Complexity of the Syrian Crisis

Last weekend, the Syrian army conquered the ancient city of Palmyra, Syria, which was under control of Daesh since May, 2015. Daesh managed to destroy a lot of the heritage in Palmyra but the archeologists were happy to announce that the losses are not as big as they expected. However, the historical sites still suffered and archeologists estimate that it will take 5 years to rebuild the most important part of Palmyra.

This case represents another aspect of the impact of the terrorist group Daesh – not only they want to destroy the current world and its future, but they also destroy the world heritage. How can we stop them and resolve the crisis in Syria in general?

The situation there is, besides everything else, a clear reflection of how complicated the world we live in is. The rebels who emerged from violently dispersed civilians who protested against government are not able to unite in their fight. Assad who is trying to remain in power at all cost was not afraid to use chemical weapons against them.

This would be clearly a reason for a western intervention. However, because Russia has its own interests in Syria (naval base) U.S. (or West) simply cannot act unilaterally. The only step which was made was forcing Assad to give up the chemical weapons. That was it. Besides the emergence of radical Islamists (an-Nusra, Daesh) who eventually detached from rebels, there are also more complex struggles on the ground. One of them may be the one between Saudi Arabia and Iran (Wahhabism vs. Shias).

Another one is the conflict between Turkey and the Kurds. The latter is very interesting as Turkish relations with the Iraqi Kurds are completely different from the Syrian Kurds who are seen as a major security threat. This is hard to believe, right? How can Turkey consider warriors against Daesh more dangerous than Daesh itself? The struggle is much deeper and older than the Syrian conflict and that is the only brief answer to that. It is quite clear that the complexity of Syrian situation goes much deeper than most of the people think or tend to believe.