September 5, 2013

Russian President Vladimir Putin opened the G20 group of nations summit in Saint Petersburg, Russia, today, stating that Syria would be discussed at a dinner later tonight, despite the fact that Syria is not formally on the agenda. United States President Barack Obama is seeking international support for military strikes against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in response to alleged chemical weapons attacks on Syrian civilians. Russia and China have warned the United States not to take action without the backing of the United Nations Security Council. However, Russia and China have consistently vetoed attempts to bring pressure on Assad by the Security Council. Both have insisted that any solution to the Syrian civil war must be political.

In a surprising development, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced today that military action against Syria would be one of the topics discussed at the opening G20 dinner in St. Petersburg (AP/Wide World).

Yesterday, the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 10 to 7 in favor of granting the formal military authorization for the strikes in Syria requested by President Obama. The vote paves the way for a full vote on the floor of the Senate next week. Before the vote, the committee accepted amendments proposed by Senator John McCain (R., Arizona) that explicitly call for the United States to seek to “change the momentum of the battlefield” in ways that would force Assad to resign. The amendment reads in part: “It is the policy of the United States to . . . create favorable conditions for a negotiated settlement that ends the conflict and leads to a democratic government in Syria. A comprehensive U.S. strategy in Syria should aim . . .  to degrade the capabilities of the Assad regime to use weapons of mass destruction while upgrading the lethal and non-lethal military capabilities of vetted elements of Syrian opposition forces, including the Free Syrian Army.” (The Free Syrian Army is the most moderate of the armed rebel groups operating in Syria since the start of the civil war; among other groups, the terrorist organization al-Qa`idain Iraq is known to have moved forces into Syria.)

Arizona Senator John McCain added amendments to the Senate resolution granting President Obama authorization for military strikes in Syria. The amendments call for a "change in the momentum of the battlefield" to force Assad's resignation. (U.S. Senate).

Political experts note that the U.S. House of Representatives—with its deep and persistent divisions amongst legislators, both liberal and conservative—is unlikely to pass the resolution as amended by Senator McCain. Many liberal members are afraid that military strikes might lead to a greater involvement in the conflict. Many House conservatives are either isolationists or fear that any further military intervention in the Middle East would add to deficit spending, pushing up the national debt.

Additional World Book articles:

• Arab Spring
• Chemical Weapons Convention
• Celebrating the City of the Czars (a special report)
• The Middle East: From Fall to Spring (a special report)
• Syria: The Roots of Rebellion (a special report)
• Syria 2011 (a Back in Time article)
• Syria 2012 (a Back in Time article)

July 16, 2012

Fierce clashes between antigovernment activists and the Syrian military continue in Damascus for a second day. Troops backed by armored personnel carriers are being deployed in various parts of the city. According to witnesses communicating by cell phone to media outside the country, the deployment in the capital is the largest in the 16-month uprising against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. A Syrian activist told the Associated Press that the main road to Damascus International Airport in the south has been closed. Speaking to a BBC reporter, one resident stated, “It’s mainly in the southern parts of the city which are effectively besieged at the moment. . . The feeling, among people around me, is that it’s our turn now. We are really feeling this. That this is the final fight, building up to who wins control of the regime.” Yesterday, the Geneva, Switzerland-based International Committee of the Red Cross declared that it now viewed the conflict in Syria as a full-blown civil war.

Clashes between antigovernment activists and the Syrian military, ongoing since March 2011, have recently spread into the capital city of Damascus.

Last week, more than 200 Syrians were massacred in a village near the city of Hama. Helicopter gunships and tanks bombarded Tremseh before militiamen stormed the farming village and carried out execution-style killings, in what could prove to be the worst single incident of violence since the start of the uprising.

In response, Syria’s ambassador to Iraq, Nawaf al-Fares, announced that he had defected from Assad’s government and was supporting the opposition. The diplomat’s move comes just days after another top-level defection. On July 4, Brigadier General Manaf Tlass, a long-time friend and member of Assad’s inner circle, crossed into Turkey with his family and several lesser ranking members of the Syrian military. According to the Turkish government, hundreds of Syrian soldiers have sought refuge across the border.

Kofi Annan, the special United Nations (UN) and Arab League envoy for Syria, arrived in Moscow today (July 16) to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He is expected to urge Putin to pressure Syria’s leaders to begin a political transition. A long-time ally of Syria, Russia has vetoed several UN Security Council resolutions for foreign intervention. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is also expected to discuss the situation in Syria with Chinese leaders when he arrives in Beijing for a China-Africa summit. China has joined Russia in vetoing the Security Council resolutions. Some 16,000 people are believed to have been killed since the uprising began in March 2011.

Additional World Book articles:

• Middle East: From Fall to Spring (a special report)
• Syria 2011 (a Back in Time article)

May 8, 2012

In a final step that completed Vladimir Putin’s return to the presidency of Russia, the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, on May 8 confirmed former President Dmitry Medvedev as the country’s new prime minister. Putin had taken the presidential oath of office the previous day in a lavish ceremony in Moscow’s historic Kremlin, as police arrested hundreds of demonstrators claiming his election in March had been rigged. In 2008, Putin, who had been elected president in 2000 and reelected in 2004, had switched jobs with Medvedev, his protege and prime minister, because the Russian constitution barred him from serving a third consecutive term. However, Putin had retained his position as Russia’s dominant political leader.

In his inauguration speech on May 8, Putin called on Russians to unite behind his government, which is beset by economic difficulties and fierce political rivalries. Popular opposition to Putin’s continuing hold on power in the former Soviet Union has also been rising. Putin won 63 percent of the vote in Russia’s 2012 presidential election, which was clearly skewed in favor of the then-prime minister, according to international monitors.

Vladimir Putin (AP/Wide World)

Large-scale protests alleging massive voter fraud had also erupted after Putin’s United Russia party came in first in parliamentary elections in December 2011. Although the country’s election commission announced that United Russia had won more than than 49 percent of the vote, the totals still revealed a sharp drop-off in support from 2007, when the party won 64 percent of the vote. In the 2011 elections, the party lost 77 seats and its two-thirds constitutional majority in the State Duma.

Additional World Book articles:

• Russia in the Post-Soviet World (a Special Report)
• Back in Time (Russia 2011)
• Back in Time (Russia 2007)
• Back in Time (Russia 2004)
• Back in Time (Russia 2000)
• Back in Time (Russia 1999)