Where is Rules Based International Order when Israel makes hundreds of attacks on Syria after Assad’s ouster?

Israel has made hundreds of air attacks on Syria in the days after the ouster of Assad, apart from its troops advancing on the ground. While these attacks have been widely reported in media including western media, there has been very little mention of the human costs of this. Even if only military targets were carefully selected, it is extremely unlikely that human lives were not lost when several hundred air attacks were made using highly destructive bombs.

An AFP report published in The Times of India on December 12 titled ‘480 strikes on Syria in 48 hours : Israel’ stated, “The Israeli military said Tuesday (December 10) that it conducted about 480 strikes over the past 48 hours on strategic military targets in Syria, days after the ouster of president Bashar al-Assad.”  This means that for two days and nights strikes were made relentlessly at the rate of ten per hour on a country that was not officially at war with Israel and where instead the regime change desired by the attacking country had already taken place, using aircraft and bombs supplied by western countries which did not raise any questions about the glaring violation of international rules and laws and did not even express any concern about the likely loss of human lives in all these attacks.

At the same time US attacks on Syrian targets also continued, and Turkey also continued its own attacks on Syrian Kurds. Israel also continued its attacks on Gaza—on the same day AP reported that an Israeli strike on a home sheltering displaced people in Gaza had killed 19 people.

On December 11 The Times of India published a NYT report headlined ‘Israel says it destroyed Syria’s Navy in Overnight Air Strikes’ “Israel said on Tuesday (December 10) that it had destroyed Syria’s navy in overnight air strikes, as it continued to pound targets in Syria despite warnings that its operations there could ignite new conflict and jeopardize the transition of power to an interim government.”

Israeli defense minister Israel Katz boasted that the Israeli military had “destroyed Syria’s navy overnight, and with great success.” The destruction at Syria’s port city of Latakia in particular was widely reported, including published photos which showed “the smoldering remains of ships sunk at their docks.” However the loss of human lives caused in the process of such massive destruction was not mentioned or explored in any of the reports that I consulted. Katz also said, commenting on the advance of Israel’s troops on ground in Syria, that this was aimed at creating a ‘sterile defense zone’ in southern Syria ( and this is likely to mean that any Syrian civilians falling in the way of such an effort are likely to be displaced sooner or later).

This massive destruction of Syria raises very serious questions regarding the observance of rules based international order and international law by Israel and its western supporters. Of course earlier also Israel violated such rules and norms repeatedly by attacking Syria again and again for years, accelerating these attacks in the days before the ouster of the Assad regime.

These attacks were increased enormously soon after the long-desired aim of ousting the Assad regime had been achieved, raising serious questions regarding the complete lack of concern for causing destruction in a country with which Israel is officially not at war and where a desired ( by Israel) regime change has just taken place. What is more, the desired regime change was supported by Israel in various ways, and while some of the main actors involved in this are known to be dangerous militant and sectarian forces, their advance was facilitated by Israel and its allies in various ways.

The hundreds of attacks by Israel and the USA on Syria after the ouster of the Assad regime could take place by and large without any obstacle or even influential international calls to stop them, at least in the first days of these attacks. Even Arab countries did not take any significant steps to stop these attacks. What is most worrying is that even the United Nations could not take any effective steps to stop these attacks and by and large remained a silent spectator. This reveals the extent to which ‘might is right’ is already a reality in international affairs and those who are powerful enough and/or can count on the support of the most powerful forces feel free to launch not a few but hundreds of attacks on targets of their choosing. This should worry us all, should worry the United Nations, as one does not know that armed with the most destructive weapons where such forces of destruction will eventually take our increasingly vulnerable world.

Bharat Dogra is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include Planet in Peril, Protecting Earth for Children, Earth without Borders and A Day in 2071.