Former US leader regrets inability to maintain stability and integrity of Syria during the so-called Arab Spring
Former US leader Barack Obama described one of the failures of his presidency (2009-2017) as the failure to preserve the stability and integrity of Syria during the so-called Arab Spring. He said this in an interview with the German television channel RTL and the magazine Stern, which was published on Wednesday.
Answering a question about the failures during the presidency, he said: “As for foreign policy, I am still tormented by the tragedy in Syria. During the Arab Spring, Egypt was the focus of attention, then Libya, but at the same time Syria was starting to fall apart. In any case, I was unable to convince the international community to keep Syria united. I can’t stop thinking about the human suffering that followed.”
The civil war in Syria began after the suppression of mass anti-government unrest in March 2011. The opposition demanded democratic reforms and the resignation of President Bashar al-Assad. The authorities tried to bring order to the country by force. However, political and military support for the opposition from abroad – primarily from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the USA and a number of EU countries – contributed to the escalation of the conflict. The armed confrontation has been going on for nine years. During this time, according to UN data, more than 400,000 people have died in the country and about 5.6 million have become refugees (before the war, the population of Syria was 22 million).