The iron wheel is about to turn again and grind up the lives of hundreds of thousands. Diplomatic attempts to prevent a battle look as if they have failed, as they have failed so monotonously in Syria. In all likelihood, Bashar Assad’s "forces" and their Russian and Iranian backers will soon begin their assault on Idlib province. Russian planes are already trying to take out defences, and there is every reason to expect a catastrophe. Doubtless, Assad’s "forces" will use chemical weapons again and Russia’s proxies on the “alt-left” will invent conspiracy theories to deny their existence. Our filthy decade has taught criminals that they can break the taboo on the use of chemical weapons – one of the few limits on man’s inhumanity to man – and not only be rewarded for it but acquitted of guilt.
The Islamists in Idlib will presumably fight to the death, and I cannot pretend to care for them one way or another. The democratic fighters and the civilians are another matter. These are the people who out of fear of Assad’s torture chambers have nowhere left to run to except over the border and Turkey, which says it cannot take any more refugees. The UN warns of a humanitarian crisis on a scale not previously seen in Syria – which is quite a claim.
Russia is now the most important outside power in the Middle East; feared and respected. The refugees its policies spread bolster its far-right clients in Europe, while the dominant voices on a left that claims to oppose the far right excuse rather than condemn Putin. Syrians were the first but they are not the only casualties of Russia’s Middle Eastern wars.
The Syria-related paragraphs were taken from The Guardian’s view written by Nick Cohen, an Observer columnist.
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