Link to Article: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/7/syria-two-civilians-killed-in-israeli-strikes-near-damascus
In this article one of the more recent attacks on Syria by Israel is mentioned (seven total have been carried out thus far this year). Just this monday, an Israeli air assault caused structural damage in Syria while killing two civilians. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) has neither denied or confirmed the civilian deaths and claims Israel’s target was a weapons and ammunition depot which happened to be near a Syrian international airport. Israel continues to demonstrate a pattern of not acknowledging these attacks and or operations. Since 2011 when the war began between the two countries, the main targets have been government buildings and Iran-backed forces and fighters of the Shia group Hezbollah.
With over a decade of war, hundreds of thousands dead, and no change in leadership, many feel Syria has been left on the backburner and will continue to. Many Syrians have felt for years and continue to feel as thought the international community has looked the other way though dire times. I think it is interesting to compare the international community’s reaction of this conflict to the current Russian invasion of Ukraine. This makes me wonder if the lack of response regarding the Syrian and Israeli conflict is purely due to its location being in a shatterbelt zone making war “expected” here. On the flip side I also wonder if its more due to Syria lacking a stable economy causing the ignorance of more developed countries because after all why should they care?
This article reminds me most of the article we read and had a disscussionon on in class a few month ago (the advantages and disadvantages of offshore balancing). Just as we discussed in class, this article shows some of the lasting affects from Western states and western allied states decision to not take harsher actions during the beginning of the conflict back in 2011, as a result of inaction some may say this is the reason why many innocent lives continue to pay today.