Fading hopes for Syria

The false hope offered by a ceasefire in Syria has quickly vanished. On Monday, almost immediately after UN aid convoys were dispatched inside Syria that one of them was hit by an airstrike. The matter was swiftly blamed on Russia by the US as their underhanded commitment to peace in Syria unravelled. Aid workers have been in the firing line in Syria for too long. Unfortunately, the anger and outrage at these unnecessary deaths can do nothing to take us towards a solution to the unending civil war in the country. No country has stepped up for the Syrian people. As UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon rightly said at the UN General Assembly, a lot of the countries responsible for the Syrian war were sitting in the audience – without an iota of guilt, we would add. One such example was the lecture that US President Barack Obama gave to the world this week from floor of the UN. The legacy Obama leaves behind will forever be tarnished by the blood on the streets of Syria.

With the US and Russia blaming each other for the collapsed ceasefire, the Syrian government has begun another all-out assault on Aleppo. Opposition activists have warned of possible annihilation. The collapse of the ill-fated ceasefire has left the space open for anyone to use it as an open killing field. Barrel bombs are reportedly being dropped on populations that have been under siege for years now. There was another meeting between Russia and the US  on Thursday   but no new proposal seems to be on the table. The US continues to blame Russia while Russia continues to push back on the US. The people trapped in this catastrophic war have no way out, as Europe and the US too still remain closed to Syrian refugees. If Obama is, in his own words, ‘haunted’ by the war in Syria, imagine what it is like for the Syrian people who have had their hope in humanity extinguished by the same people who now purport to help them. The people of Syria have been caught in the middle of a war perpetuated by the entire global community. It is time to stop patting ourselves on the back for ceasefires that involve no one on the ground. There will be more bloodshed in Syria; and that will be our collective responsibility.