The Syrian Uprising: Internal Collapse and Asserting Democracy

I've been wanting to publish a post on the internal conflict in Syria for a while now, but have been daunted by the prospect. I don't intent to get my readers completely up-to-date on this rapidly deteriorating situation-that can be found at al-Jazeera's website and many others'. I do hope to shed a little light on the most violent and tragic stage of the Arab Spring.

The city of Homs has been bombarded with tank and mortar attacks
 for months, even though the vast majority of protest are peaceful and
the Free Syrian Army there has only small arms.  Photo  MSNBC. 

The basics are this: as many as 500 children have died. Total death estimates range between 11,000 and 17,000, including protesters, combatants and civilians. The violence is everywhere, but has primarily been focused on towns away from the nation's center where opposition is strongest. The opposition is embodied in both the non-violent activist movement, which dominates the streets and webpages, and the Free Syrian Army, which is small but very professional and is largely made up of defectors from the President Assad's military forces. Many high-level military officers have defected to join the Free Syrian Army, and have succeeded in collecting support from all over the globe.

Protests against Assad's regime began well over a year ago, with violence escalating rapidly. Since the beginning a complete media blackout of the country has been enforced by Assad's military and police forces. Many journalist have been arrested. Some have been tortured and some have been killed.

Soldiers of the Free Syrian Army drilling in the town of Qusair.
Journalist are welcomed by the Free Syrian Army, who can go out
 of their way to accommodating them. Photo  www.trust.org 

Last week Assad's government held general elections which were largely boycotted. In opposition towns shops were kept closed on election day. This came during the UN-orchestrated ceasefire which has succeeded in slowing but not ending the violence. UN special envoy to Syria, Kofi Annan, said himself that this ceasefire may be the last chance to avoid civil war.

With this many deaths, with an organized opposition, and with growing international support for the overturn of Assad's regime, it seems that we may have already arrived at civil war; a point of hot debate in the media and among political minds.

I don't know much about the fine line between civil war and insurgency, but this I do know: Assad has lost the authority to govern his people and to use the monopoly of violence over them. They have rejected this fundamental aspect of government and are rejecting other aspects of the government's legitimacy as well, such as the elections. By reclaiming violence as their own tool, and turning it against Assad, they've asserted their independence from his dictatorship.

There are some people who are loyal to Assad and would reject the authority of the Free Syrian Army's interim government in the event of a successful coup d'état. There are others who would prefer to watch the whole thing on T.V., who lack faith in any party and will not participate in the formation of their country. Still, Syria has reached a point of no return. When a dictator uses tanks and mortars against his own citizens, it is time for new government to be established. If he had not ceased to rule with legitimacy, his people would not be turning against him, and if the bulk of the injustice was done by the opposition (as Assad claims) it would not be Assad's troops enforcing the media blackout.

Marie Colvin was killed in the Syrian town of Homs on Feb 22 of this year in a mortar shelling that many suspect intentionally targeted where she and other journalist were staying. Their targeted attack is not supprising, especially when on of her last reports included her saying “It’s a complete and utter lie they’re only going after terrorists. The Syrian Army is simply shelling a city of cold, starving civilians.” Photo and Quote The New Yorker