tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/ghouta-49097/articlesGhouta – The Conversation2022-03-11T14:38:15Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1790252022-03-11T14:38:15Z2022-03-11T14:38:15ZUkraine war: grim spectre of chemical and biological weapons raises fears of Putin’s dirty arsenal<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451576/original/file-20220311-18-13y1x1g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5582%2C3707&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Would Russia really use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tereshchenko Dmitry via Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Warning: this article is accompanied by an image that some readers might find distressing.</em></p>
<p>The United States has issued a stark warning that Russia is preparing to use biological and chemical weapons in Ukraine. The claim comes off the back of accusations by Russia that it is Ukraine who is willing to resort to chemical and biological warfare. A spokesperson for the Russian foreign ministry, Maria Zakharova, has alleged that the US is <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF3zXNQgX3U">collaborating with Ukraine</a> to develop these weapons of mass destruction.</p>
<p>White House press secretary, Jan Psaki, strenuously denies these claims. She has stated that Russia is the real threat. Psaki announced <a href="https://twitter.com/PressSec/status/1501676230617321480">on Twitter</a> that not only are Zakharova’s claims false, but that Russia is making them in order to justify its own employment of chemical and biological arms in the conflict.</p>
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<p>Psaki warned: “Now that Russia has made these false claims, and China has seemingly endorsed this propaganda, we should all be on the lookout for Russia to possible use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine.” Dismissing the charges against Ukraine, she continued: “It’s Russia that has long maintained a biological weapons program in violation of international law.”</p>
<h2>Biological warfare</h2>
<p>Psaki is right that Russia has an extensive and controversial biological warfare capacity. Biological weapons programmes tend be shrouded in the upmost secrecy and information on them is difficult to verify. Yet we know that the USSR developed a biological weapons programme <a href="https://fas.org/blogs/secrecy/2012/07/soviet_bw/">since the 1920s</a>. The programme was not halted when the country ratified the <a href="https://www.un.org/disarmament/wmd/bio/1925-geneva-protocol/">1925 Geneva Protocol</a> – which limits the use of biological and chemical armaments – although that agreement did technically allow the Soviets to own and develop these weapons.</p>
<p>The Soviet Union built up its biological weapons programme throughout the cold war and this was later expanded under the name <a href="https://nuke.fas.org/guide/russia/agency/bw.htm"><em>Biopreparat</em></a>. The programme continued even after 1972 when the USSR signed the <a href="https://www.un.org/disarmament/biological-weapons/">Biological Weapons Convention</a> (BWC). The agreement prevents a state from having and using biological arms. </p>
<p>Despite that commitment, the Soviet Union developed a wide range of biological weapons, including anthrax, plague, smallpox and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tularemia">tularemia</a> (Rabbit disease). The programme also oversaw major advances in biotechnology, such as the development of antibiotic resistant agents. At its height, the programme employed around <a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/is-russia-violating-the-biological-weapons-convention/">60,000 people</a>. </p>
<p>The USSR <a href="https://inss.ndu.edu/Portals/68/Documents/occasional/cswmd/CSWMD_OccasionalPaper-11.pdf?ver=2016-07-18-144946-743">kept the programme secret</a> and denied that it existed. But suspicions were raised in 1979 when anthrax was accidentally released from a secret military facility at <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/plague/sverdlovsk/">Sverdlovsk</a>. At least 64 people died in the incident.</p>
<p>Boris Yeltsin, Russia’s first president and successor to the Soviet leaders, finally <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-09-15-mn-859-story.html">admitted</a> that the programme existed in 1992, causing an international scandal. Soviet defectors who worked on the programme, such as <a href="https://www.nonproliferation.org/wp-content/uploads/npr/alibek63.pdf">Ken Alibek</a>(formerly Kanatjan Alibekov), have also confirmed that it had been developing these weapons on a considerable scale and that they could kill 100,000 people in a strike.</p>
<p>Today, Russia is bound by the BWC to disarm and remove all its biological weapons. It has also signed further agreements that would require it to get rid of its biological arsenal, such as a <a href="https://www.nti.org/analysis/articles/russia-biological/">trilateral arrangement</a> with the US and UK in 1992 – although this failed in 1996 when Russia refused to reveal the full details of its programme. </p>
<p>How far Russia has actually disarmed is unknown. Yet experts maintain that it <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15646399/">still has a major programme</a> So, while there is little evidence that Russia has ever actually used biological weapons in the past, we should assume that it has the capacity to do so.</p>
<h2>Chemical agents</h2>
<p>As for chemical warfare, Russia is known to have possessed the <a href="https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2001-07/features/russia%E2%80%99s-new-plan-chemical-weapons-destruction">world’s largest</a> chemical arms stockpile and owned approximately <a href="https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/cbwprolif">40,000 metric tons</a> of chemical agent that could be used in an attack. This arsenal included numerous types of chemical weapon including the nerve agent sarin as well as mustard gas and phosgene gas.</p>
<p>What the Russian chemical arsenal looks like now is the subject of controversy. Russia has signed the <a href="https://www.opcw.org/chemical-weapons-convention">1993 Chemical Weapons Convention</a> that prohibits chemical weapons and officials claim that the country <a href="https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2017-11/news/russia-destroys-last-chemical-weapons">destroyed the last of its chemical stockpile</a> in 2017.</p>
<p>Yet this claim that Russia has abandoned its chemical armaments is clearly false. Russia used Novichok nerve agent – a type of chemical weapon – in the attempted assassinations of <a href="https://www.thedefensepost.com/2018/03/14/opinion-uk-sergei-skripal-case-blaming-russia/">Sergei Skripal</a> in Salisbury in 2018 and <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/03/1086012">Alexei Navalny</a> in 2020, although <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/17/world/europe/russia-putin-navalny-press-conference.html">Russia denies this</a>. These incidents took place after Russia claimed to have eliminated its chemical arms. The attacks demonstrate that Russia has both the resources to carry out chemical warfare and the willingness to do so.</p>
<p>The concern that Vladimir Putin would use chemical weapons is serious. The Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, used these armaments throughout the conflict <a href="https://theconversation.com/syrias-latest-chemical-massacre-demands-a-global-response-94668">in Syria</a> to break down the rebel defences when conventional bombing was not enough - for example, at <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-43697084">Douma</a> near Damascus in 2018. </p>
<p>In an attempt to complete the invasion of Ukraine as quickly as possible, Russia has already escalated to more destructive armaments to achieve this, <a href="https://theconversation.com/ukraine-what-is-the-dangerous-vacuum-bomb-weapon-russia-has-been-accused-of-using-178200">such as the use of vacuum bombs</a>. If Putin wants to get the job done fast then chemical weapons may look like an attractive option.</p>
<p>Russia can use biological and chemical arms. If it does then this will put massive pressure on the rest of the world to act. The US carried out airstrikes against Syria when Assad employed chemical weapons. This raises the critical question: will the west be prepared to do the same if Putin also crosses this line?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/179025/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Bentley receives funding from the Leverhulme Trust</span></em></p>While it hasn’t admitted it, the world is sure that Russia has used the banned weapons in recent years.Michelle Bentley, Reader in International Relations, Royal Holloway University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/946682018-04-09T13:22:18Z2018-04-09T13:22:18ZSyria’s latest chemical massacre demands a global response<p>Seven years into its catastrophic conflict, Syria has witnessed <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/08/syria-aid-workers-tell-of-apocalyptic-scenes-douma-alleged-chemical-attack">yet another major chemical strike</a>. This time the target was the rebel-held city of Douma in Eastern Ghouta, just outside Damascus. The death toll currently stands at <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-43686157">around 70</a> – making the attack as deadly as the infamous sarin strike at <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-39500947">Khan Sheikhoun</a> almost exactly a year ago to the day. It is thought the number of confirmed fatalities could <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-attack/trump-says-big-price-to-pay-for-syria-chemical-attack-idUSKBN1HE0RR">rise to 150</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-are-syrias-white-helmets-and-why-are-they-so-controversial-66580">White Helmets</a> have reported that most of the victims were women and children. A <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/middle-east/syria-chemical-attack-most-of-them-were-going-to-die-1.3454861">local journalist</a> said the scene “was like judgement day … the situation, the fear, and the destruction are indescribable”.</p>
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<p>Like previous incidents, the attack has been widely blamed on Bashar al-Assad’s government. The agent used has not been confirmed. Witnesses say they smelled chlorine, but the sheer level of destruction suggests that something more lethal may have been used as well. There are allegations that the regime used a <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/syria-chemical-weapons-attack-latest-sarin-douma-eastern-ghouta-nerve-agent-chlorine-russia-us-uk-a8294741.html">sarin barrel bomb</a>.</p>
<p>Whatever the precise details, no-one should be surprised by what has happened. Horrified, yes – but Assad has <a href="https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/Timeline-of-Syrian-Chemical-Weapons-Activity">repeatedly used</a> chemical weapons in the civil conflict since 2012, and clearly he is not inclined to stop.</p>
<p>As per usual, the incident has attracted condemnation from Assad’s enemies around the world. US President Donald Trump <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/982966315467116544?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet">tweeted</a> that there will be a “big price” to pay for the attack, and derided Assad as an “animal”. The European Union <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-gouta-eu/eu-calls-for-response-to-yet-another-chemical-attack-in-syria-idUSKBN1HF0PQ">called</a> for “an immediate response by the international community”. <a href="http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/World/Pope-Francis-condemns-use-chemical-weapons-Syria/688340-4378246-d6vaqtz/index.html">Pope Francis</a> weighed in too: “Nothing, nothing can justify the use of such devices of extermination against defenceless people and populations.”</p>
<p>Tough talk indeed. But whether or not this turns into decisive action is another story. After all, we have been here many times before.</p>
<h2>Enough is enough</h2>
<p>This isn’t to say the world hasn’t responded at all. After Khan Shaykhun last year, for example, Trump ordered <a href="https://theconversation.com/trump-strikes-in-syria-illegal-ineffective-and-dangerous-75936">missile strikes</a> against a Syrian airbase with 59 Tomahawk missiles. His reference to a “big price” suggests there could be a similar move in the offing. Asked how the US might respond to the latest attack, White House homeland security adviser <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-syria-bossert/white-house-official-says-wont-take-anything-off-the-table-in-response-to-syria-attack-idUSKBN1HF0IN">Tom Bossert</a> was asked whether a US response was coming and replied, “I wouldn’t take anything off the table”.</p>
<p>But previous measures, including Trump’s missile strikes, have achieved little. Many at the United Nations have worked hard to bring Assad and his allies to account, but they have been stymied by Russia’s Security Council veto. Former US president, Barack Obama, succeeded in getting Assad to the negotiating table and – together with the support of Russia – he <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/10/russia-un-syrian-chemical-weapons">agreed to accede Syria</a> to the <a href="https://www.opcw.org/chemical-weapons-convention/">Chemical Weapons Convention</a>, the main international agreement that bans and eliminates chemical arms. But Assad still continues to use chemical arms.</p>
<p>Even if these moves have limited the scale of the Syrian government’s chemical attacks, they have continued. Trump and his administration have repeatedly said Trump will <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/daily-press-briefing-press-secretary-sean-spicer-041017/">observe the red line</a> against chemical warfare set by his Obama – but the line is still being crossed, again and again and again.</p>
<p>As well as the big attacks that make headlines, Assad has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/24/syria-regime-accused-of-using-chlorine-bombs-on-civilians">repeatedly overseen smaller chlorine strikes</a>. In 2017, Trump was asked in an interview about Assad’s use of chlorine – and <a href="https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/DCPD-201700615/pdf/DCPD-201700615.pdf">Trump didn’t even know</a> that Assad was still using chemical weapons. This doesn’t suggest the president is treating this as a priority. The world is acting, but it isn’t doing enough.</p>
<h2>Securing the future</h2>
<p>Failing to act decisively now could set off a domino effect. Allowing anyone to carry out chemical strikes with impunity sends a dangerous message. If Assad is not held to his account for his actions, why should anyone else stop short of chemical violence for fear of the world’s wrath? </p>
<p>Punishing violators in itself reinforces, supports and promotes the convention’s ideals. Leaving them unpunished weakens the norm that chemical warfare is wrong – and failing to make an example of Assad threatens the entire weapons control regime. Some <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/04/07/after-syria-is-there-still-a-taboo-against-the-use-of-chemical-weapons/?utm_term=.5f74b9469573">argue</a> that violations will not necessarily bring down the Chemical Weapons Convention, but their arguments assume that those who do violate it will be punished somehow. </p>
<p>The world’s progress in controlling chemical weapons should not be underestimated, and the admittedly limited measures such as Trump’s missile strikes that have been taken against Assad deserve credit. Still, it’s incumbent on all those with the power to intervene to ask themselves how many times we have to see horrific and traumatic images of chemical warfare before stronger action is taken.</p>
<p>It’s very easy to sit in front of a computer and type this. It’s hardly an easy problem to solve, especially while Russia continues to support Assad’s government and its forces. But there are severe implications if Assad is not stopped.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Bentley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Nothing the world has done has stopped Bashar al-Assad’s regime from using chemical weapons – but it’s imperative to keep trying.Michelle Bentley, Senior Lecturer in International Relations, Royal Holloway University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/926432018-03-21T10:46:51Z2018-03-21T10:46:51ZBombed and gassed into oblivion: The lost oasis of Damascus<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/211197/original/file-20180320-31605-thmu7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Syrians go on a picnic on Friday, March 14, 2008 in Ghouta, before the destruction of the region. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP/Bassem Tellawi)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Dozens of people, including children, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/syria-chemical-weapon-attack-douma-leaves-dozens-dead-opposition-says-04-08-2018/">were killed</a> this past weekend by an alleged chemical weapons attack in the eastern Ghouta city of Douma. The attack is the latest reminder that Ghouta, the one-time oasis of Damascus, is <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-ghouta/damascus-sees-some-ghouta-rebels-accepting-deals-soon-idUSKBN1GV1NG">being destroyed</a>. Every day brings with it news of renewed <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-43154146">bombing</a>, deadly <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/02/syria-chemical-attack-suspected-eastern-ghouta-siege-180226142923247.html">gassing</a> and starved or crushed <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/2/28/17057736/syria-eastern-ghouta-attack-assad">bodies</a>, accompanied by desperate scenes of <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-ghouta/thousands-flee-in-first-mass-exodus-from-syrias-besieged-eastern-ghouta-idUSKCN1GR0VM">mass exodus</a>. </p>
<p>Located a mere seven miles from Bashar Al Assad’s palace, Ghouta is the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/17/middleeast/syria-ghouta-evacuations-afrin-hospital/index.html">last surviving rebel enclave</a> close to Syria’s capital, where the Assad family’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/mar/14/dictator-son-assad-grip-power">dictatorial regime</a> has ruled <a href="https://www.chathamhouse.org/expert/comment/hands-power-rise-syrias-assad-family">for 47 years.</a></p>
<p>The Syrian revolution that began seven years ago has failed, and the death rattles out of Eastern Ghouta are among its tragic dying gasps. But the political facts, while somber and tragic, fail to tell the full story of Ghouta – the story of its history and beauty.</p>
<p>I am a <a href="http://boisestate.academia.edu/KarenPinto">scholar</a> of Islamic cartography who studies the depiction of geographical places in history. I have visited Ghouta, which now contains suburbs of Damascus as well as agricultural land. I have met its people and enjoyed its sights, sounds, smells and tastes. As the world watches the daily news of the destruction of the once majestic city, it is important to remember this city’s exalted past, when it was hailed as the green halo of Damascus.</p>
<h2>An abundant oasis</h2>
<p>Ghouta ( غوطة دمشق / Ghūṭat Dimashq) was once Damascus’s fertile beltway. For millennia, its lands produced vegetables and fruits and <a href="https://www.syrianef.org/assets/estimate_position/english/agriculture_en.pdf">fed Damascus</a>. It was especially well-known for its delicious pomegranates. </p>
<p>Without Ghouta to feed it, Damascus would not have survived and achieved its distinction as one of the oldest continuously occupied cities in the world. Dating back to 10,000-8,000 B.C., <a href="http://www.learn.columbia.edu/ma/htm/dj_islam/ma_dji_gloss_damascus.htm">Damascus lies</a> along the southern terrace of Mount Qasiyun in the foothills of the mountains on Syria’s border with Lebanon. Watered by the Barada River, the green zone of Ghouta is Damascus’ final frontier before the Great Syrian Desert. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210903/original/file-20180318-104663-mrta4r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210903/original/file-20180318-104663-mrta4r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210903/original/file-20180318-104663-mrta4r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210903/original/file-20180318-104663-mrta4r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210903/original/file-20180318-104663-mrta4r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210903/original/file-20180318-104663-mrta4r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210903/original/file-20180318-104663-mrta4r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">1903 photo of Damascus with Ghouta’s gardens in the distance.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Keystone-Mast Collection, UCR/California Museum of Photography, University of California at Riverside</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>So famous was Ghouta that its name ( غوطة / Ghūṭa) has morphed into the generic name in Arabic for <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=zHxsWspxGIIC&pg=PA117&lpg=PA117&dq=%22abundantly+irrigated+areas+of+intense+cultivation+surrounded+by+arid+land.%22&source=bl&ots=1R3hvltcdN&sig=V3CiDn4orKoLCOnWixFNwaE2gu4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi6t8ag3_vZAhWiuFkKHa5PADEQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=%22abundantly%20irrigated%20areas%20of%20intense%20cultivation%20surrounded%20by%20arid%20land.%22&f=false">“abundantly irrigated areas of intense cultivation surrounded by arid land.”</a> </p>
<p>Indeed, this special space has had such an impact on the Arab psyche that it has mapped itself onto the language as the word for greenery. Edward Lane, in his classic <a href="https://lanelexicondotcom.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/lane-an-arabic-english-lexicon.pdf">“Arabic-English Lexicon of 1877</a>,” says the word stands for “a place comprising water and herbage.” He specifically references the “Ghūṭa of Dimashq” – in English, “Ghouta of Damascus” – as “a place abounding with water and trees.” </p>
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<span class="caption">1588 stylized map from Georg Braun’s ‘Civitates orbis terrarum’ showing Damascus surrounded by the green fields of Ghouta, creating the visual impression of a green halo.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Georg Braun, via Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
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<p>The geographer al-Muqaddasi, who visited the area in the late 10th century, ranked Ghouta as one of the three most delightful places in the Muslim world, alongside the valley of Samarqand and the <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Best_Divisions_for_Knowledge_of_the.html?id=C2JO9m01lFMC">estuary of the Tigris</a>. Indeed Muslim tradition considers Damascus’s Ghouta to be one of the few paradises on Earth. </p>
<h2>Ghouta as protector</h2>
<p>History tells us that the lush lands of Ghouta served another purpose too. Mentioned by Arab chroniclers from the time of the earliest Muslim conquests during the period of the <a href="http://www.softschools.com/timelines/rashidun_caliphate_timeline/333/">Rashidun (Rightly-Guided) Caliphate</a> of the mid-seventh century, the orchards acted as a moat of trees that protected Damascus from attack. This was yet another way in which Ghouta made it possible for Damascus to survive and flourish for three millennia. Ghouta’s role in war as protector of Damascus was memorialized in a story of the Prophet:</p>
<p>“The Prophet (ﷺ) said: The place of assembly of the Muslims at the time of the war will be in al-Ghutah near a city called Damascus, <a href="https://sunnah.com/abudawud/39/8">one of the best cities in Syria</a>.” </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210905/original/file-20180318-104676-1xa6y7g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210905/original/file-20180318-104676-1xa6y7g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210905/original/file-20180318-104676-1xa6y7g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210905/original/file-20180318-104676-1xa6y7g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210905/original/file-20180318-104676-1xa6y7g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210905/original/file-20180318-104676-1xa6y7g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210905/original/file-20180318-104676-1xa6y7g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">View of Ghouta and Al Kiswah farms.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAlsaiad</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many travelers passed through Ghouta on their way to Damascus and were inspired to write about it. Ibn Jubayr, the 12th-century Andalusi who made a pilgrimage from Cordoba to Mecca, returned home via Syria and Sicily in 1184 and described the gardens of Ghouta as <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/title/travels-of-ibn-jubayr-translated-by-rjc-broadhurst-with-an-introduction-and-notes-with-maps/oclc/562843820">“beauty beyond description.”</a> Ghouta encircled Damascus, he wrote, “like the halo round the moon,” containing it as if “it were the calyx of a flower.”</p>
<p>The famous Syrian scholar, historian and poet, Muhammad Kurd Ali, who lived from 1876 to 1953, devoted <a href="https://www.revolvy.com/main/index.php?s=Muhammad%20Kurd%20Ali&item_type=topic">an entire book to celebrating Ghouta in verse.</a> And there is a popular myth that Ghouta was originally located in heaven and <a href="http://www.esyria.sy/edamascus/index.php?p=stories&category=literature&filename=201409060917363">brought down to Earth by God at Adam’s request.</a></p>
<p>As a cartographer watching the destruction from afar, I see it as if Damascus is destroying one of its own arms. Such is the unspeakable tragedy of Ghouta as the death toll continues to rise, and paradise long lost comes to a terrible <a href="https://www.journalducameroun.com/en/syria-regime-captures-half-of-ghouta-enclave-as-death-toll-climbs-3/">end</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/92643/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karen Pinto previously received funding from National Endowment of the Humanities NEH, American Philosophical Society APS.
2013 NEH Fellowship; 2016 Franklin Grant from APS.</span></em></p>Ghouta, Syria is being destroyed. The latest news tells of at least 40 residents killed in a chemical weapons attack. But Ghouta’s past was all about beauty, and its very name meant “green oasis.”Karen Pinto, Assistant Professor of History, Boise State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/882842018-01-30T11:32:50Z2018-01-30T11:32:50ZWhy ignoring mental health needs of young Syrian refugees could harm us all<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196974/original/file-20171129-12032-1p9nqp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Syrian child drew a picture of helicopters dropping bombs and children dying as a result. The surviving children are crying, while the deceased ones have smiles on their faces. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Zaher Sahloud</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When a seven-year-old student in eastern Aleppo was asked at the peak of the bombardment campaign by the Assad regime in 2015 to draw a picture, he did not draw children playing, nor did he draw a blue sky or a smiling sun. </p>
<p>Instead, Ahmad drew helicopters dropping barrel bombs, houses blazing in fire and mutilated dead children in blood. In his drawing, the dead children had smiles on their faces, while those alive were in tears. </p>
<p>For this little boy, a pen and a paper were the only tools that enabled him to express his traumatic recollections of a childhood lost. </p>
<p>In Syria, its neighboring countries and all the way to Europe, there are millions of Syrian refugees and displaced individuals like Ahmad who have cried and will continue to cry without any opportunity to express their trauma, let alone receive any support and therapy to overcome the nightmares of war, loss and forced displacement. </p>
<p>The near-disappearance of Syria from the news does not mean that the war has ended. In just the first few months of 2017, more than <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/03/number-syrian-refugees-passes-million-170330132040023.html">250,000 Syrians</a> registered as refugees, bringing the number of Syrian refugees to more than 5.1 million. <a href="http://www.jordantimes.com/news/region/15-syrian-refugees-frozen-death-lebanon">Fifteen Syrian refugees</a>, including three children, have been found frozen to death in northern Lebanon. They lost their lives as they attempted to cross into Lebanon from neighboring Syria. All countries bordering on Syria have <a href="https://qz.com/635110/these-are-the-routes-being-closed-off-to-refugees-fleeing-into-europe/">limited immigration</a>, essentially closing their borders to refugees. </p>
<p>Now, seven years into the brutal Syrian crisis, the exact scale and impact of psychological trauma, mental health challenges and PTSD on both children and adults are not well-known, nor are they prioritized by local and international aid agencies, relief organizations and governments. But we know the psychological toll of the conflict is significant. </p>
<p>According to Ana Moughrabieh, a Syrian-American critical care specialist who continues to help fellow colleagues in Syria’s Idlib province via telemedicine, a new trend has emerged among women and teenagers. Every few days, one or two women and teens are admitted to the local hospital after a suicide attempt by ingesting insecticides. The insecticide is known locally as “gas pill” and leads to multiple organ failures, causing a painful and slow death. </p>
<p>As a doctor who spent the last six years providing medical relief in <a href="http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/December-2016/Chicagoans-of-the-Year-2016-John-Kahler-Zaher-Sahloul-and-Samer-Attar/">Syria</a>, I believe that the world should pay attention to the future of Syria by lending a healing hand to its traumatized children. If we don’t, we will have to face the ugly and unpredictable consequences in the years ahead.</p>
<h2>Mental health not a priority</h2>
<p>In the north, more than 220,000 civilians have became displaced in <a href="https://www.afad.gov.tr/ar/24446/AFAD-Head-Gulluoglu-visits-Idlib">Idlib</a> province in the past few weeks after an orchestrated campaign by Assad troops and Russian jets. There are <a href="https://www.thesun.ie/news/2091195/idlib-in-syria-used-to-be-a-refugee-haven-now-we-live-each-day-in-fear-with-scores-killed-by-bombs-and-many-more-injured/">2.5 million people in Idlib</a>, half of them internally displaced from other cities. </p>
<p>In the south, 17 patients, children among them, died while awaiting evacuation from besieged <a href="http://time.com/5080005/syria-eastern-ghouta-medical-evacuations-icrc/">Ghouta</a>. More than 400,000 civilians are still under siege by their own government for the sixth consecutive year. The regime continued to bomb civilian areas with conventional and sometimes chlorine bombs. Every day there is a new list of dead civilians and children that no one pays attention to except for the local activists. To many Syrians, there is a sense that the world has deserted Syrians.</p>
<p>The resulting depression, PTSD, suicidal tendencies, severe aggression and other <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/jordan/jordan-and-lebanon-psychological-distress-common-among-iraqi-refugees-iom-study-finds">mental illnesses that result from these horrors</a> are invisible wounds that are not being detected early enough, let alone treated efficiently, in Syria and beyond. The longer they go untreated, the more amplified are the impacts.</p>
<p>Mental illness remains a taboo across the world, especially in Syria and the Middle East where patients and their families are afraid to seek treatment fearing that they will be labeled as crazy, or “Majnoon” in Arabic. </p>
<p>Often these people are shunned by their communities and spend their lives struggling with <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/future-development/2016/04/25/syrias-mental-health-crisis/">minimal support</a>. There is <a href="http://www.emro.who.int/syr/syria-news/mental-health-care-in-syria-another-casualty-of-war.html">only one operating mental health hospital</a> in Syria where people with acute psychiatric conditions are treated. </p>
<p>Even before the crisis, mental hospitals were more like prisons than real hospitals. There were only two public psychiatric hospitals. One is located in a rural area outside Damascus but now operates with limited capacity because of security concerns. The second one, in Aleppo, has closed.</p>
<p>In the neighboring countries of Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon that are host to over <a href="http://www.unhcr.org/en-us/syria-emergency.html">five million Syrian refugees</a>, psychosocial support and psychiatric care are predominantly <a href="https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/A0E119713D1F7CC6C125740200389E30-Full_Report.pdf">privatized</a>. The situation is compounded by a severe shortage of psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers.</p>
<p>M.K. Hamza, a Syrian-American psychiatrist who volunteered in multiple medical missions to Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Greece, described a <a href="http://www.ibtimes.com.au/experts-say-pain-syrian-children-beyond-ptsd-1546040">new syndrome</a> to illustrate the extreme psychological trauma that affects Syrian children. In 2016, he called this <a href="http://metro.co.uk/2017/02/28/doctors-create-term-for-pain-syrian-children-experience-because-its-far-worse-than-ptsd-6477911/">human devastation syndrome</a>. According to the <a href="http://www.ibtimes.com.au/experts-say-pain-syrian-children-beyond-ptsd-1546040">same report</a>, more than 45 percent of Syrian children refugees suffer from PTSD, and many suffer from other mental health problems like depression and anxiety.</p>
<h2>Other aspects of psychological trauma</h2>
<p>Many of these young people are at high risk of becoming drug addicts, prostitutes and extremists themselves. There are even reports of <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-01-04/syrian-refugees-selling-their-organs-on-the-black-market/8160496">criminal organ trafficking</a> and illegal adoptions run by international gangs preying on vulnerable Syrian children. </p>
<p>In Lebanon, a small country of five million that’s now home to over 1.5 million Syrian refugees, 16-year-old Abed is among the very few Syrians who receive therapy and counseling from a local nongovernmental organization called <a href="http://www.artofhopeglobal.org">Art of Hope</a> that helps alleviate PTSD and trauma through art therapy and vocational training. Art of Hope tries to bring some level of normalcy, dignity and belonging to Syrian children by engaging them in activities like art and craft workshops and addressing their emotional trauma. </p>
<p>According to <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/tara-kangarlou/im-a-journalist-and-this-_b_9324252.html">Tara Kangarlou</a>, the founder of the organization, the teenager was forced to witness beheadings in his hometown of Raqqa, where ISIS also amputated his hand. Abed currently suffers from depression, guilt and aggressive tendencies. During one of the therapy sessions, Abed told his counselor that it may be better if he returns home to join ISIS – expressing remorse that perhaps it was his fault that ISIS amputated his hand.</p>
<h2>Addressing mental health in age of IS</h2>
<p>As the number of out-of-school children looms both inside Syria and in host countries, these invisible wounds won’t be healed unless large humanitarian groups and U.N. agencies team up with local and grassroots organizations inside Syria and out. They need to address the mental health and public health challenges in parallel with educational programming. </p>
<p>In the absence of adequate leadership and security, I believe <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/24/world/middleeast/isis-syria-militants-kurds.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news">terrorist groups will fill gaps</a> and prey on vulnerable recruits. They do so by providing these children and teens with basic necessities, but most importantly a sense of dignity, belonging and purpose. </p>
<p>I believe that treating these wounds would be an investment that will pay in the form of counterextremism and reduction of conflict and hostility. An absence of treatment is damaging to the children and also to society.</p>
<p>Nations could also develop telemedicine counseling to fill the gap. On a grassroots level, host countries should engage in training of local trainers and empowering Syrians to detect early signs of depression, anxiety and suicidal tendencies.</p>
<p>In spite of the overwhelming trauma, Syrian children are so resilient. They smile, play and adapt quickly in the refugee camps and even under siege. The same child who drew a picture of death and bombs will be drawing flowers, rivers, butterflies and happy faces after a few sessions of art therapy. He can grow up to become a doctor, a teacher, an engineer or even a president. It is incumbent on us to provide him with that chance.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/88284/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>M. Zaher Sahloul is a senior adviser and past president of the Syrian American Medical Association.</span></em></p>Syrian refugee children are not getting the care they need in the wake of the trauma they have endured. Here’s why that’s bad for them and bad for the rest of the world.M. Zaher Sahloul, Associate Clinical Professor, University of Illinois ChicagoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.