Syria: History, The Civil War and Peace Prospects

Abstract

When the ‘Arab Spring’ reached Syria, its Pharaoh, Bashar al-Assad, was in no mood to give up easily. The brutal repression of peaceful anti-government protests pushed the country towards a civil war. The Syrian government, the opposition rebels, foreign powers and Islamic militants are all the architects of the Syrian quagmire. The war has led to catastrophic consequences. Hundreds of thousands of people have been massacred with ancient towns and modern cities being turned into rubble. The war has brought devastation to Syria. Firstly, there has been a huge loss in terms of human deaths and damages to property. The war has created a huge refugee crisis. Millions of Syrians have been uprooted from their homes due to the war. The Syrian Crisis has given us a few lessons. The first of such lessons is that dictators and oppressors cannot rule easily. They will face resistance and opposition until the spirit of freedom is alive in human beings. We also learned that the lust for power can lead mankind to commit brutalities of the worst kind. It was also observed that nation-states view international politics through the lens of ‘self-interest’ and have lost sight of a peaceful vision for the world.