Syria Betrayed: Atrocities, War, and the Failure of International Diplomacy

Dispiriting reading, this book chronicles the repeated, perhaps predictable but no less scandalous failures of outside powers to protect Syrian civilians in the decade after the 2011 uprising against the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Framed by Bellamy’s commitment to the principle of “the responsibility to protect,” the story is one in which even those international actors who cared about ordinary Syrians—and there were not many—had other priorities that inevitably proved more urgent or important. In fact, Bellamy’s account suggests that many governments known for their prickly defense of their own sovereignty interpreted the responsibility to protect as little more than an authorization to meddle. The world’s great powers, namely China, Russia, and the United States, make predictable appearances, paralyzing the UN Security Council and paying lip service to what Bellamy calls a “zombified peace process that existed only in the minds of those being paid to . . . keep it going in Geneva.” Perhaps more interesting are the several regional players, such as Iran, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates, whose patronage of competing groups ensured that the opposition would remain divided in the face of a regime that is responsible for the deaths of more than 200,000 civilians and the displacement of half the Syrian population.