“In Syria, everyday decisions — whether to visit a neighbour, to go out to buy bread — have become, potentially, decisions about life and death.” Paulo Pinheiro, Chairman of the UN.

The Syrian civil war will be entering its fifth year of conflict in 2016, with no apparent signs of a peaceful solution in sight.  Since its start in 2011, approximately 250,000 have been killed with over 4 million displaced and forced out of their homes, triggering a refugee crisis in the Middle East and Europe and a responsibility on the European Union and neighbouring countries to assist the displaced civilians. The refugee crisis, in turn, has brought to light the xenophobia that many countries suffer from. Syria itself is so dangerous that it is extremely difficult to give a concise death tally and its associated casualties.

Over the past few months, countries around the world have been trying to devise a way to end what has been perhaps the most brutal conflict of the 21st century. This has led to various political conflicts and many countries coming together, despite their differences, to try and eradicate the common enemy; ISIS.  Even Syria’s President, Bashar Al-Assad, who was previously opposed by the US government, has now become a temporary ally of the USA.

Russia has been an ally of Syria since 1956 and from the very start of the conflict it has backed the Syrian government by providing it with weaponry, training and military advisors. In the UN Security Council (UNSC), Russia has continued to block Western-backed resolutions that seemed to open up the possibility of sanctions on the Syrian government. As of September 2015, Russia has approved the use of military intervention in Syria and has since then carried out multiple bombing raids to aid Bashar Al-Assad in the conflict.

The question here is why? Why has President Putin been such an active supporter of Syria’s government even when the conflict was in its initial stages? Having lived in Russia in the Cold War Era, Putin and other Russians suffered as the USA flourished and Russia collapsed under a corrupt communist rule. Since re-coming to power in May 2012, He has been working on developing Russia’s military program. The intervention is the first military operation conducted by Russia outside of the former Soviet Union’s borders since the end of the Cold War. Another reason for the intervention is the fact that Russia has economic interests in Syria as it is one its major military contract partners.

Alternatively, the intervention in Syria allows Russia to make a display of its military strength, regain Russia’s sphere of influence in the Middle East and reinstate its global power from the ashes of the Cold War. Furthermore, the intervention in Syria has only been brought to the spotlight in recent months. This is because Russia has strong ties with Iran, based on oil, and Iran has strong ties with Syria because both countries are of Shia sector. So, by aiding Iran, Russia has been, consequently, supporting Syria for a while now and has been fighting a proxy war against its Western enemies on Syrian land.

Ally or not, in the end it all comes to down to the fact that Russia is supporting a government which has used various forms of chemical weaponry and other military equipment to target its own people and initiate mass migration that has spread well into western Europe. 

It is vital for the people of Syria and for everyone else who is suffering that a peaceful solution be attained. On 18th December 2015, the UNSC passed a resolution which embraces a plan for a cease-fire. Although it is not an immediate solution to the crisis, it is a step toward bringing an end to the brutality that is happening on a day to day basis within Syria’s borders. Whilst it may only be short term, something, at the present time, is better than nothing.