Ameer Hamzah :The Syrian civil war is a journey to human catastrophe, holocaust and inferno. It continues because there is no strong initiative by the international community to stop it that began three years ago over demand for resignation of President Asad. But in truth it is not a war to restore democratic values because the Asian patrons of the rebel forces do not nurture democracy in their own countries.On the other hand, the western patrons see it as relief to Israel, which despite possessing more than 400 nuclear arsenals treat Syria under President Asad and Iran as threat to her security. But neither Iran nor Syria has ability to strike Tel Aviv.There are several guerilla groups fighting to topple Asad. The free Syrian Army is pro-western, while Islami Republic of Iraq and Levant (IRIL) is believed to have link with Al-Qaeda. There are two more guerilla organisations working in Syria guided by Al-Qaeda.What appears to me is that the civil war will not end, even after fall of President Asad. The pro-western Free Army and the pro-Al-Qaeda guerilla organisations will fight each other to decide who will administer Damascus. In that case, the USA may send troops to Syria, as saying that Washington cannot overlook Israel’s security. It means that Syria is going to become another Afghanistan.What happened to the Afghans? Civil war started in Afghanistan among minimum 10 guerilla organisations with the withdrawal of the Soviet troops. At this, the USA, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia built a new militia force popularly known as ‘Taliban Muslim Militia’ which took control of Kabul in just two years time in 1994 but could not stay in power for long. The Taliban government threw a challenge to the USA. The afterward history is known to all.We want immediate end of the civil war in Syria, which by this time claimed lives of 1.40 lakh people, pushed over one million people to the neighbouring countries and endangered the life of about 55 lakh children. Besides, several lakh raped women are bearing the sting of the civil war. In this situation, the international community having sense of justice and sympathy for the war victims should arrange a referendum in Syria in which the people will decide whether to stay with Asad as the President or want a new administration of their like. Will the international community take initiative?
