World Powers Discuss Federal Division of Syria
As U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura prepares to receive delegations from the Syrian government and opposition in Geneva on Monday, major powers close to the peace process are discussing the possibility of a federal division of the war-torn country.
According to an anonymous U.N. Security Council diplomat, Russia and some major Western powers have given serious thought to the idea of a federal structure in Syria, which would maintain its unity as a single state while allowing broad autonomy to regional authorities, Reuters reports.
“While insisting on retaining the territorial integrity of Syria, so continuing to keep it as a single country, or course there are all sorts of different models of a federal structure that would, in some models, have a very, very loose center and a lot of autonomy for different regions,” the diplomat said.
The Saudi-backed portion of the Syrian opposition this week rejected the idea that peace talks could lead to an agreement on a federal structure.
“Any mention of this federalism or something which might present a direction for dividing Syria is not acceptable at all. We have agreed we will expand non-central government in a future Syria, but not any kind of federalism or division,” said Riad Hijab, head of the opposition’s High Negotiations Committee (HNC).
President Bashar al-Assad, whose future in Syria remains the largest sticking point in the peace process, has not ruled out the idea of a federalist structure, but said any change must be approved by the Syrian people.
“From our side,” he said during an interview in September, “when the Syrian people are ready to move in a certain direction, we will naturally agree to this.”
The Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), which over the past few years has established an autonomous region in northeastern Syria, has said it is open to the idea.
“What you call it isn’t important,” said PYD co-leader Saleh Muslim on Tuesday. “We have said over and over again that we want a decentralized Syria – call it administrations, call it federalism – everything is possible.”
Airstrikes Kill 20 ISIS Militants in Palmyra: Monitor
At least 20 militants fighting with the Islamic State group (ISIS) were killed on Thursday during intense Russian and Syrian government air raids on the city of Palmyra, AFP reports.
The militants were killed and 50 others were injured “in at least 35 airstrikes targeting areas of the city of Palmyra by Syrian and Russian warplanes,” according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
ISIS captured the historic city of Palmyra last May.
The Britain-based Observatory, which relies on an extensive network of contributors on the ground, distributed images of areas of Palmyra in ruins after months of heavy airstrikes.
“Dozens of residents have been killed and hundreds of others wounded” in air raids over the past few months, the Observatory said.
Pro-government forces and their Russian allies are reportedly preparing a campaign to retake Palmyra.
Fifth Year of War Syria’s Worst Yet: Aid Groups
A report released Friday by a collection of humanitarian aid groups described the fifth year of Syria’s civil war as the worst yet, with some 50,000 deaths and nearly 1 million civilians forced to flee their homes.
Entitled “Fuelling the Fire,” the report – put together by global charities including CARE International, Action Aid, Oxfam, Save the Children and several Syrian organisations – said that in Syria’s fifth year of war nearly 200,000 homes were partially or completely destroyed, a 20 percent increase from the previous year.
The report states that about 1.5 million people are in need of humanitarian aid and some 400,000 children had dropped out of school due to violence.
There was 44 percent increase in attacks on hospitals and health facilities.
While the report notes that the truce is Syria is fragilely holding, it singled out several permanent members of the U.N. Security Council that, through direct military involvement, had made the situation in Syria much worse.
“The fifth year of the Syria conflict was the worst yet for people as warring parties have continued to wreak havoc, increasingly blocked aid and placed more communities under siege,” the report said.
Recommended Reads
- IRIN: No Way Out: How Syrians Are Struggling to Find an Exit
- Al-Jazeera: Syrian Refugee Women Take on Life in a Man’s World
- The Atlantic: The Obama Doctrine
- Al-Monitor: How Syrian Cease-Fire Has Reignited Spark of the Revolution
- The WorldPost: March 8th: The Day That Doomed Syria
- The Guardian: The Guardian View on Syria: The People Return to the Streets Against Assad
- Al-Monitor: IRGC Commander: We Are Not Pulling Troops From Syria
- IPI: Syria’s Deadly War Is Full of Atrocities
- International Business Times: How The Syrian War Has Left Local Hospitals Understaffed, Under-Resourced And Under Attack
- The World Post: The People of Syria Speak Again
- Middle East Eye: How Syria’s Assad Gave Rise to One of the Most Senior IS Leaders
- The Washington Post: A Huge Leaked list of Islamic State Fighters Sounds Too Good to be True. Is it?
- Oxfam International: World Powers Must Safeguard Hope – Not Fan the Flames of the Syria Conflict: Last Year Was the Worst for Syrians
Top image: Winda, a five-year-old refugee from a town outside al-Malikiya in northeast Syria, poses for a portrait on March 6, 2016, inside the tent she shares with her family at Kawergosk refugee camp in Iraq. Her family fled Syria in 2012 and has been living in this camp since then. (AP Photo/Alice Martins)