Conflicts in West Asia

Not long ago, rebellions and insurgencies in the Arab world were at the forefront of the UN General Assembly conferences in York City. With most of those problems deadlocked, the world’s attention has shifted to more pressing global issues such as the continued coronavirus pandemic, climate concerns, the crises in Ethiopia’s besieged Tigray, and the Taliban’s overthrow of the Afghanistan government. However, in the last two years, the situation in Western Asia has deteriorated rapidly in many more nations and in more ways. Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Yemen are on the verge of a mounting humanitarian disaster, with rising deprivation and an economic collapse that threatens to further destabilize the region.

Points of Conflict in West Asia

1. Sykes-Picot Agreement 1916- After the First World War, Britain and France signed the Sykes-Picot Agreement, which defines their respective spheres of control in the Middle East. After consultations with Russia and other powers, Palestine has been designated for international administration. Arabs regard the agreement as a breach of trust of Hussein’s correspondence with McMahon.
2. McMahon–Hussein Correspondence 1915 –16- The McMahon–Hussein Correspondence offered Arabs in the Middle East self-rule in return for their assistance in conquering the Ottoman Empire during World War I.
3. Balfour Declaration 1917- The British government issued the Balfour Declaration in 1917, declaring its support for the creation of a “national state for the Jewish people” in Palestine. The region at that time came under the Ottoman area containing only a small Jewish population. Several Jews turned up in Palestine later in the period.

The declaration had numerous long-term ramifications. It boosted Zionism’s popularity in Jewish communities around the world and was a crucial element of the British Mandate for Palestine, the document that established Mandatory Palestine, that eventually would become Israel and the Palestinian territories. As a result, it is widely regarded as a major contributor to the continual Israeli–Palestinian conflict, which is frequently referred to as the world’s most intractable conflict.

4. Iran-Iraq War 1980-88- Iraq invaded Iran in 1980, fearing that the 1979 Iranian Revolution could well spark Iraq’s Shia majority to take up arms against Saddam Hussein’s Ba’athist Sunni government. A number of geopolitical conflicts between Iraq and Iran were also at the root of the conflict.

• Iraq wished to take control of Khuzestan, an oil-rich Iranian border region.
• Iraq also wanted to reassert its control over both banks of the Shatt al-Arab (Arvand Rud) river, which served as a border between the two countries. 
• Iraq’s war effort was openly funded by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and other adjoining Arab states, with tacit support from the United States and the Soviet Union, whereas Syria and Libya were Iran’s only major allies.
• Iraq is accused of using chemical agents in the conflict, while Iran retaliated with revolutionary militias (Revolutionary Guards).
• Iraq made numerous attempts to negotiate a ceasefire, but it wasn’t until 1988 that Iran agreed to the UN-brokered ceasefire.

5. Arab-Israeli war: Following the establishment of Jews, many wars broke out between Arab and Israeli blocs, with sides frequently changing depending on changing circumstances.

• The Arab League founded the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in Cairo in 1964, which would subsequently play a big part in Arab politics.
• The Six-Day War began in 1967 when Israel launched attacks against Egypt and Syria. Ever since, Israel has controlled the West Bank, Arab East Jerusalem, and Syria’s Golan Heights.
• Another of the Arab-Israeli wars was the Yom Kippur War of 1973.

6. Yemen crisis-The Yemeni crisis began with President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s overthrow in 2011–12 after he had ruled Yemen for more than 3 decades. Opposition groups accused Saleh of financial corruption and chastised him for receiving support from Saudi Arabia and the US. President Saleh stepped down in 2012, and former Vice President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi took over.

• The new government, however, struggled to bring the country’s fractious political landscape together, especially in the face of dangers from the Houthis.
• Houthi rebels were initially one of many opposition groups fighting President Saleh, but with Saleh’s help, they overthrew President Hadi’s administration and assumed charge of most of Yemen’s northern regions in 2014-15. Saleh was later executed by the Houthis on treason charges.
• Since then, the Houthis have been in power and have widespread support. However, they have resisted a Saudi-led armed intervention in Yemen (with US intelligence and logistical support), which does not acknowledge the Houthi government and aims to restore power to the previous government. Iran backs the Houthis in their tussle against the Saudi-led coalition.
• The Yemeni civil war erupted as a result of this power struggle between the two factions.

7. Syrian civil war- Syria’s civil war began as part of the Arab Spring’s broader wave of unrest. Protest movements demanding President Bashar al Assad’s removal began in 2011 as a result of dissatisfaction with the Syrian Ba’athist government; agitators were brutally repressed.

• Syria’s ongoing conflict is the second-deadliest of the twenty-first century, and it’s been defined as a series of overlapping regional conflicts between regional and global powers, primarily between the US and Russia, as well as Saudi Arabia and Iran. Several other factions are also involved in this conflict.
• The government has retaken control of Syria’s major cities, but rebels, jihadists, and the Kurd SDF still control large swaths of the country.
• The northwestern province of Idlib, as well as parts of the north Hama and west Aleppo provinces, are the last remaining strongholds of the opposition.
• There are approximately 2.7 million displaced people living there, which also includes a million children, with many of them living in deplorable conditions in camps.

Role of India

West Asia is a portion of India’s extended neighborhood, with whom we have shared millennia of interaction. As a result, we care deeply about the region’s peace and stability, and we’ve been keeping a close eye on events there. We believe that a military option to the Israel-Palestine conflict and related issues is not viable. India has been urging all stakeholders in West Asia to fully support the international community’s efforts. We support the resumption of direct talks between Israel’s and Palestine’s leaders, which gained traction at the Annapolis Conference. India stated at the conference that it is ready to contribute its fair share to the collective attempt to strengthen the influences of harmony and regional stability.

Conclusion

The politics and conflicts in West Asia are complex and multifaceted. The complexities of West Asian politics are constantly shifting, and they must be perceived through a historical lens. It cannot be viewed separately from the region’s international players. The Syrian conflict is currently the focus of West Asian politics. It can only be fully comprehended after a comprehensive understanding of the region’s many other facets and history.