Acting to end war in Syria

As Syria entered its fifth year of war, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on the UN Security Council to take “determined measures” to end the fighting in this Arab country.

The UN head said the “Syrian people feel increasingly abandoned by the world as they enter the fifth year of the war that has torn their country apart”.

“The suffering continues under the eyes of the international community, still divided and incapable of taking collective actions to stop the killing and destruction,” said Ban, as if the international community were from another planet, not the nations that he heads and whose inaction is responsible for the woes that befell Syria.

Lament apart, where does the world go from here?

The international community has been saying more or less the same thing over and over, without taking decisive steps to end the plight of the Syrians.

It would be indeed an understatement to say that the world has failed Syria.

Recently, the Arab League head called for the creation of an Arab force to fight Daesh in Syria and Iraq. That is all good and sound.

But he could have also asked for the creation of an Arab force to intervene and stop the killing and destruction in Syria.

Before they ask the international community to intervene and stop violence, Arab countries could take the initiative and do something concrete to bring the civil war in Syria to an end.

Last year was the deadliest in this long conflict; some 76,000 people were killed, countless others were injured and many more ran from the ragging fire, displaced or refugees in neighbouring countries.

It is no longer an issue of who is right or wrong in the Syrian war.

What is important now is to end the bloodletting and destruction.

The Arab countries can assemble a force to intervene, as peacemakers rather than as peacekeepers.

The UN secretary general has once again reminded the world of the Syrian problem.

The Arab states should feel obliged to take “determined measures” to end the conflict before Syria disintegrates and becomes another failed Arab state.