Syrian Crisis- An Unending And Brutal Revolutionary Road

By Pallavi Dani:

Syria has been under the grip of social unrest for more than a year now. The death toll has reached more than thousand, and millions of people have been displaced from their homes. Syria’s capital Damascus is witnessing the fiercest fighting of all with regular gunfights and shelling.

The international community has highly condemned the use of force against the protestors and has heavily imposed economic sanctions against Syria. Syria’s biggest trading partner, the has imposed severe sanctions against it including the ban on import of oil, which forms the major chunk of Syria’s export. This action has resulted in the shrinking of foreign reserves of the country and thereby led to high rate of inflation. The increase is the price of basic commodities is taking a toll on the common man further worsening the present condition.

The United Nations Security Council has been unable to reach any consensus regarding the Syrian crisis as on one hand most of the western countries are pushing for harsher economic sanctions if the Assad regime did not withdraw troops from the army from cities and stop the use of heavy weapons on protestors within 10 days. On the other hand countries like China and Russia have persistently vetoed any such resolution declaring it as an act of foreign intervention. They argued that diplomacy and not sanctions is the real answer. In either case the situation remains unaffected and violence continues to burn the state. The international community must realise a common ground and find a solution to this raging problem.

The recent threat looming over Syria is the possibility of use of chemical weapons by the state if it comes under any foreign attack. Although the government has assured that the chemical weapons are under full control of the regime of the Bashar al-Assad, uncertainty continues as the political situation remains shaken.
With both the rebels and government showing no signs of retreat, the question remains for how long the bloodbath is going to last and continue to make the lives of Syrians a living hell.