Hansard

I thank John Wilson for bringing the issue of the decision by the UK Government to launch air strikes in Syria to the attention of the Scottish Parliament in this debate.

Syria was a country of 23 million people before the conflict began. I say “was” because Syria seems to be a country no more. It lies in ruins, its infrastructure in tatters and its schools, hospitals, towns and villages in rubble, with 4 million UN-registered refugees abroad and another million unregistered, 7 million displaced internally and more than 250,000 of its citizens dead. Basically, half of Syria’s population is displaced in one form or another. We are witnessing the death of a nation in front of our eyes, and its people are fleeing, having lost all hope for peace.

They flee their own Government, the rebels fighting that Government, Daesh/Islamic State, which is fighting everybody, or the combined air strikes that target all of them. The Russians target the rebels and Daesh. The west targets Daesh and the regime, and helps the rebels. The west asks the Russians to stop targeting the rebels, since it lets IS and the regime off the hook. Assad says that the Russian intervention is more effective—but he would, wouldn’t he? What an absolute disaster has been created. No wonder that once-proud country is literally bleeding to death.

All of that was known to us before the UK decided to pitch in with its contribution of more air strikes. Surely any reasonable person must be asking whether the UK military involvement, which started only minutes after the vote for action, is helping or is making things worse. The House of Commons did not authorise a plan for peace; it authorised a plan for war. Have we learned nothing from the past inglorious adventure in Iraq, where the country was told a pack of lies to make it easier for a Prime Minister to side with the American military campaign there? There was no plan for peace then and there is none now.

What disturbs me is the glib claim by the UK Secretary of State for Defence that there are no reports of civilian casualties. How reassuring. No wonder there are no reports; there are no reporters. Mercifully, though, what we have is a citizen journalist social media presence through Twitter feeds and on Facebook from a group called RBSS, which stands for Raqqa is being slaughtered silently. It is a social media platform of underground citizens who try to report what is happening in Raqqa. They report on IS crucifixions, beheadings and sexual abuse, and some of the group’s members have even been murdered by IS. They describe Raqqa as it was—a wonderful city with universities, cafes and bars, rich in energy resources and with a solid agricultural base, which became a focal point for the rebellion against Assad. It is now a stronghold for Daesh, attracting more and more fighters from abroad to live in the so-called caliphate. Now, it is described as a prison, where women are not permitted to leave and where citizens are basically human shields against air strikes.

Many local people have joined IS through fear, and youngsters have been forced into training camps to be indoctrinated. Of the air strikes, RBSS says that the bombing strategy is plainly stupid—the west bombing the outskirts, the Russians allegedly hitting a hospital and a university, while people are trapped inside the city. People are afraid that their city is simply being bombed into oblivion, just like Kobani. Even military commentators say that IS cannot be defeated there unless it happens on the ground. RBSS feels that the only way that Syria can be rebuilt is through civic society growing and spreading. Countering and destroying IS propaganda on social media is crucial in achieving that, and RBSS needs help to continue with that.

Are we closer to or further away from a solution by sending in Royal Air Force planes to rain more bombs down on Raqqa? I fear that we may be further away, and those brave citizens of Raqqa seem to think so too. While the west and Russia have different aims in Syria and IS holds the city of Raqqa and its citizens to ransom, there does not seem to be any prospect for peace. A bombing campaign on its own cannot succeed. Surely it has to be within our wit to devise an intelligent and co-ordinated campaign to nullify IS and its propaganda and to embrace the civic rebellion that has sprung up in the hope that somebody somewhere will listen and will act to protect and cherish the citizens of Raqqa and work for the restoration of the nation of Syria.

Once again, I congratulate John Wilson on bringing us the debate.