Buscador avanzado

A member of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, known as the Y.P.G., near Raqqa, Syria, last month. Credit Delil Souleiman/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

The United States recently committed itself to arming the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, known as the Y.P.G., to help evict the Islamic State from its Syrian stronghold, Raqqa. This decision is likely to prove deeply troublesome, risking the regional stability necessary for the lasting defeat of the Islamic State.

The Y.P.G. denies that it is, in effect, a wing of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or P.K.K., but the evidence is clear. The P.K.K., a Marxist-leaning Kurdish nationalist organization, was founded in Turkey in 1978, and took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984. The group’s leader, Abdullah Ocalan, was expelled from Syria in 1998, when his old patron, the regime of Hafez al-Assad (Bashar’s father), came under military threat from Turkey.…  Seguir leyendo »

Protégeons la population syrienne des armes explosives

Alors que le conflit en Syrie entre dans sa sixième année, la souffrance quotidienne de la population a atteint une ampleur et une intensité inégalées. Le bilan est lourd avec plus de 250’000 morts et plus d’un million de blessés.

La situation est désespérée pour les 20 millions de survivants. Les dangers omniprésents des combats et des bombardements obligent les civils à fuir. 4,6 millions se sont déjà réfugiés dans les pays voisins, où bon nombre peine à trouver de quoi se nourrir et se loger.

A l’intérieur du pays, 13,5 millions de Syriens dépendent de l’aide humanitaire. Parmi eux, 4,5 millions vivent dans des zones assiégées ou difficile d’accès et se retrouvent prisonniers des combats, manquant d’eau, de nourriture et de soins.…  Seguir leyendo »

As the self-proclaimed Islamic State, or ISIS, commits horrendous videotaped executions, it might seem to pose the greatest threat to Syrian civilians. In fact, that ignoble distinction belongs to the barrel bombs being dropped by the military of Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad. The Islamic State has distracted us from this deadly reality.

Barrel bombs are improvised weapons: oil drums or similar canisters filled with explosives and metal fragments. They are dropped without guidance from helicopters hovering just above antiaircraft range, typically hitting the ground with huge explosions and the widespread diffusion of deadly shrapnel. They pulverize neighborhoods, destroy entire buildings and leave broad strips of death and destruction.…  Seguir leyendo »

The international community has given up hope for a negotiated settlement in Syria. All talk has turned to whether rebels should be armed to hasten the fall of the Assad regime. This debate, however, is often framed as a lose-lose situation: Arms could fall into the wrong hands, but not providing them means the civil war could tip in Assad’s favor.

That’s a false choice. The United States and the international community must help rebel groups build a state within the area they hold or risk more radical elements hijacking the revolution and taking control of Syria.

In our recent trips in northern Syria it was obvious that the continuation of the conflict favors radical groups and risks destabilizing the entire region.…  Seguir leyendo »

The Syrian revolution is entering its third year. An estimated 70,000 people have been killed, hundreds of thousands have been injured, 1 million are now refugees, and a generation has been lost to violence. However, the worst is yet to come. If the Assad regime does not fall soon, the conflict will spread to the entire region, from Basra on the banks of the Gulf to Beirut on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

Britain and France have expressed their intention to arm the Syrian resistance and want to lift the European arms embargo. However, many in the Syrian opposition believe this is not sufficient unless it is part of a clear strategy to overthrow the Assad regime.…  Seguir leyendo »

Russia and Iran are providing weapons and ammunition to Syria's President Assad, while Saudi Arabia and Qatar deliver arms through Turkey to his opponents. John Kerry, the US secretary of state, has just announced that the US is increasing its non-lethal assistance to the rebels by a further $60m. Britain is asking the EU to lift its embargo on arms sales to the opposition.

None of this seems designed to end a conflict that, for a moment, seemed to be heading hesitantly towards negotiation. Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib, leader of the Syrian National Coalition, offered last month to discuss a settlement without demanding Assad's resignation.…  Seguir leyendo »

In September 1991, as violence spread through the Balkans, Yugoslavia’s helpless foreign minister, Budimir Loncar, requested that the United Nations Security Council establish a global arms embargo that would apply to all parties in the conflict. His request remains, to my knowledge, the only example of a government demanding that sanctions be imposed on its own country.

In theory, the move was an act of neutrality designed to contain the violence. In fact, the embargo — which I supported at the time — consolidated the Bosnian Serbs’ overwhelming superiority of arms due to their access to the stockpiles of the Yugoslav National Army.…  Seguir leyendo »