Syria Betrayed: Atrocities, War, and the Failure of International Diplomacy

by Alex J Bellamy

The suffering of Syrian civilians, caught between the government's barrel bombs and chemical weapons and religious fanatics' beheadings and mass killings, shocked the world. Yet despite international law and political commitments proclaiming a responsibility to protect civilians from mass atrocities, world actors stood aside as Syria burned. Again and again, neighboring states, global powers, and the United Nations opted for half-measures or made counterproductive choices that caused even more harm.



Alex J. Bellamy provides a forensic account of the world's failure to protect Syrian civilians from mass atrocities. Drawing on interviews with key players, documents from the United Nations and other international organizations, and sources from the Middle East and beyond, he traces the missteps of the international response to Syria's civil war. Bellamy systematically examines the various peace processes and the reasons they failed, highlighting potential alternative paths. He details how and why key actors prioritized their own national interest, geopolitical standing, regional stability, local rivalries, counterterrorism goals, or domestic politics rather than the welfare of Syrians. Some governments settled on unrealistic strategies founded on misguided assumptions while others pursued naked ambition; the United Nations descended into irrelevance and even complicity. Shedding new light on the decisions that led to a vast calamity, Syria Betrayed also draws out lessons for more effective responses to future civil conflicts.

Genres: Middle East

472 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 6, 2022

Reviews

[Darya Silman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having Syrian citizens - not oilfields or politics - on his mind, Alex J. Bellamy demonstrates the hypocrisy of international politics in regard to Syria. In Syria Betrayed: Atrocities, War, and the Failure of International Diplomacy, the author untangles the inner workings behind the civil war that has claimed millions of lives from 2011 onward. The reason Syria is not on the news is that other conflicts and wars are raging right now. Again, the Security Council condemns the war crimes. Again, some ministers urge the world to stop the violence by active measures while others raise funds to eliminate the suffering, yet nothing changes on the spot.

Unanimously endorsed by the UN General Assembly in 2005, the principle (of the "responsibility to protect") meant that governments recognized they have a responsibility to protect their populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity. <...> They also pledged to use diplomatic, humanitarian, and other peaceful means to protect populations and decided that when a state is manifestly failing to protect its population from atrocities, the international community has a responsibility to take "timely and decisive action" to do so, using all necessary means through the United Nations Security Council. Instead, from the beginning, the UN Security Council was paralyzed by the right to veto, which Russia extensively used in support of Bashar Al-Assad's authoritarian regime. Russia, Turkey, Iran, the US (together with the British), Israel, various Islamic (radical or moderate) groupings, and surrounding Arab countries such as Lebanon or Egypt had their interests, money, and people invested in the conflict. Civilians were disregarded as collateral damage in the fight for control over territories; the country's infrastructure, educational and healthcare systems were destroyed. The book traces the constant switches of sides in month-by-month records, focusing on diplomacy outside Syria as well as the balance of power inside it. The research behind Syria Betrayed is comprehensive and absolute in the sense that it doesn't leave a place for hope. Although Syria has settled into a fragile stalemate, the silence doesn't mean the people are not dying there.

I received a copy through Netgalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Kaitlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

An in depth look into the war in Syria and the rest of the world's response or lack thereof to it. Bellamy dives into the nuances of why countries chose to respond the way that they did and how so many countries used Syria as a leveraging tool for their own objectives. It was particularly interesting to read about how strong Russia's influence was both for the Western world and the Assad regime, and how their power combined with China's abstentions stalled so many proposals that may have helped decrease civilian deaths. This book explains how no country, whether pro regime or anti regime, saw the Syrian people as a priority. A timely read as we see how differently the Western world responds to the war in Ukraine.

[Dr Eman Sonnet · Rating 4 out of 5]

هذا كتاب فريد في مادته، و توقيته. إنه كتاب جاء في وقته قدرا و نذيرا. حيث تتكرر المآسي في سوريا منذ عقد من الزمان، بينما بدأت حرب جديدة في أوكرانيا منذ شهور. و يتكرر الحديث عن (حماية المدنيين و خيانتهم) هنا و هناك. فما حقيقة ذلك في سوريا؟ و هل ما قاله المجتمع الدولي منذ نهاية الحرب العالمية عن المجازر ضد اليهود بأنه (لا لن يحدث مجددا) يتكرر؟ أم أن هناك شعوب تستحق أن تُخذَل، و شعوب تستحق أن تُمد لها يد العون؟ و على أي معيار يجب أن تكون هذه الحماية و كيف يتصرف المدنيون العزل أمام هذا الخذلان و ذاك الغدر الدولي؟ - د.إيمان الطحاوي