Is There Any Light At The End Of The 'Syrian Tunnel'?

Seven years have passed and left Syria, a country oppressed in the past and present, in a ruin — a body bleeding constantly.

What is the diagnosis? Does Syria have any future? Is there any hope about the future?

Palestinian analyst Majed Kayali offers eight points to consider when addressing these questions:

• It will be the United States and Russia, then Iran and Turkey, deciding Syria’s future. The competing local forces of the Syrian regime and the opposition are dependent politically, financially and militarily on foreign support
• The Syrian regime has removed most of the country’s society from the equation. It has either destroyed or besieged the communities that rebelled against it, and has displaced millions of Syrians.
• The Syrian opposition needs a unifying leadership with a vision on freedom and democracy.
• The Syrian regime and its allies changed the international perception of the Syrian conflict from being part of the “Arab spring” to being part of the so-called war on terror.
• The world’s attention has been diverted to issues related to Syrian refugees. The priorities of the European communities have been limited to damming the flow of refugees.
• Two powerful allies — Russia and Iran — which firmly believe that change in Syria would spell the end of their influence there.
• The so-called Friends of the Syrian People group was not as effective as the regime’s allies.
• The United States seems content with leaving Syria open to confrontations between foreign powers.

Kayali's conclusions at the end of his article depict a world sliding collectively to a disturbing insensitivity, as the Syrian 'tunnel' seems as dark as ever.