02.27.20/ SYRIA
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SEAN RAMESWARAM (host): The last time we talked about Syria on the show was back in October of 2019. President Trump removed U.S. troops and Turkey moved in. There was a new humanitarian crisis in northern Syria on the Turkish border.
But now, the worst humanitarian crisis in Syria’s now nine-year civil war is unfolding along a different part of its border with Turkey in Idlib province in Northwestern Syria. This crisis has less to do with Trump removing troops and more to do with a decision that the world sort of collectively made during President’s Obama’s tenure: to avoid involvement in another endless foreign conflict. That decision gave Russia and Bashar al-Assad control. And now Idlib province is the last, desperate stronghold for those who oppose Al-Assad.
SEAN: Doctor Omar Al-Hiraki is right in the middle of it.
[SKYPE RINGTONE]
SEAN: I spoke to him on Wednesday over Skype right after he finished performing surgery.
SEAN: Hello, Omar, can you hear me?
OMAR AL-HIRAKI (doctor): Yeah. I can hear you clearly.
SEAN: Hi. Thanks for making time for us.
OMAR: Yeah, nice to talk to you.
SEAN: Tell me a little bit about what's going on in Idlib province in northern Syria right now.
OMAR: Yeah, unfortunately now, Idlib is now witnessing horrific atrocities by the Assad regime backed by Russia in the air and pro-Iranian militias on the ground. Northwest Syria represents one of the world's most humanitarian crises where civilians are suffering on extraordinary levels. To be specific, we are talking about 1 million civilians who have been fleeing their homes toward the Syrian-Turkish border. And unfortunately, the crisis is further worsened by the winter and the freezing weather. And the majority of internally displaced persons now live in informal camps or in field with little or no access to the health care services, water, sanitation and hygiene.
SEAN: And when people come to you and your hospital, what condition are they in? What are they coming in most needing?
OMAR: Yeah, our hospital receives an enormous number of patients who have been recently displaced. So we work around the clock to operate our patients. The vast majority of them are war related injuries by the bombing and airstrikes against civilians. The majority of them are women, children. So despite the dire conditions and worsening security, we are trying to deal with the situation with our resources, despite the fact that there is a lack of funds for the medical facilities here in Idlib by the international community and international organization and the Russian vetoed in the UN cross-border aid for our province.
SEAN: Hmm. Where does that leave you? What are you, what are you offering people when they come in? Are you able to save lives or do you feel like you've got a hand or two tied behind your back?
OMAR: Yeah. We are. We have been working tirelessly to provide emergency medical services for people here to save lives as possible as we can. There is a lack of equipment, lack of the medicines. We are forced to seize medical operations and to close hospitals amid mass displacement and hostilities because a lack of fund for our hospitals as well as the most important point that more than 70 hospitals had been targeted by the Assad war plans which consider a war crimes. And yesterday, 10 schools had been bombed deliberately by the Assad missiles in Idlib city and Maarat Misrin in the northern countryside. And that's war crimes against civilians. Civilians are paying the price of this brutal war.
SEAN: Are you scared for your own safety?
OMAR: Yeah, to be honest, we are under the threat of being attacked by the Assad regime war plans because we are working in one of the most dangerous areas on the world. And as I told you, the hospital is more dangerous than the frontline. However, we risk our lives to help the sick and injured of our people and civilians. We go to our work knowing that we may not return our homes. Simply, that's our duty.
SEAN: How do your colleagues feel about working, trying to save the lives of Syrians while the leader of Syria might one day attack your hospital?
OMAR: Yeah, we we, when you see children and women trying to save lives. You will forget everything. You will, you will forget shelling and attacking and barrel bombs. Just you will focus on how to save lives, how to protect or salvage the limb of your patients or to do, to trying to do anything for him. That, that's our duty. So we are knowing that maybe tomorrow we will not be alive and we're trying to laugh, just to think anything rather than dying.
SEAN: How long have you been there?
OMAR: I've been working here since 2014. I've worked two years in Aleppo City in eastern free Aleppo and now Idlib since 2016.
SEAN: Is this the worst it's ever been?
OMAR: Yeah, I think so, because of the incredible humanitarian crises, because when you see the people who are fleeing their homes, who are trapped between the close Turkish border and an ability to relocate other parts of Syria with guarantees of their safety, you will be sad. You would be shocked. Because sometimes when I want to maybe transport patients from one area to another or to discharge them home, they told me we don't have home. We don't have even tents because even the camps have been attacked by the brutal Assad regime.
SEAN: Do you feel like the world has forgotten about these one million refugees, about Syria?
OMAR: Yeah, we think so. All the people here say that the humanity is dying. Syrians feel abandoned by by by the world. Because why? Why the international community is blind, deaf, mute to the endless and daily atrocities by the Assad regime? Unfortunately, that the international community is unable to deter Assad regime, killing civilians in Idlib, bombing hospitals, bombing schools. That's shame for the international community.
SEAN: So what would you say to people listening? What do you want people to do?
OMAR: We hope that American citizens pressure on President Donald Trump to stop the atrocities by the Assad regime and to immediately mobilize for emergency funding and help—help us as a medical staff here to meet the needs of displaced population and to stop this brutal war and to get rid of Bashar Assad, to have democracy here and to have freedom and for for for our people or it's not only a humanitarian crisis for 3.5 million here, we are talking about 3 millions in Turkey, 1 millions in Lebanon and a half a million or one million in Europe, and maybe at least 7 million internally displaced in other parts of Syria. It's, it's complicated, but by Donald Trump and the international community, they can intervene to stop the atrocities by the Assad regime and Russia.
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SEAN: Do you think peace is possible at this point?
OMAR: Yeah, to be honest, I don't think so. But in the future, we hope that because maybe even if we loss we will try to change the Syrian regime to change this criminal regime. Maybe after one year, two years to get our dream, to get the freedom, to get the democracy in our, in our, our country.
SEAN: <exhales> I wish you all the best and good luck.
OMAR: Thanks. Thanks for having me.
SEAN: Omar Al-Hiraki is an orthopedic surgeon in Idlib province, Syria. After the break, how Idlib became the epicenter of this crisis. I’m Sean Rameswaram. It’s Today, Explained.
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SEAN: Jen Kirby, you’ve been covering Syria for Vox. How did this province, Idlib, become the epicenter for the Syrian refugee crisis?
JEN KIRBY (Vox, reporter): So the Syrian Civil War started in 2011. It began with protests against the Syrian president.
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<CLIP> PROTESTERS MARCHING
AL-JAZEERA NEWS REPORT: There were protests across Syria after Friday prayers, all were demanding an end to the rule of Bashar Al-Assad.
JEN: And it turned into an open conflict between opposition groups that opposed Assad's regime and rebel groups took over parts of Syria.
<CLIP> AL-JAZEERA NEWS REPORT: Opposition fighters in Syria say they’ve taken control of a major military airbase. It’s the biggest in the country’s North.
JEN: By 2015, Russia, who is an ally of Assad, got involved on Syria's behalf. And once Russia got involved, it changed the game because they were able to bring power from the air and really back up Assad. And basically, after 2015, Assad started taking back a lot of the territory that he had lost, key strongholds like Aleppo...
<CLIP> AL-JAZEERA NEWS REPORT: Pro government forces are on the verge of a total military victory. But inside these besieged neighborhoods are civilians caught in a war zone.
JEN: Once Assad started taking back those areas, all those people who lived in these places that were once controlled by the opposition, the groups that opposed Assad, basically had no place to go. They couldn't stay there in this territory that was reclaimed by the government. And so a lot of these people were displaced from those areas and taken to Idlib which was still under rebel control. And now it is the last rebel stronghold, the last place that Assad needs to retake to completely defeat the opposition. And that's how we ended up here.
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SEAN: So to be clear here, it is still under opposition control.
JEN: Yes. And so Idlib, which is a province. There's also the city of Idlib, just to be clear. So the province, which had about 1.5 million people during the course of the civil war, that population basically doubled to about 3 million people. So about half of them have been displaced from other parts of Syria, everyone's sort of centered there. And now Assad wants to wrest it all back into his control.
SEAN: What's the approach he's taking?
JEN: Basically no mercy. You know, Assad has shown through the course of this civil war that he does not care about ruthlessly attacking civilians. So he is carrying out this offensive from the south and the east to try to advance and retake the territory. He's using a bombing campaign backed up by Russia in the air, which is, you know, known to not just indiscriminately bomb civilian areas, but targets schools, hospitals, markets, places where civilians are. So he's just using brute force to try to defeat the opposition and bring this last remaining territory into submission.
SEAN: Hmm. And it's working?
JEN: Yeah, nobody is surprised that this is taking place. And the world actually thought this was going to happen back in September of 2018. But at the last minute, Turkey, who backed some of the rebels that are in control of parts of the region, and Russia, who is the ally of Assad in Syria, they came to a last minute cease fire that basically averted the crisis. And the deal was they would establish these de-escalation zones and Turkey would try to disarm some of the rebels in these areas. This ceasefire kind of held for much of last year, but started to fall apart in the spring when Turkey couldn't really uphold its end of the bargain. And Assad was growing impatient. And so he kind of re-upped this offensive and there were some temporary cease fires, but nothing really held. And then in December of last year, Assad just went all out.
<CLIP> AL JAZEERA NEWS REPORT: Towns and villages in Northwest Syria, under attack by government jets. A grim reality throughout the nine year civil war. But for the first time, the Government assault in Idlib has put Turkey and the Syrian regime in direct military confrontation.
JEN: So since December, it's been pretty brutal and almost a million people have fled to move closer to the Turkish border, according to the United Nations.
SEAN: So is the only end to this humanitarian crisis. Assad winning? I mean, I don't want to be cynical, but the world hasn't had some game changing intervention thus far, and it doesn't feel like it's coming.
JEN: No, I mean, for all purposes Assad has, and I put this in quotes, “won” the Syrian civil war. I mean, with Russia's backing, he's not going anywhere. But for reasons that are strategic, Idlib has access to these important roadways, but also symbolic. He wants to make it clear that he will not tolerate this again, that if you defy him, you will pay the price. And so this is about making a point to the country about who he is and what this victory means. And the question is, will Russia or Turkey potentially figure out a way to avert this humanitarian catastrophe again? The question is, even if they were able to sort of stem the immediate emergency, the long term solution is still a little bit unclear.
SEAN: And what’s the rest of the world doing in the meantime?
JEN: So the rest of the world has strongly condemned the violence in Idlib. The United Nations has called for a cease fire, especially to access humanitarian aid, which is becoming increasingly difficult because, A, there's just not a lot of space. So most of the humanitarian aid groups at least from me, talking to sources are operating across the border in Turkey. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has also called for a permanent cease fire and for political talks under a United Nations resolution and says that President Trump is in discussions with Turkey, who is, again, you know, a NATO ally. But in terms of immediate action or intervention. None has happened. And remember, so many thousands of people are displaced and don't have anywhere to go. And Turkey, the immediate neighbor, is not taking any more refugees in. And Europe certainly doesn't want any more refugees. And the United States, we know, has lowered its cap on refugees. So the world isn't exactly opening its doors to all of these people who are in the process of being displaced or who are already refugees from Syria.
SEAN: But despite all the condemnations, the most likely outcome here is that Assad successfully quashes this final stronghold of opposition and, what, countless Syrians die, including children who are currently freezing to death?
JEN: I've asked a lot of experts that question, what does this mean? Is this a large scale massacre? Is this, you know, thousands of people just rushing the border of Turkey? Is this people dying of starvation or illness or freezing cold? What is the outcome? And no one has really given me a satisfying answer, because we just don't really know.
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JEN: If Turkey and Russia and everyone can get around a table to at least come up with an immediate plan. Maybe the crisis can be muted a little bit, even if it doesn't work for the long term. But could the worst happen? I don't think it can be ruled out. And that feels unsatisfying and depressing to say. But this is the reality that there is a massive, devastating humanitarian crisis unfolding before the eyes of the world. And nobody has any good answers on how to deal with it and no one is really taking the initiative to try to stop it.