Love him or hate him, I applaud President Donald Trump for lifting all sanctions on the new Syrian government. As someone who has spent a good deal of time in Syria I believe this is a positive step towards peace in the region. In my opinion, this move is Trump’s best chance at his elusive but apparently much desired Nobel Peace Prize. With Israel also suggesting it would like to normalise relations with the new government in Damascus, there is a genuine hope for this ancient land – devastated though it is by 50 years of Assad tyranny, amply aided in recent times by Russia and Iran.
However it is a shame that our own government is not as forward leaning as the US president, when we have so much opportunity to act. It is six months since I made my first trip to Damascus and Homs after the fall of Assad, and we have still not managed to get our embassy in Damascus open and aid and advice flowing in. Certainly, there appears to be some great work going on by the Syria team at the FCDO, but I’ve yet to see the Prime Minister in Damascus or any meaningful government money heading that way. We have no British Ambassador working to get this wonderful place back on its feet as a major force for good in the Middle East.
A bit of soft power today is better than a whole lot of hard power tomorrow – have our politicians not learnt anything from our adventures in the Middle East over the last few decades? We need to find our inner Lawrence of Arabia, make friends and influence people rather than blowing things to smithereens.
With some surprise last month, I read a piece in Russia Today saying that I am to be blamed for the downfall of Assad by exposing his use of chemical weapons to murder his own people. I know for certain I had very little to do with his downfall but I’m delighted if I helped in any way. President Putin is still using chemical weapons today, on an industrial scale, against Ukraine. People can see that Iran’s nuclear programme is a danger: so are chemical weapons.
The British Syrian diaspora cannot be praised enough in my opinion, and the British government must understand this jewel in the British crown. It was mainly the British Syrians who set up the Idlib Health Directorate, which they are now helping to turn into Syria’s National Health Service. It is them, and a few other Brits, who helped set up the White Helmets civil emergency services in Idlib, which is now being replicated across Syria. It is the diaspora who are using their own money and resources to help rebuild Homs and other towns and cities across the country. They can help the British government make a difference in Syria.
British soft power and a bit of hard currency will go a long way to rebuilding this genuinely secular place into a moderate, democratic-ish country. If those of us who operated in Syria during the oppressive rule of Assad and the tyranny of the Jihadists are prepared to give the new government a go, that should be a green light for those who stood back and held our coats to wade in now.
I am told it is too dangerous to open the embassy in Damascus and the British government has no money. Perhaps it is time for an ambassador in Damascus who doesn’t need six months of risk assessments or a squadron of SAS to protect him, who can get a building from the British Diaspora to fly the British flag from, and can probably get the funds to run it for 6-12 months. I can find such a person very easily. Prime Minister? Over to you.
Love him or hate him, I applaud President Donald Trump for lifting all sanctions on the new Syrian government. As someone who has spent a good deal of time in Syria I believe this is a positive step towards peace in the region. In my opinion, this move is Trump’s best chance at his elusive but apparently much desired Nobel Peace Prize. With Israel also suggesting it would like to normalise relations with the new government in Damascus, there is a genuine hope for this ancient land – devastated though it is by 50 years of Assad tyranny, amply aided in recent times by Russia and Iran.
However it is a shame that our own government is not as forward leaning as the US president, when we have so much opportunity to act. It is six months since I made my first trip to Damascus and Homs after the fall of Assad, and we have still not managed to get our embassy in Damascus open and aid and advice flowing in. Certainly, there appears to be some great work going on by the Syria team at the FCDO, but I’ve yet to see the Prime Minister in Damascus or any meaningful government money heading that way. We have no British Ambassador working to get this wonderful place back on its feet as a major force for good in the Middle East.
A bit of soft power today is better than a whole lot of hard power tomorrow – have our politicians not learnt anything from our adventures in the Middle East over the last few decades? We need to find our inner Lawrence of Arabia, make friends and influence people rather than blowing things to smithereens.
With some surprise last month, I read a piece in Russia Today saying that I am to be blamed for the downfall of Assad by exposing his use of chemical weapons to murder his own people. I know for certain I had very little to do with his downfall but I’m delighted if I helped in any way. President Putin is still using chemical weapons today, on an industrial scale, against Ukraine. People can see that Iran’s nuclear programme is a danger: so are chemical weapons.
The British Syrian diaspora cannot be praised enough in my opinion, and the British government must understand this jewel in the British crown. It was mainly the British Syrians who set up the Idlib Health Directorate, which they are now helping to turn into Syria’s National Health Service. It is them, and a few other Brits, who helped set up the White Helmets civil emergency services in Idlib, which is now being replicated across Syria. It is the diaspora who are using their own money and resources to help rebuild Homs and other towns and cities across the country. They can help the British government make a difference in Syria.
British soft power and a bit of hard currency will go a long way to rebuilding this genuinely secular place into a moderate, democratic-ish country. If those of us who operated in Syria during the oppressive rule of Assad and the tyranny of the Jihadists are prepared to give the new government a go, that should be a green light for those who stood back and held our coats to wade in now.
I am told it is too dangerous to open the embassy in Damascus and the British government has no money. Perhaps it is time for an ambassador in Damascus who doesn’t need six months of risk assessments or a squadron of SAS to protect him, who can get a building from the British Diaspora to fly the British flag from, and can probably get the funds to run it for 6-12 months. I can find such a person very easily. Prime Minister? Over to you.