Syria was occupied by France until 1946. After the departure of French troops, several political parties vied for control in that country, none of them dominant. In a series of coups, beginning in 1963, ending in 1970, the Shia Alawite faction of the Ba’ath Party succeeded in ousting their competitors, and seized firm control of political appointments, the military, and the secret police. A prominent member of their party, General Hafez al-Assad, was appointed as prime minister. Anxious to continue their control ad infinitum, the Alawite faction encouraged the General to establish a dictatorship with familial linear control. He proved to be a most willing participant in turning that previous republic into a tightly controlled autocracy. Dissidents were silenced, and opponents massacred.
Hafez al-Assad’s first choice to succeed him as ruler of Syria was Bashar’s brother, Rifaat, but his brother attempted an unsuccessful coup in 1983 and was banished. Hafez’ second choice was his son, Bassel, but Bassel was killed in an automobile accident in 1994. Hafez then selected Bashar to succeed him, and recalled him from England, where he was completing a residency in ophthalmology. Bashar was given military training, and placed in charge of the Syrian military forces occupying Lebanon since 1976. At the time of his father’s death in 2000, Bashar was selected as the new leader of Syria, in a sham election.
Bashar soon proved to be a much more vindictive dictator than his father, and was without conscience. He did not consider himself to be the servant of the people of Syria; he considered himself to be their ruler, and demanded complete loyalty to his regime. Those critical of his government were soon executed or disappeared. Media criticism was strictly censored. Discrimination against the Sunni Muslims and Kurds was severe. Summary executions were frequent, following visits from the secret service, the Mukhabarat.
This deep oppression of the population did not go without unrest. After the assassination of the Prime Minister of Lebanon in 2005, at the direction of the Assad family, there was an uproar in Lebanon, soon followed by UN and multiple nation condemnations. Assad felt forced to remove Syria’s troops from Lebanon, in response. At home, the turmoil continued, leading to the Syrian revolution of 2011, demanding democratic reform. Assad’s reaction to this attempt at reform was severe, with sham trials, beheadings and executions. There was a complete media blackout. Civil disobedient citizens, foreign correspondents and journalists were jailed and tortured. The Syrian civil war followed, accompanied by international condemnation. Rebel groups demanded democratic reform. In 2011, the United States, European Union and the Arab League all called for the resignation of Bashar al-Assad. He refused to do so, even though support for him was crumbling within the Alawite clan at home as well as internationally. Revolutionary forces and ISIS forces took considerable territory in the northern part of Syrian, and several enclaves in the southern part of the state. Several military bases fell to ISIS forces.
In desperation, Assad used chemical weapons to attack the civilian enclave of Ghouta in 2013, stating that it harbored revolutionary soldiers. Over 1500 civilians and children suffered an agonizing suffocation death. That action prompted Barak Obama to state that if it was proved that chemical weapons had been used in that attack, this would constitute a “red line in the sand,” prompting the immediate air action of the United States against military targets in Syria. To the great misfortune of the rest of the world, Obama did not follow through with his threat. Assad, although still losing ground to ISIS and revolutionary forces, had time to maneuver. He forged an alliance with Putin and Russia to provide air and tactical support, in 2015. Within two months of that alliance and air bombardment of ISIS bases, Assad was back in control. Territory previously lost was regained. With now Russian backing, he did not hesitate to resume the use of chemical weapons against civilian and revolutionary targets. Current estimates are that Assad forces have committed more than 300 chemical attacks against his own people. Other than missile strikes in 2017, Assad has never been made to pay for these crimes against humanity.
The cost of this continuing savage civil war has been immense, in terms of human suffering. Over 500,000 Syrians have been killed, and 14 million have been displaced from their homes, 7 million of whom have become refugees. Several hundred thousand have been held in government retention centers, without just cause, and tortured. Some 150,000 citizens have simply disappeared, and are presumably dead at the hands of the secret police. The economy is that of a failed state in a war zone. Over 50% of the population is unemployed, and some 2/3 of the population lives below the poverty level. There is a secret policeman for every 150 citizens.
In contrast to this dense suffering of the Syrian public during this continuing civil war, the Assad family and the Alawite elite have become quite wealthy. They own large segments of businesses, real estate, banks and telecommunication companies. Corruption, which was widespread prior to the civil war, has now become rampant. Syria is now considered the most corrupt country in the whole world. Although the Alawite faction of the Ba’ath Party is only 10% of the country’s population, they have firm control over the entire country, and do not intend to give up that control. All attempts to sanction Syria through the UN have failed, due to vetoes from the Soviet Union.
During my lifetime, the crimes against humanity committed by Bashar as-Assad, in severity and frequency, fall only below those committed by Adolph Hitler and Vladimir Putin. They are greater than those crimes committed by Slobodan Milosevic and Muammar Gaddafi, and those leaders were deposed by international forces. The major question that immediately comes to mind is “Why.” There appears to be only one answer: fear of Russia. All of the other World leaders fear that Putin will at some point, if he becomes angry or frustrated enough, follow through on his threat to use nuclear weapons, plunging the planet earth into a nuclear holocaust. All of the Western powers talk about measured military maneuvers and supplies, compromise and political agreements, in order to not raise the anger of the Great Russian beast. Meanwhile, civilian populations suffer the death and destruction of continuing civil wars.
What the leaders of Western powers, United Nations, European Union and NATO do not understand is that Assad and Putin are psychopaths. Their neurologic systems were formed without channels and centers for empathy. They are incapable of feeling the suffering of other people. Therefore, they have no interest in reaching any agreement which is for the good of everyone. They see their relationship with other people as a struggle for power and control. They have no compulsion about causing suffering and death in other people, as long as those evil acts bring them more control and more power. They see willingness to compromise and the failure to follow through on threats, as weaknesses which should be exploited. They will not stop their reign of terror on human populations until they are met with greater forces than they can muster. The US, EU and NATO should not hesitate to use whatever force is necessary to overcome this plague of evil foisted upon the rest of humanity by these unethical psychopaths.