In the winter of its Arab Spring, Syria has become the center of a geopolitical showdown. Dogged by a persevering opposition stilted by the West and the Arabs, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been under intense political pressure to end the now 11-month-old uprising. On February 16, India voted in favor of a UN resolution that passed by an overwhelming margin in the General Assembly joining the call to end the violence.
The Western-backed plan, put forth by the Arab League, received Indian support from the outset. India’s position on Syria, both in the UN Security Council and General Assembly, is a reflection of its stake in the region. Certainly, India wants a stop to the bloodshed. According to the UN, nearly 6,000 lives have been lost over the span of the uprising, 25,000 people have fled the country, and an additional 70,000 are internally displaced. Not usually mentioned by the Western press is that over 2,000 of those killed were Syrian security personnel.