{"id":26982,"date":"2018-12-26T10:23:38","date_gmt":"2018-12-26T10:23:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=26982"},"modified":"2018-12-26T10:23:38","modified_gmt":"2018-12-26T10:23:38","slug":"10-dead-in-bus-crash-at-iran-university","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=26982","title":{"rendered":"10 dead in bus crash at Iran university"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nLONDON: With the media\u2019s attention diverted toward turmoil and conflicts in other parts of the Middle East, it may seem as if the war in Syria has ended, but it certainly has not. It has been almost eight years since the war erupted, and even though 2018 has seen major events unfold on the military and security levels, much has remained unchanged for Syrians.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nThe carnage was unrelenting this year. The death toll reached 36,135 between January and November, of which 5,773 were civilians, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The highest monthly civilian death toll was in March (1,460) followed by February (1,391).<\/p>\n

\nThere was a plethora of events on the military and security levels. On Jan. 20, Turkey began a major military operation against Kurdish fighters in Syria\u2019s northern enclave of Afrin, which led to widespread human rights violations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nBy March, Turkish-led forces had captured Afrin, and according to Reuters, more than 200,000 people had fled. In a resettlement scheme, Turkey moved allied Arab fighters and refugees from southern Syria into empty homes that belonged to displaced locals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nAnother major event was the full recapture of the Damascus countryside by Syrian regime troops, and the departure of Daesh militants and their families from the suburbs, making the capital more secure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nOn April 15, the regime announced that all rebel forces had left Eastern Ghouta after a searing two-month offensive. And on May 21, it declared the full recapture of the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp and Al-Hajar Al-Aswad district, which is adjacent to the camp.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nOn April 14, the US, UK and France launched more than 100 missiles targeting three alleged regime chemical weapons facilities. US President Donald Trump said the move was in response to a regime chemical attack against Douma, which was the last rebel-held town in Eastern Ghouta.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nRussia, China and Iran condemned the strikes. Russian President Vladimir Putin called them \u201can act of aggression\u201d that had a \u201cdestructive influence on the entire system of international relations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nThe Trump administration announced on Dec. 19 that with Daesh defeated, US troops are withdrawing from Syria. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the decision could result in \u201cgenuine, real prospects for a political settlement\u201d in Syria.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nArmand V. Cucciniello III, an adviser to the US military and a former American diplomat, told Arab News: \u201cTrump\u2019s decision to pull American troops out was based on the fact that unless Western powers are going to intervene in Syria full-force and overthrow (President Bashar) Assad \u2014 whereby we\u2019d likely see a repetition of what has happened in Iraq \u2014 the degradation of ISIS (Daesh) this year is enough of a reason to withdraw.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nCucciniello III added: \u201cThe Middle East needs to be stabilized by local forces. The US can\u2019t play policeman forever \u2014 or it can, but it will be bogged down forever. Iran wants to see to it that the US and its allies play whack-a-mole forever, keeping them entrenched.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

\nThis year has also seen the return of many refugees and displaced people to their homes in Syria. More than 5,000 refugees have gone home from Lebanon since January as part of a deal between Damascus and Beirut, which wants the 1.5 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon to leave. And more than 2,000 refugees have returned from Jordan to Syria after the reopening of the Nasib crossing in October.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nBut in August, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said it could not yet facilitate repatriations because conditions were not safe. Cucciniello III said: \u201cWe\u2019ll have to wait and see if the actors remaining in Syria after an American pullout can stabilize the country enough whereby IDPs (internally displaced persons) and refugees feel safe enough to return home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nDr. Humam Al-Jazaeri, a Syrian economist and financial advisor, told Arab News: \u201cHope for returning displaced people and refugees will be attached intimately to the international community\u2019s approach to the Syrian crisis. There\u2019s a growing need to invest in local economic capability and community empowerment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nHe added: \u201cThe Syrian economy represents a high potential \u2018test bed\u2019 for post-crisis development initiatives. Reintegrating displaced people back to their areas and regions can be facilitated at low cost. The cost of a refugee living in Europe much exceeds the cost of a returning refugee reintegrating through reactivated farming practices or other professional activities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\"\"<\/p>\n

\nHe said: \u201cThis is unlike other war-torn countries such as Afghanistan, Somalia or even Iraq, where local conditions place structural obstructing forces against reintegration.\u201d But \u201cunder the current unilateral sanctions imposed on the Syrian economy, institutions and individuals, it\u2019s both difficult and expensive to do business in and with Syria.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nThough there have been many changes on the military and security levels, the economy has not improved, and nor have people\u2019s livelihoods and lives significantly. \u201cWith no more mortar shells fired randomly by rebel groups at the city of Aleppo, the security situation has significantly improved, but crimes like killing and theft continue to threaten the security of civilians,\u201d Nariman S., an Aleppo-based pharmacist, told Arab News.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\u201cPrices of basic needs continue to rise in a manner that\u2019s not proportionate to per-capita income. Unemployment rates haven\u2019t changed much since the start of the war. Job opportunities are very limited and don\u2019t provide security, with many companies laying off employees and reducing headcounts.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nDespite that, services, such as water and power, have improved in Aleppo by 20 percent and goods have become available, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nThe security situation may have significantly improved in Damascus, but job security, infrastructure, livelihoods and prices of basic needs remain a challenge for most people. \u201cWhen the exchange price of the US dollar was on the rise, shops claimed they raised their prices for this reason, but now it has dropped and the prices continue to rise every month,\u201d Eyad, a Damascus-based accountant, told Arab News.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nUm Jamal, a Palestinian-Syrian mother of three who works as a cleaner, was told that people could return to Yarmouk camp and that the regime would give them financial compensation to rebuild their homes, but when she learned the truth she was overwhelmed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\u201cOur building was turned into ashes and its location is still full of rubble,\u201d she told Arab News. \u201cWhen I asked the district\u2019s officials about compensation, they said none was available and we ought to clean up the rubble at our own expense. This would cost my family\u2026 an amount we don\u2019t have as we struggle to make ends meet every month.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nDespite everything, people are positive about the prospects for peace and prosperity in 2019. \u201cFor the first time in seven years, people in Damascus will be able to celebrate New Year\u2019s Eve without worrying about being bombarded by rebels,\u201d said Syrian-Canadian analyst Camille Otrakji.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cIf the US completes its recently announced full troop withdrawal, it would be another significant step toward the inevitable reunification of Syrian territory. Reuniting the people, though, remains a formidable challenge for Syria and for many other nations,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThe US and its allies are tightening their sanctions on Syria in hopes of obstructing any serious efforts to rebuild the country. The objective of the harsh sanctions is to pressure Syria\u2019s leadership into accepting political reforms that will somehow transform Syria into a Jeffersonian democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nOtrakji said 2019 will be defined by uncertainty, and in 2018, \u201cregional alliances have been confusing to those who are used to the old Cold War between a clearly defined Western camp and an Eastern camp.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nHe added: \u201cToday, one finds Turkey remaining in NATO but acting more as a Russian partner. America\u2019s closest Arab ally Saudi Arabia is publicly protesting American and Canadian intervention in its internal affairs, while expressing admiration for Russia\u2019s non-interventionist foreign policy. Iran is protecting the Syrian government while coordinating closely with the latter\u2019s top enemy, (Turkish) President (Recep Tayyip) Erdogan.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nCucciniello III said: \u201cEither ISIS will re-emerge and expand or, more broadly, jihadi forces will reinvent themselves into something else in 2019. The balance of power will likely tilt toward Tehran.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nHe added: \u201cBut this is part of the paradox in which the US and its allies find themselves: \u2018Can we ever get out of this mess?\u2019 No success in Iraq, Afghanistan or Syria has ever been good enough to leave on a good note. So do we continue to stay in perpetuity, or pull out and let things play out more locally?\u201d<\/p>\n

\nAl-Jazaeri said: \u201cSyria\u2019s economy will rely heavily on Syrian private financing for at least the next five years, before other serious sources of financing start to take shape. It\u2019s important for the government to seriously consider gradual but steady deregulation in all sectors, most importantly in the banking and financial sector. There\u2019s no risk today of the money being siphoned out of the country. Instead, there\u2019s potential for Syrians\u2019 money to flow in.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LONDON: With the media\u2019s attention diverted toward turmoil and conflicts in other parts of the Middle East, it may seem as if the war in Syria has ended, but it certainly has not. It has been almost eight years since the war erupted, and even though 2018 has seen major events unfold on the military…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":26983,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}