WHO IS THE BIGGEST LOSER IN THE SYRIA CONFLICT?

[D]iplomats from the United States and Russia recently met in Laussane, a city in the French speaking area of Switzerland in order to find a solution to the issue that is fast turning into one of the most disastrous humanitarian crises of the decade – The civil war in Syria. The meeting did not result in any headway between the two parties regardless of the large amount of effort that was put forth by the likes of US secretary of State John Kerry and the Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov.

The Russian and American Gain

The situation in Syria is now reminiscent of the cold war era in which the United States and the USSR fought the biggest proxy war between each other in Afghanistan. The clear involvement of the American lobby at one end and the Russian lobby at the other is no more under wraps. The Russians are militarily involved in the conflict with a large number of troops on the ground entered into the country under the pre-text of fighting terrorism. The strategic moves of the Russians aims to prove to the world that they are capable of deploying and supporting a large number of ground units and run a full scale bombing campaign in a country far away from home (other than field testing of their weaponry). 

The Americans have proven that they are still very well versed in coordinating the clandestine operation of funding and assisting a rebel movement in another land. The two powers have once again locked horns over a piece of land after a long period of time.

A wounded Syrian child receives treatment at a makeshift hospital in the rebel held area of Douma, north east of the capitalDamascus, after he was injured by a reported air strike fired by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad on January 21, 2015. Rebel-held towns such as Douma face frequent aerial and tank bombardment and the siege means food is scarce and medical facilities are ill-equipped to handle either illness or injury. 

AFP PHOTO / ABD DOUMANYABD DOUMANY/AFP/Getty Images

 

The Syria Question

Civilian casualties chart – Syrian Civil war – Image source Wikipedia.org

Both the nations have made significant gains in the conflict in terms of military preparedness, execution of undercover logistic programs and coordination of aerial bombing campaigns. This situation of today indicates American and Russian success in different contexts. The Russians have portrayed the image of a military super power with a fireworks show of the latest weaponry that has lead to immeasurable civilian casualties while the Americans continue to effectively utilize the Syrian rebels giving significant territorial and military damage to the Russian backed regime without involving their troops in the conflict.

Besides the superpowers, the primary stakeholders in the Syria civil war – the rebel diaspora and the Assad regime have been moving strongly against each other causing wanton destruction all over the country. The destructive  Syria civil war that has been running for the past 5 years has leveled half the nation and in this time period the biggest stakeholders have been ignored – the war has caused an astounding half a million deaths. Even though this mammoth figure glares at the world from a distance the collective conscience of the Earth has still not been shaken to the core. The conflict, having caused one of the biggest refugee crises populates the news feeds of different social networks on a regular basis with pictures of toddlers missing a head, toddlers with skin falling off and toddlers with limbs missing.

We are the Biggest Losers

Image source: yournewswire.com

Such images are sure to stir a moral awakening giving rise to a world movement the likes of that was seen during the Vietnam war. A movement in each country that is involved in the conflict to pull their troops from the ground and to get on the table to resolve the conflict. However, that is not happening. 

This is because the world has been conditioned against being sensitive to human casualties. The biggest loser in this war are not the Syrian people. The biggest loser in this war is Humanity. As a species, we have lost. We have lost what makes us human. All of us now, can be regarded nothing more than soulless beings of flesh destined to forever remained glued to our little screens and our little hyper realities. We only care about our little world that lives in a little blue logo on our laptops or our mobile phones.

Dead children meaning nothing to us anymore. Half a million dead mean nothing to us anymore. An animal that has killed half a million of his own people via gassing, bombing and artillery fire means nothing to us anymore. The evolution of technology has caused the worse form of humanity to come into being. This century is the worst in what it means to be human and what priorities we have as a race. Power hungry maniacs attacking each other like rabid dogs for a territorial dispute causing dead children in their wake has done nothing to open anyone’s eyes. 

The earth as a whole is failing to understand that it is a conflict such as the Syrian conflict that causes world wars to happen. These generations that have been destroyed will not only be forever scarred by the terrible reality they have witnessed, they will also grow up to believe that no one in the world can be trusted. The survivors of the conflict will never know what it means to be a child. They will never know what it means to be happy and not scared. They will spend their nights and their days in shock from what they have been through, the deaths of their friends, their family and their neighbors. 

Image source: BBC.com

The kids of Syria – they will never know what it means for humanity to stand up for each other – They will never know humanity that once was.

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