Once a thriving city full of culture, Aleppo now lies in ruins after a four-year battle between rebel forces and the Assad regime. However, unlike most civil wars in the region, the US hardly intervened as half a million civilians were killed. This is largely because of Russia's involvement in the region; two nuclear countries fighting on opposite sides of a war that isn't theirs could ultimately lead to a bigger issue.
The United Nations sat idly as it watched mass murder occur. Samantha Powers asked Russia, Iran and Assad, “Is there literally nothing that shames you?” patronizing their lack of compassion and humanity in the way they handled the siege of Eastern Aleppo. UK and US officials made harsh criticisms against Russia and Iran, Secretary of State Kerry compared the incident to Srebrenica, warning the citizens of Aleppo that if they did not evacuate, they would most likely be killed in large numbers. Boris Johnson of the UK said they had broken international law by failing to facilitate humanitarian aid. Despite all of this criticism, nothing has been done to really help these civilians.
While there are many complexities when it comes to intervening in such crises, there is no excuse for not standing up for humanity. The UN and more specifically the US need to reevaluate the way that they handle humanitarian crises. As a superpower country, the US has the power to advocate for those who can’t advocate for themselves, including the innocent civilians who populated Eastern Aleppo.
The mass amounts of deaths that have occurred have drastically affected the lives of all Syrians. Since 2011, when the unrest began, life expectancy has dropped 20 years and infant mortality is up 10 percent due to poverty and malnutrition. Half of Syria's population has been misplaced and five million of refugees are dependent on international humanitarian assistance to survive.
The situation is comparable to the Holocaust. While we can’t consider what happened in Aleppo genocide in the strict definition of the term, it can be considered a senseless killing of innocent people in order to push a political agenda. However, during the holocaust, we were open to European refugees, and now we have shut our doors to Syrian refugees due to an irrational fear of Middle Easterners. President Elect Trump and his idea of banning Muslim immigration have promoted much of this fear of other cultures. There is an issue with terror groups such as the Islamic State, however, there is no excuse to not open our arms to those who are being victimized in their home countries. We are a nation founded by refugees, an empire for freedom, yet by not allowing them into our country we are selecting who deserves to be free and who doesn’t.
The ultimate injustice is that what Russia, Iran and Assad are doing is breaking international laws. The all-out-siege that is cutting off supplies to thousands of people is illegal, but Assad continues to use it as a tactic because it works quickly, and allows them to get what they want before others could intervene. If you constrict the rebel forces, they don’t have the power to fight back anymore. The UN has the responsibility to stop regimes like Assad from committing such crimes and getting away with it. If we impose harsher sanctions on countries that commit crimes against humanity then other countries are less likely to continue to commit such crimes.
While Aleppo has fallen, the fighting will continue elsewhere in Syria. How long will we sit idly? How many civilians have to die before we decide to step in?
