Movement on the Syrian front

According to a recent UN report, the number of Syrians killed since the start of the conflict has risen to more than 190,000, most of them children, women and elderly.

Besides the dead, there have been millions of displaced people and refugees who sought safety in neighbouring countries, including Jordan.

Entire neighbourhoods were razed to the ground by heavy bombardment and indiscriminate artillery fire as well, showing Syria as a huge war zone.

A few days ago, the international community marked the first anniversary of the gassing of more than 1,000 Syrians, mostly children, by the regime.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay put the blame for the continued carnage and destruction in Syria squarely on the international community, which seems to have turned a blind eye to what is going on in the country, and on the paralysis of the UN Security Council due to the Russian and Chinese veto.

Former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton blamed the deterioration of the situation in Syria on President Barack Obama’s failed policy.

Clinton contends that withholding of real support to the genuine Syrian opposition group created a vacuum that was filled by extremists and jihadists, most notorious among them the so-called Islamic State.

The US is now considering aerial strikes against this latter group, in parallel with the strikes against its fighters in Iraq.

The Syrian regime had called for such US intervention after having been dealt devastating blows on the battlefield, which means that Damascus will give its tacit consent to any such US move. 

The Islamic State is now posing a very serious threat, having occupied about one-third of the country and many of its oil fields.

A lot can be built on this commonality of interests, which might, eventually, pave the way for a settlement of the Syrian conflict.