Ten years of war have devastated Syria politically, economically, and socially. Bashar al-Assad may have managed to hold onto power, but he lacks internal legitimacy. From now on, governing will be anything but easy: today more than ever, Syria’s future seems to lie in the hands of its foreign patrons.
Ten years into the war, no solution is in sight for Syria. One of the longest and most violent conflicts of our times resulted in an unprecedented humanitarian crisis with a dramatic balance: 500.000 victims, 13 million people in need, 6.6 million internally displaced persons, 5.6 million refugees, a broken economy, destroyed cities and infrastructures, collapsed education rates, and food security at risk. A decade later, Bashar al-Assad’s regime is still in place and rules a devastated country, which has turned into a battlefield for external actors with different interests and agendas. The Damascus regime may have won the challenge of remaining in power, but it will hardly win the challenge of pacifying the country. What’s next for Syria? Which responsibilities does the international community have? What should be done to attempt to bring peace to the Syrians?
