondly, it's already underway and a huge flow of refugees from areas close to Damascus to northern Syria will increase in the near future. The Assad regime is encouraging Sunni citizens to leave their places and move to the north of the country. Russian forces ensure the movement of this flow.

Context

Russians won't stop halfway

Will Russia be able to shoot down American missiles in Syria?

Trump tweet on Syria rocks stock markets

Where is our “Thank you, America”?

Fourthly, these days new borders of Syria are being formed: the Turks are in the north of the country (except for one Kurdish enclave), nearby is the large enclave of Idlib, which is controlled by Islamic rebels receiving Turkish patronage. This is approximately 15% of Syrian territory. In northeastern Syria, the Kurds, who are supported by the United States, hold power. This is almost 30% of the country's territory. There is a lot of oil and gas in this area. Hezbollah has taken control of mountainous areas in western Syria. In the Golan Heights, Israel maintains its interests. Formally, Assad controls 50% of Syria. However, he is not the real owner. They are Russia and Iran.

Fifth, former US President Barack Obama ignored the genocide that took place in Syria, and thereby opened the gates of this country to Russia. Original sin lies on it. Is Trump repeating the policies of his predecessor? On the one hand, he wants to escape responsibility and abandon the Kurds, who did the “dirty work” for the United States in defeating ISIS. On the other hand, it is difficult for him to ignore the use chemical weapons and limit yourself to minor actions. What will he decide? We don't know yet.

InoSMI materials contain assessments exclusively foreign media and do not reflect the position of the editorial board of InoSMI.

Like Israel, Syria was artificially formed by the victors of the world war, who united hostile nations and religions within the same borders. In 1918, France and Great Britain drew a new country on the map of the defeated Ottoman Empire, where Sunni Muslims (according to different estimates, 60 – 75% of the population) constituted an absolute majority over the Alawites, Shiites, Kurds, Druze and Christians. At the same time, both the French colonialists and the future Syrian dictators, following the policy of “divide and rule,” supported minorities in opposition to it.

"Ethnic map of Syria. Photo: wikipedia.org”

What kept Syria from collapse for almost 100 years?

First, a patriotic impulse in the struggle for independence - French troops were withdrawn from the country only in 1946. Later, they were united by a common enemy, Israel, and pan-Arabism - a political movement that sought to unite all Arabs into one state, regardless of the versions of Islam they professed. In 1970, another coup brought to power the commander of the air force and air defense, Hafez al-Assad, an Alawite. He set a course towards building a secular state relying on the army and intelligence services. In 1982, tens of thousands of civilians were killed during a government assault on the Muslim Brotherhood-held city of Hama. After that and until the start of the current Syrian crisis, the Islamists did not show themselves seriously.

Group photo of dictators: Hafez al-Assad, Syria; Idi Amin, Uganda; Anwar Saddath, Egypt; Muammar Gaddafi, Libya. 1972, no one has lived to this day. Photo: AFP/EAST NEWS

Who are the Alawites, and how did they come to power?

Alawite affiliation with Islam is not recognized by all Muslims. Their faith combines the principles of Shiism, elements of Christianity, Zoroastrian mysticism and belief in the reincarnation of men. Alawites keep their customs secret, so they are known about them, for the most part, from the words of ill-wishers. It is believed that they perform namaz 2 times a day, celebrate Christmas and Easter, do not have a ban on alcohol, deny Sharia and Hajj, and pray in their native languages.

Making up about 12% of the Syrian population, Alawites have long been the poorest and most disadvantaged caste. Having received the protection of the French administration, many Alawite families sought a way out of poverty by choosing a military career for their sons. So over time, they formed the backbone of the officer corps, which brought the Assad family to power.

Is Bashar Assad a dictator?

In 1997, Basil Assad, Hafez’s eldest son, who was preparing to be his successor, crashed in his Mercedes on the way to the airport. The younger Bashar was immediately summoned from London, where he was building a career as an ophthalmologist under a pseudonym. He was elected president with a result of 97.29% in a referendum held after the death of his father in 2000.

Assad was the most pro-European of the Middle Eastern leaders. He wore jeans, often drove his Audi A6, dined at fancy Damascus restaurants and married a London-raised J.P. Bank employee. Morgan Asma Akhras, who became one of the most elegant first ladies in the world. The changes were not only external. Under Bashar, Syria's first civilian government in decades was formed, Internet access was liberalized, many political prisoners were released, private banks were allowed to operate, and the country's first independent newspaper, the illustrated humorous booklet Lamplighter, was launched.

Bashar and Asma Assad. We've known each other since childhood, married since 2000. The couple has two sons and a daughter. Photo: Abd Rabbo-Mousse/ABACAPRESS.COM / EAST NEWS”)

However, the very first manifestations of democracy seemed dangerous to the president. After a series of speeches by the capital’s intelligentsia demanding the abolition of the state of emergency established in Syria back in 1963 (!), new political prisoners appeared and “Lamplighter” ceased publication. In 2007, Syrians were denied access to Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and many news sites. That same year, Bashar al-Assad was re-elected president with a score of 97.6% in favor.

One of the “Lamplighter” cartoons, for which its author Ali Ferzat had his arms broken by security officers in 2011. Photo: Ali Ferzat

What caused the uprising in 2011?

From 2006 to 2011, Syria suffered from a record drought. Successive years of poor harvests led to the destruction of more than 800,000 peasant farms, and almost 1.5 million people were forced to move to cities where they earned odd jobs. This migration overwhelmed already overcrowded cities. From the 1950s to 2011, Syria's population grew from 3.5 to 23 million inhabitants. Work, food, water - all this has become scarce. The underlying religious discord and dissatisfaction with the regime, driven underground by the security forces, were now aggravated by the economic situation.

What was the reason for the uprising in 2011?

Protest sentiments among the Sunni poor were fueled by successful opposition protests in neighboring countries. The Arab Spring in Syria began with the appearance of a lot of political graffiti. In February, in the southern city of Daraa, a dozen schoolchildren aged 10 to 15 were arrested for graffiti and beaten by police. They belonged to influential local families, and hundreds of people took to the streets to demand the boys' release. The security forces opened fire.

In 2011, the number of political graffiti in Syria grew so much that spray paint cans began to be sold against ID cards. Photo: Polaris / EAST NEWS

Tribal ties and customs are still strong in these places - one's own must be protected, blood must be avenged - and thousands gathered for the rally. The more often the security forces fired, the more numerous and violent the demonstrators became. On March 25, after Friday prayers, 100,000 people rallied in Daraa, 20 of them were killed. The protests instantly spread to other cities. Everywhere the authorities responded with violence.

April 2011, demonstrators demand an end to the government siege of Daraa. Photo: AFP/EAST NEWS

How did the war start in Syria?

More than a third of Syria's population were young people aged 15-24, among whom the unemployment rate was particularly high. In the spring and summer of 2011, after every Friday prayer, which Sunni imams used for political information and propaganda, hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets across the country. Soon the police were unable to contain them, and military operations began against the opposition. Cities were surrounded and cleared using military equipment and aircraft. The reaction was mass desertion of Sunnis from the army and the creation of an armed wing of the opposition - the Free Syrian Army. Already at the end of 2011, clashes between protesters and authorities turned into street battles.

After a government air strike, smoke rises from the rebel-held town of Douma, south of Damascus. Photo: AFP/EAST NEWS

Who supports the parties to the conflict from abroad?

At the regional level Civil War in Syria is another episode of confrontation between Sunnis and Shiites. The main support for the opposition comes from the Sunni oil monarchies Persian Gulf(primarily Saudi Arabia and Qatar) and Turkey, whose interests include weakening their neighbors and gaining the status of the main power in the region. The local Shiite superpower Iran, which recognizes the Alawites as its own, seeks to maintain a continuous zone of influence to the Mediterranean Sea through Iraq and Syria to Lebanon. Only Iranian and Lebanese troops who came to the rescue helped Assad survive at critical moments of the war.

Russia continues the Soviet policy of supporting Arab regimes opposing the United States. After the fall of Gaddafi in Libya, the Assad government was the last of them.

Satellite images of Basil Assad Airport in Latakia. According to the latest data, four Russian Su-30 multirole fighters, twelve Su-25 attack aircraft and seven Mi-24 attack helicopters are already based there. Photo: Airbus DS/Spot Image

The Barack Obama administration categorically did not want to be drawn into another war against the backdrop of continued fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, but found itself hostage to its status as the main defender of democracy. However, American assistance turned out to be insufficient for the victory of the Syrian opposition, and now that its main impact force became Islamic radicals, and was completely questioned.

In February 2015, the opposition fired mortars from the city of Douma into the Syrian capital Damascus, killing at least 5 residents. In response, government aircraft launched a strike that killed 8 people and wounded this girl. Photo: AFP PHOTO / EAST NEWS

What is happening in Syria now?

By this point, up to 250,000 Syrians had died, and more than 4 million had fled their homes. The situation is critically complicated by instability in neighboring Iraq, from where the ideologically aggressive and militarily powerful group “Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant” penetrated into Syria. In a situation where government forces and the moderate opposition are extremely tired of the war, it is ISIS that is expanding its territory at the expense of both. In the north, he is fighting with the Kurds for territories along the border with Turkey, in the south he has come close to Damascus. Besides the loss of the capital, the critical threat to the Assad government is the approach of fighting to the ancestral Alawite lands on the Mediterranean coast and the key port of Latakia. It is believed that it was for its defense that the Russian contingent arrived in Syria.

Map of the fighting in Syria. The areas marked in red are controlled by the Assad government, yellow by the Kurds, gray by ISIS, green by the moderate Sunni opposition, and white by the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda. Photo: AFP PHOTO / EAST NEWS

What's next?

A peaceful solution is not in sight, and for the military, neither side has a significant advantage. In a situation where the US avoids ground operations, the main common problem is ISIS. Assad with his Alawites, Iranian Shiites, Sunni partisans, Kurds - theoretically, they could come to a compromise, even in the form of dividing the country. But what to do with a force whose only goal is absolute victory through the annihilation of opponents?

The conflict in Syria has continued for more than four years and is accompanied by mass casualties. Events constantly fall into the spotlight of the world media. There are a huge number of parties involved in the war. Many countries are involved in a crisis.

The conflict in Syria: where did it all start?

The war in the Middle East is still going on. Around the beginning of the conflict in Syria. The reasons are different for each of the current parties. But it all started with anti-government protests. The Baath Party has ruled Syria for more than 70 years. Last years Bashar al-Assad is president. The opposition, inspired in other countries, begins to radically criticize the government and calls on its supporters to take to the streets. In the spring the protests escalated sharply. There are violent clashes between protesters and the police and army. There are constant reports of deaths. A number of northern provinces are practically not controlled by the government. Bashar al-Assad declares that he is ready to seek a compromise and dissolves the cabinet of ministers. But it was already too late.
Social media played an important role. Through Facebook and Twitter, the opposition coordinated its actions and called on people to take actions of disobedience. By summer, the conflict in Syria is gaining new momentum. Opponents of the government create armed groups, the West supports them and threatens Assad with sanctions if force is used.

Syria: history of the conflict

The clashes take on the character of full-scale hostilities. Rebels unite in A few months after the start of the protests, radical Islamists are actively joining the opposition. Midway through the year, a suicide bomber kills several senior government officials.

In the fall, fighting practically does not stop. The EU and the US actively support the rebels and provide them with technical and material assistance. A number of Western allies are introducing sanctions against Syria. Government troops managed to recapture a number of cities and provide reliable protection for Damascus. The rebels announce plans to attack Aleppo, the second most populous city after the capital. They make several unsuccessful assaults.

International presence

The conflict in Syria is beginning to attract more and more external players. Türkiye officially begins to support the opposition. In the summer of 2012, immediately after announcing their entry into the war, government troops shot down a Turkish plane and opened fire on other targets. Later, artillery hits a column of Turkish vehicles after they cross the border.

Libya and Iran are beginning to support Assad. Armed members of Hezbollah (which can be translated as “Party of Allah”) are arriving in Syria. Together with them, the Syrian army liberates Al-Quseir. In winter, the Assad regime launches a large-scale offensive, which brings significant successes. Against this background, constant terrorist attacks occur in government-controlled cities.
Opposition troops increasingly fit their stereotype in the West. Islamists are joining armed groups. Al-Qaeda is sending a significant contingent to Syria. Cells of this terrorist organization organize training camps.

Relations with Turkey are deteriorating. Several armed clashes occur. The Turkish parliament allows the use of armed forces against Syria, but the war does not start. Some Gulf countries that are allies of the United States provide regular assistance to anti-government forces.

The role of Kurdistan

The conflict in Syria involves many different forces. Kurdistan is a serious player and is often called a "third party." Kurds live in eastern Syria, Iraq and Turkey. Their armed militia is called Peshmerga. This organization was created to protect the territory where ethnic Kurds live. They are loyal to the Assad regime and actively oppose ISIS.

Islamization of the conflict

By 2014, the protracted war was gaining new momentum. The “moderate” opposition plays practically no role. It is still actively supported by the EU and the US, but in Syria now only the language of weapons is understood. The main fighting is underway. The Jabhat al-Nusra organization controls a significant part of Syria. They are often called terrorists, and information appears in the media that the Islamists are receiving assistance from the United States through the “opposition.”

ISIS is one of the most brutal and largest organizations that has catalyzed the conflict in Syria. The reasons for the success of this organization are still a matter of debate among analysts. The world learned about IS after its militants suddenly captured the large city of Mosul. The Islamists created their own state on the territory under their control. The local population lives strictly according to For example, men are prohibited from cutting their hair. Violations of the rules result in various severe punishments.

The basic law of history says: “If something happens somewhere, it means there were prerequisites for it.”

Any historian, observing the events of the past, clearly sees the inevitability, inevitability of certain global changes, and, paradoxically, this inevitability consists of a million insignificant, optional and secondary details that, chaotically fussing and pushing, roll the wheel of history along the only possible track .

The Syrian conflict, in which our country has recently been sitting on its feet, traces its origins back to the times of the Hyksos and Hittites, from ancient bronze knives, for Syria is one of ancient places habitat of humanity, part of its Mediterranean cradle, rich in movement. The ancient Jews and the first apostles hung around here, the Babylonians and Persians wandered around, the crusaders butted heads with Saladin, many peoples, cultures and ideas were born here.

So, as they say, dig, do not dig. And, in order not to get completely bogged down, let’s pretend that all this doesn’t interest us at all, and let’s turn straight to the collapse of the Ottoman Porte.

We are so different, and yet we are together

Sultan Saladin (Salah ad-Din)

The huge empire preserved by Allah, which united most of the Arab and Turkic worlds, died in the 20s of the 20th century (and this was, perhaps, the main result of the First World War, which left the horns and legs of several empires at once).

The winners tried their best to make everyone look good. The borders of new states were drawn at headquarters along a line, ancient thousand-year conflict points were ignored, abscesses were opened without anesthesia. In 1922–1926, the area designated as Syria officially came under the French mandate. The French promised to put the territory in order, approve the law here and provide the new power with autonomous navigation in the near future.

At the same time, the population of the new country was not just a multinational rug - that would not be so bad. It was a rug, many of the patches of which sincerely and ardently hated the neighboring patches. Under the pressure of the very illiberal Ottoman Empire, all this somehow still coexisted, although not without problems, but in independent Syria, cooperation was a big question. Judge for yourself.

Muslims, Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians coexisted here. Religions, as we all know, are extremely tolerant of each other.

Armenians, Turks, Arabs and Jews lived here side by side. Guess how they got along with each other.

There were many Kurds here. The Kurds are large (approximately 35 million people), although not very united people, which after the fall of the Porte did not get its own country, and was divided between Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran. Since then, Kurds in these countries have been fighting for independence and the right to their own state. In Syria, the Kurdish issue is especially acute, given, for example, that the brilliant Saladin, the pillar of the local ancient statehood, the great ruler of Syrian antiquity, was precisely a Kurd, which, from the point of view of his fellow tribesmen, allows us to speak of Syria as an originally Kurdish state. Kurds in Syria make up about 15 percent of the population, but they are not united ethnically, linguistically, or religiously.

The Muslim majority in the country is also torn by conflicts, because in Syria there are three branches of Islam hostile to each other: Sunnis, Shiites and Alawites*. The Sunnis are the absolute majority, while power in Syria is in the hands of the Alawites. Considering that the overwhelming majority of Sunnis sincerely consider Alawites to be children of Satan, heretics and not Muslims at all, we understand how things turned out in the wonderful state of Syria. Yazidis and Druze, ethno-confessional groups, also live here. They have serious difficulties in relations with all other religious groups, to the point that in 1953, for example, in Syria they even had to adopt a separate code of laws on family law - exclusively for the Druze, because they could not exist according to the same the rules by which other citizens live.

Add a few more pinches of traditional oriental spices to this salad:

• Inevitable authoritarianism of government in the virtual absence of self-government mechanisms.
• Undeniable right private property and, as a consequence, confusion with property rights at all levels.
• Laws that are a sad attempt to marry Sharia with the Napoleonic Code.
• Social services are at the level of the baseboard and the level of education of the population is extremely low.

And now we understand which state was sent on an independent voyage in 1946, when the last French troops left the territory of Syria.

And now - a new revolution

The conflict in Syria is a world war in miniature

The history of independent Syria is, first of all, wars and coups. Firstly, Syria was one of the main participants in all wars Arab states with Israel, due to which part of its territory, the Golan Heights, was occupied by Israel and has remained under its control for over half a century. For several years, Syria was part of a single state with Egypt, then this entity disintegrated. Riots and uprisings broke out here regularly, and they were suppressed with the same cruelty with which the rebels acted. The Jewish pogroms stopped only after the death or emigration of almost all Syrian Jews. The Kurds systematically sought rights and autonomy - to no avail, but fiercely. Sunnis hunted Alawite officials at night. When the working day arrived, they sent the army in response and filled the prisons with protesters. The authorities took either the Islamic or the socialist doctrine as a model - and managed to nationalize the already not very successful agriculture to the point of ruins.

The years 1963–1966 were the most fruitful for events: during this time, five coups d'etat took place in the country. As a result of the latter, Hafez al-Assad, an Alawite, a great friend of the Soviet Union, a socialist and a member of the Baath Party, came to power (remember that another famous chick of the Middle Eastern Baath was a certain Saddam Hussein from neighboring Iraq).

With the help of Soviet money and weapons, Syria fought a good fight with Israel and fought completely, took part much more successfully in the Lebanese campaign and gained Lebanon under its actual control, appeared in the Iran-Iraq conflict on the side of Iran - in general, it was not a peaceful and calm the country not a single year in its short history. Especially if you take into account the ongoing Sunni-Shiite-Alawite conflict within its borders, where everything happened in an adult way: with the suppression of rebellions by the army, massacres and thousands of victims both on the part of the rebels and on the part of the suppressors.

What now?

The conflict in Syria this moment is a real world war in miniature, because as many as 29 states are involved in it, not counting other entities, and citizens of almost a hundred countries are fighting there. It all started because of bad weather.

After the death of the first Assad, his son Bashar came to power in 2000. In fact, he was going to become a doctor and studied incognito in London to become an ophthalmologist, but after Bashar’s elder brother, the presumptive heir to the Syrian presidential throne, died in a car accident, the guy was pulled out of the oculist’s paradise and, having been sent to study army work, was transformed in a few years to the colonel. Bashar was elected to the presidency, as usual, almost unanimously (97 percent of the vote) and began to continue his father’s work. And he, as we remember, was a classic eastern dictator with a socialist lining, so the life of the Syrians did not look particularly heavenly. Of course, there was not such violence as in Iraq, or such madness as in Libya under Gaddafi, but civil and economic freedoms were in a very unenviable state.

The country lived a little on thin oil, a little on tourism. Some timid private industry did not play a special role, since 75% of all enterprises and industries were state-owned, including all energy, transport, etc. Bashar al-Assad, however, supported some liberalization of the private sector, but mainly for the small business and farmers. The Internet was controlled, any opposition was rolled under the asphalt, the media did not dare to make a word, and for the dissatisfied there was always a not very righteous court and zealous intelligence services who were not lazy even to kidnap escaped oppositionists from abroad. Sometimes Islamists, some Muslim brothers, tested the fortress of power to the teeth - and received a powerful blow in this tooth, in connection with which Western screens began to be replete with images of bloodied Sunni children carried out from under the rubble of buildings.

Other children in compulsory primary school They told me what a wonderful president they had - they couldn’t breathe from the propaganda. And everything was more or less until a terrible drought began in 2006, which lasted five years. Syrian agriculture was for the most part in the hands of the state, and these hands, frankly speaking, did not grow from the most literate place in terms of agricultural technology.

The trouble was not even the lack of harvest, but the fact that during this catastrophe the arable land turned into a desert unsuitable for cultivation, the recovery of which now required a lot of resources and time, not to mention the most complex soil restoration technologies.

The division into “Islamic terrorists” and “freedom-loving democrats” is very arbitrary here

Approximately a million Syrians were openly starving, several million more were on the verge of famine, and impoverished and desperate peasants poured into the cities, lacking jobs in modest Syrian industries, housing, and medical care. All they could eat was government news, which told them what efforts the dear President and the wonderful Ba'ath Party were making to cope with these minor difficulties.

For the first time in the history of Syria, Kurds and Yazidis, Arabs and Turkmen, Shiites and Sunnis, Christians and atheists felt themselves to be a single nation - united in their deepest hostility towards Mr. President and his colleagues and closely following what was happening in neighboring Egypt and Tunisia, where respected presidents have recently flown away from their posts like migratory birds in the Arabian spring...

In general, all that remained was to bring a match.

The match was brought in March 2011, in the city of Daraa. Several teenagers from 10 to 18 years old were arrested there, who wrote all sorts of nasty things about the president, freedom and revolution on the walls. The boys were thoroughly beaten by the police, despite the fact that most of them belonged to the most important families in the city. A day later, Ba'ath offices and police stations in Daraa went up in flames, armed clashes began, and the city was disconnected cellular communication, the oppositionists created their headquarters - in a word, it began.

For some time global community tried to ignore what was happening. In fact, no one wanted to get into Syria, because there were enough problems on this planet without Syria. Nevertheless, open war between the government and an increasingly intensified opposition violated dozens of international agreements, demanded the fulfillment of obligations and caused anxiety among Western voters. Not to mention the states of the Middle East: Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Emirates, etc. These countries demanded an immediate and clear solution to the issue: they categorically did not want a real and protracted war in the region. And in general, they always supported the Sunni brothers who were suffering under the heel of the damned Alawites.

After futile attempts to solve the problem diplomatically, it became clear that more decisive action would have to be taken. For example, choose your side of the conflict.

Western countries had no choice about whom to support. It was in no way possible to openly support a dictator who came to power as a result of undoubtedly staged elections, who was clamping down on progress and freedom in the country, and who was practically convicted of supplying weapons to Hezbollah.

The dichotomy was as clear as three kopecks: on the one hand - heroic people, requiring rights; on the other, the tyrant and his minions bombing hospitals and kindergartens. And although everyone understood that the composition as a whole was much more complex and disgusting, there was nowhere to go.

Moreover, the Syrian opposition consisted not only of bearded men who demanded to blow up America and give each faithful four young virgin wives. There are also quite sane secular officers who sided with the people, some unfinished intelligentsia, moderate Muslims and other decent public.

So for now, NATO countries and their sympathizers are supporting the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces (NCRFF) in their heroic fight against the Assad regime. This coalition more or less brings together forces with which the West can at least somehow come to an agreement.

But besides these decent oppositionists, there are forces in Syria next to which Assad looks like a flawless angel. The proximity of Iraq, where Islamists have long been fighting the official authorities, had an immediate impact. Take, for example, the group ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant), banned in Russia, whose atrocities in Palmyra and other cities it captured forced even al-Qaeda to turn away from it. One of the first laws passed by ISIS was to allow Muslims to own slaves from among the Alawites, Yazidis and some Kurds, as well as to have sex with underage slaves. It’s been a while since there have been societies in the vastness of the world that use sledgehammers ancient monuments culture and marching under the slogans “Let's fuck children!”

In addition to ISIS, there are several dozen more Islamist groups in the country competing and cooperating with each other, including the well-known Jaish al-Muhajireen, formed mainly from Chechens and Tatars, as well as other mercenaries who arrived from former USSR to help the Syrian jihad. It is already clear that a considerable part of the military and financial assistance, which the international community provides to the NKSROS, floats into the hands of the Islamists.

Russia, having come out in support of President Assad, officially announced that we will support him exclusively in the confrontation with ISIS and other ultra-Islamist groups. Assad, of course, is the elected and legitimate president, but so be it, let’s leave his fate to the mercy of history and the Syrian people. But ISIS is a terrorist nest that poses a threat to the whole world, and it must be destroyed. We sent aviation, weapons and a certain number of military personnel there to prevent the emergence of a terrorist state dreaming of a worldwide caliphate.

In reality, Russian troops apparently work in close connection with Assad’s special services and are quite actively attacking the positions of the opposition members of the NKSROS, which has already caused numerous protests from countries supporting this coalition. However, taking into account that it also includes some quite radical groups, we can admit that the division into “Islamist terrorists” and “freedom-loving democrats”, adopted in the Western press, is very arbitrary: often both of them, as they say, are “one and the same person."

Human hunting enthusiasts from all over the world are now coming to Syria. Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey and Israel are already seriously involved in the conflict, on whose borders regular excesses are now occurring. Millions of Syrians are fleeing their homes - countries in the Middle East, as well as Europe, are taking them in.

The uncontrolled proliferation of weapons in the region leads to the fact that the risk of a terrorist threat is increased to the maximum even in the safest regions of the planet.

And this war of all against all can have the most fatal consequences for those who are somehow involved in it. Here people are now being trained and educated who will blow up houses and factories on all meridians and parallels; here the preconditions are laid for even more global conflicts; Here, relatively speaking, there is a snaking crack along which the whole world could fall apart. Turkey and the Kurds, Azerbaijan and Armenia, Israel and Iran, Russia and NATO - hardly anyone can say which confrontation will be fatal. But the fact that the concentration of threats in this region now is no less than in the Balkans before the First World War - any historian will agree with this.

S. B. Ivanov

• The participation of Russian military personnel in the ground operation is not planned.
• The purpose of the operation in Syria is not the desire to divert attention from the situation in Ukraine.

S. V. Lavrov

• When we hear that Russia needs to take some steps, we need to remember a simple truth: we have done everything we promised.
• We have always advocated for the United States to work directly with the SAR authorities. We work daily with the Syrian authorities. Statistics clearly show that the main problems are created not by the regime, but by those terrorist extremist groups, of which a great many have proliferated in Syria and which do not obey any political opposition structure.

Russian military about Syria

A. V. Kartapolov

Chief of the Main operational management Colonel General of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces

• Our aircraft strike militant infrastructure based on information received through several intelligence channels, as well as from the information center in Baghdad.
• The Russian side called on others to share any useful information about the objects of the ISIS group in Syria and Iraq.
• We must openly admit that today we receive such data only from our colleagues at the Center from Iran, Iraq and Syria. But we remain open to dialogue with all interested countries and will welcome any constructive contribution to this work.

A. I. Antonov

Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation

• We are interested in cooperation with all countries without exception. We established a direct telephone line with Turkey. We held consultations with Israel. Ties with the Gulf states have intensified. We are negotiating with our American partners to conclude an agreement on ensuring the safety of flights over Syria. But this is not enough. We propose much broader interaction, which Washington is not yet ready for.