SYRIAN WAR CRISIS

BHAVYA

CONTENTS

About Syria Background International reaction Six-point peace plan for Syria Geneva communiqu Use of Chemical weapons Escalation to war crisis Russias intervention and deal Role of OPCW Chemical weapon convention Geneva II talks Conclusion

ABOUT SYRIA

A country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest.

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Capital Damascus; Largest city Aleppo Bashar al-Assad has been president since 2000 and was preceded by his father Hasef al-Assad, who was in office from 1970 to 2000. Since 2011, Syria is engaged in a civil war, which turned into war crisis in 2013

BACKGROUND
Assad's father seized power in a 1970 coup. Hafez alAssad ruled Syria with a firm hand and was accused of numerous human rights abuses over the years. Bashar al-Assad presented himself as a reformer when he succeeded his father in 2000. But critics have called any changes largely superficial and resulted in protests in March 2011, demanding Assads resignation and democratic reforms Protests were brutally suppressed An armed rebellion to the regime soon took hold across Syria, dragging the country into a full-scale civil war.

INTERNATIONAL REACTION
The Arab League, European Union, the United Nations, and many Western governments quickly condemned the Syrian government's violent response to the protests, and expressed support for the protesters' right to exercise free speech. Initially, many Middle Eastern governments expressed support for Assad, but as the death toll mounted, they switched to a more balanced approach, criticizing violence from both government and protesters. Both the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Corporation suspended Syria's membership.

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Russia and China vetoed Western-drafted UNSC resolutions in 2011 and 2012, which would have threatened the Syrian government with targeted sanctions if it continued military actions against protestors. On 23 February 2012, the evening before an international Friends of Syria conference organized by the Arab League in Tunisia, The UN and the Arab League together appointed Kofi Annan as their envoy to Syria

SIX-POINT PEACE PLAN FOR SYRIA

Kofi Annan launched(March 2012) a six-point peace plan for Syria that provided for a ceasefire in Syria 1. Work with the international envoy 2. End violence by all parties under UN cease-fire; Syrian army to stop using heavy weapons and withdraw from population centers 3. Allow humanitarian aid 4. Free detainees 5. Ensure freedom of movement for journalists 6. Respect peaceful demonstrations

The peace plan practically collapsed by early June and Annan officially resigned in frustration on 2 August 2012; Lakhdar Brahimi was appointed as the new special envoy to Syria

GENEVA COMMUNIQU
Result of Peace conference for Syria in June 2012 It laid out a step by step plan intended to stop the violence and move the two sides towards a political settlement. Besides six-point plan agreed on guidelines and principles for a political transition that meets the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people calls for the establishment of a transitional governing body that would exercise full executive powers. with members from both sides. agreed on actions they would take to implement the above in support of the Joint Special Envoys efforts to facilitate a Syrian-led political process.

USE OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS

The UN received complaints about possible chemical attacks on 16 occasions in Syrian civil war. The UN inspectors confirmed use of sarin gas in 4 cases. The reports, however, did not blame any party of using chemical weapons. The Syrian government has been accused of conducting several chemical attacks, the most serious of them being the Aug 2013 Ghouta attack. This triggered strong international reactions

ESCALATION TO WAR CRISIS

United States President Barack Obama said the US military should strike targets in Syria to retaliate for the government's purported use of chemical weapons. It was condemned by Russia The Arab League stated it would support military action against Syria in the event of UN support

US prepared to attack Syria. But with mounting international pressure, to avoid another Iraq and Afghanistan situation, Obama agreed to seek Congress approval for military action against Bashar al-Assads regime

RUSSIAS INTERVENTION AND THE DEAL

Russia proposed a framework to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons. US agreed to give a chance to Syria as per proposal The deal : Syria must submit a comprehensive list of its chemical weapons stockpile within one week; initial inspections of declared chemical weapons sites must be completed by November; all production and mixing and filling equipment must be destroyed by November; all chemical weapons material must be eliminated by mid-2014. Syria welcomed the deal to surrender chemical weapons; US dropped idea to strike Syria

ROLE OF OPCW
Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons was given the responsibility of overseeing the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons arsenal under an agreement reached between the US and Syrian ally Russia Mr. Ahmet Uzumcu, is the Director General of OPCW Syria acceded to the Chemical Weapon Convention OPCW prepared a Destruction Plan for Syrian chemical weapons and its execution began. The destruction of Syria's declared chemical weapons production, mixing, and filling equipment was successfully completed by the October 31 deadline.

CHEMICAL WEAPON CONVENTION

An arms control treaty which outlaws the production, stockpiling, and use of chemical weapons and their precursors. administered by the OPCW, an intergovernmental organization based in The Hague, Netherlands. The treaty entered into force in 1997; 190 members The Convention contains four key provisions: 1. destroying all existing chemical weapons under international verification by the OPCW 2. monitoring chemical industry to prevent new weapons from re-emerging 3. providing assistance and protection to States Parties against chemical threats 4. fostering international cooperation to strengthen implementation of the Convention and promote the peaceful use of chemistry.

GENEVA II TALKS
an UN-backed international peace conference on the future of Syria with the aim of ending the Syrian Civil War, by bringing together the Syrian government and the Syrian opposition to discuss the clear steps towards a transitional government for Syria with full executive powers. The conference took place on 22 January 2014 in Montreux and on 2329 January 2014 in Geneva It is pursued by UN peace envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi in close cooperation with the United States and Russia Objectives to bring face-to-face two parties to discuss how to implement the Geneva Communiqu , end the war, and start a process toward a New Syrian republic

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Talk opened with dispute over resignation of Mr. Assad. And two sides refused to face each other on negotiation table. Mediator Lakhdar Brahimi finally convinced two sides However, the opposition and syrian delegation again broke into issues like Evacuation of victims from Homs humanitarian aid to Homs Control of terrorism and Transitional government or peoples vote

Both agreed to base Geneva Communiqu for further negotiations

CONCLUSION

Syrian war crisis resolved because of deliberations and have averted chain reaction in West Asia. Problem of Syrian civil war still exists which is affecting innocent syrians as well as neighbouring countries I hope good will prevails and Geneva 2 results in a plan for peaceful political settlement in Syria

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