Due to the war in Ukraine, the world forgot about the military conflict in Syria, which was in the center of attention ten years ago. Meanwhile, writes War on the Rocks, the situation there is changing, including in the balance of powers. The reason for this is also the war in Ukraine, or rather, the fate of Russia in it. First, Russiaʼs failing large-scale invasion of Ukraine is draining resources from the Kremlinʼs contingent in Syria. From there, part of the personnel, military leadership, S-300 installations and possibly other equipment were sent to fight in Ukraine. The Russians are still conducting some operations to support the current state of affairs there, but it is unlikely that the Russian army is capable of active action there. Turkey is aware of this, which is beginning to allow itself what it did not do before in view of the Russians: in particular, Turkish troops are more active in striking Kurdish armed formations in the north of Syria, it managed to destroy several Kurdish military leaders ― therefore, if it is suppressed by air attacks the Turks will not succeed in the Kurdish confrontation, the option of a ground operation is already "on the table". Another player in the region ― Iran ― has also become bolder, in particular due to its unprecedented rapprochement with Russia. Tehran intensified military operations in its interests, both independently and by supporting the actions of its Lebanese allies from the Hezbollah movement. The third player is Israel, which has become bolder in its attacks on Syrian military targets. Thus, several major Syrian airports, including the capitalʼs, were temporarily suspended due to Israeli strikes. Previously, Tel Aviv behaved with extreme restraint in relation to Syria, as in the case of the war in Ukraine. However, the activation of Israelʼs old enemy, Iran, as well as the fact that Russia still accuses Tel Aviv of supporting Ukraine (and therefore, in particular, allows it to shoot down Israeli missiles in the Syrian sky with its S-300 systems), has freed Israelʼs hands. The balance that has existed in Syria since 2020 now has every chance to collapse ― and, as the publication concludes, the new balance of forces may not be in favor of the United States. Therefore, Washington should pay more attention to this region.
American Kristina Hook from Kennesaw University has been studying the impact of war on Ukrainian schoolchildren since 2015 as an anthropologist. For years, she has been studying what kind of trauma Ukrainian children suffer from combat operations in modern conditions ― and how they try to cope with it. The large-scale invasion took this research to a whole new level ― and Hook talks about it in her column for The Conversation. Now the mothers of Ukrainian schoolchildren, with whom Hook crossed paths until February 24, tell her that they go to sleep with their children in the bomb shelter, covering themselves with shovels ― so that they have a better chance to help themselves if the building collapses due to an attack by the Russians. Or about the fact that, when sending a child to school, they put a bottle of water, warm clothes and a power bank in their backpack in case they have to return from school late because of the blows. However, the school itself and the educational process, writes Hook, against the background of the surrounding dangers, became a center of stability and what many schoolchildren value as one of the symbols of the usual, even pre-war life. It is held by both students, sometimes scattered throughout Europe, and teachers. Hook tells about Svitlana Popova from Borodyanka, who conducted online lessons in the yard not far from her house destroyed by tank shelling. The students learned about the fact that their teacher no longer has a home, not from her, but from social networks. Svitlana conducted the lesson as usual. In autumn and winter, against the background of massive power outages, the educational process in Ukraine faced yet another challenge. However, the students and teachers gave him advice, even though in order to continue their education, the teachers had to work at a gas station or catch the Internet while standing on the street in front of a store. Against this background, it is not surprising, concludes Huk, that President Zelensky in his New Yearʼs speech named the teacherʼs index card as one of the Ukrainiansʼ weapons in this war.