The Future of Syria

Several Syrian leaders are starting to see some consequences for their actions against the Syrian people. This past Monday, the European Union imposed sanctions on 13 Syrian officials directly involved in the violent repression against the Syrian population. So far the death count is at more than 600 people killed, and over 8,000 gone missing or jailed in this eight week period of time. Heading the EU’s list of sanctions is Syrian president’s brother, Maher Al-Assad. He has been noted as the “principal overseer of violence against demonstrators” (africasia.com) Also on this list includes the head of Syrian intelligence, General Ali Mumluk. The Syrian president has yet to be sanctioned, because of divisions within the EU. These sanctions are aimed to “bring about an immediate change of policy by the Syrian leadership, an end to violence and the swift introduction of genuine and comprehensive political reform" (wsj.com). If this fails, the EU with go about extending restrictive measures, even possibly including at the highest levels of leadership. At talks in Brussels last week, the EU is debating on whether to directly target president Bashar Al-Assad, and how strongly to attack his regime. France, Britain, and Germany favoured a swift and clear message, while smaller states (mainly Cyprus, Portugal, and Greece) were unclear about what to do with the president.
Amnesty International has also been working vigilantly on giving justice to the victims in Syria. As of today they have been able to name 580 of the people killed since mid-March. A UN humanitarian team that had been given permission by the UN to give updates on the situation in Daraa as of yet had not been able to enter the city. Foreign based Syrian activists and Syrian intellectuals have been meeting throughout the past few weeks in small groups, trying to discuss a plan of action. There is a supposed “Cairo Conference” within the coming month, which will be the first large-scale gathering of Syria’s opposition in a capital in more than a decade. The main challenge of gaining political stability in Syria is to win over the large chunk of Syrians who is antiregime, but will not identify as opposing or join the protests out of fear.
I truly hope that the human rights groups, the EU, the UN, and other nation states work together to bring peace to Syria, and stop the uneccesary and cruel killings of Syrian protestors.


Sources: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704681904576313063612002114.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
http://www.africasia.com/services/news_mideast/article.php?ID=CNG.d9be2af4c7111ceebb9f06f4d37012ee.121