The United Nations Security Council failed to adopt two draft resolutions on Thursday the 19^th of September, over the situation in Syria, particularly the push for a truce in the north western Idlib region of Syria. The first draft proposed by Kuwait, Germany and Belgium called on all parties to immediately cease all military action by the 21^st of September, gained 12 affirmative votes, but was vetoed by China and Russia with one abstention. Reuters has stated that this is Russia’s 13^th veto of proposals related to the Syrian conflict and China’s seventh. The second proposal, put forward by Russia and China, which called for a cessation in hostilities to help slow the humanitarian crisis in Syria but maintained that “military operations against individuals, groups, undertakings and entities associated with Council-designated terrorist groups” should be allowed to be continued. The second proposed resolution was defeated by nine votes against, including the U.K., U.S., and France, two votes in favour by Russia and China and four abstentions. Reuters reports that Western states have previously accused Russian and Syrian forces of targeting civilians, a charge they deny saying they are targeting militants including the Nusra Front, a jihadist group known today as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which was linked to al Qaeda and controls much of northwest Syria.

Reuters reported that “Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, backed by Russian air power, have been waging a five-month long offensive in the Idlib region, the last major chunk of territory still in rebel hands”, effectively trapping 3 million civilians in the crossfire. Countries on both sides of the resolutions have expressed their disappointment at not being able to come to an agreement, while also pointing the blame at each other, a sign of the lingering suspicions and disagreements especially in regards with terrorist organisations such as Islamic State and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. Reuters has reported that Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the council that he believed the real objective of Germany, Kuwait and Belgium was to “save the international terrorists who are entrenched in Idlib from their final defeat”. In addition, Syria’s representative called the Western countries proposal a “surreal farce” and accused them of drafting a resolution that contained biased and political aims rather than a complete focus on the humanitarian aspect of the conflict. As expected Western countries including the U.S. accused Russia and Syria of using counter-terrorism discourse as a screen for a brutal military campaign. Reuters stated that U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Kelly Craft told the Council “What we are witnessing is not counter-terrorism, but an excuse to continue a violent military campaign against those who refuse to accept the Assad regime’s authority”.

The inability of the United Nations Security Council to once again come to an agreement that would lead to a cessation of hostilities of the Syrian conflict which has lasted for over eight years, as always has its largest consequences on the civilians who inhabit those areas caught in the middle of brutal military campaigns. The UN has reported that since the start of hostilities in northwest Syria in April, more than 550 civilians have been killed and around 400,000 people have become displaced. The Syrian conflict has been one of the most damaging and complicated conflicts in recent history, and finding a resolution that is able to call a truce among the fighting with special emphasis on providing humanitarian support to the millions of civilians who require it is of the upmost importance. To do this, states that are opposed in what the best way forward is, including the Assad’s regime, must put to one side their major political and military objective differences and focus on the humanitarian aspect of the conflict. Russia and China’s objective of supporting the Assad regime’s military operations against terrorist organisations must be brought to an end, or at a minimum focused on containment rather than all out destruction. Following from this, it would seem Western states such as the U.S, U.K. and France would be more willing to vote to pass resolutions containing this sort of emphasis on a complete truce, in turn providing the opportunity to focus resources on aiding civilians and reconstruction of the areas that have been reduced to rubble.

Since March 2011, Syria has been enveloped in a conflict which began after brutal crackdowns by the Assad regime on pro-democracy protests, spiraled into a civil war which eventually drew in involvement from international states. The conflict has forced more than half of all Syrians to leave their homes. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has reported that there has been “5.6 million Syrian refugees and 6.6 million internally displaced the crisis has resulted in more than 12 million people in need of humanitarian assistance”. In addition over 500,000 have died since 2011. Syrian forces controlled by the Assad regime have regained large amounts of control over Syria in the last two years. The huge numbers of casualties and civilian displacements places the conflict in Syria at the highest level of importance to the international community and attempts to garner a stop to the fighting must be aggressively pursued. The latest failure to acquire this at the Security Council must be taken into consideration with all sides ideally learning from their mistakes. Despite this failure all steps must be pursued to continue to push for a stop to the conflict and to change the focus on aiding those civilians involved in the humanitarian crisis.