The brutal Bashar Assad regime is using hunger as a weapon of war. The international community is professing itself outraged. The United Nations is trying to get food through to the 40,000 people in the besieged rebel town of Madaya who have been without supplies since October. Yet there is of course no reason why the outside world should be shocked that the Assad regime is seeking to starve its enemies to death. For an oppressor perfectly prepared to use poison gas on his protesting people, starvation is no big deal — and indeed it is a far cheaper option than firing shells laden with deadly chemicals into the town. The horrors of Madaya have been and continue to be repeated throughout Syria. The city of Homs was starved into submission last year. It is reported that some 14 towns and villages are currently under siege and effectively being driven by hunger into surrendering. Two of these villages are in fact government-controlled. They have been invested by the rebels in an effort to get the supporters of the regime to taste their own medicine. In actual fact these two northern villages, Kefraya and Foah have been used as bargaining chips for the resupply of Madaya. Convoys of food for Kefraya and Foah were to leave at the same time as vehicles carrying the far greater stocks of food and medicines headed for Madaya. But of course the relief will be only temporary. For the civilians caught up in the town, the respite will be just that — however much aid is sent to the townsfolk, it will not be enough. In weeks, certainly within months, the same horrific situation will arise again, with trapped inhabitants forced to eat grass or leaves in a desperate search for nourishment. Starving out civilians as a means of waging war is specifically forbidden in a series of international laws. It would be good to think that the Assad regime and its henchmen will be brought to account for this and other countless crimes it has committed against its fellow Syrians, whose key demand was only ever freedom. Unfortunately it is not difficult to imagine that when this detestable dictatorship is finally overthrown, there will be very little worldwide appetite for full-blown trials before the judges of the International Criminal Court in The Hague. This is because the cases of genocide and crimes against humanity that would inevitably be brought against survivors of the Assad regime, would also shine an unwelcome light on the failures of the international community that were brought about through weakness, indecision and poor judgment. The horrific starvation in Syrian towns such as Madaya would not have occurred if Washington had acted early and decisively to stop Assad from trying to crush his people. Five years of murder, agony and destruction, 300,0000 dead, more than two million wounded, ten million internal and external refugees and the deadly rise of the terrorist of Daesh (the self-proclaimed IS) could all have been prevented had Obama heeded the advice he was being given, not least by the Kingdom and intervened. The reality is that while Assad and his creatures are guilty of crimes against humanity, much of the international community is surely guilty of crimes against the Syrian people and should feel ashamed.
