Through this investigation so far, I am continually bombarded and confused by all the complexities of the Syrian civil war and what exactly “post-assad Syria” means. The causes and effects of this civil war have no short-term solution in sight. So even considering a post-Assad Syria seems irrational and unpractical at this point. Even more so, it is looking like Assad has no intentions to leave anytime soon. Al-Assad will only leave on his own terms if ever. Now of course there is the question of why doesn’t someone “take him out” or force him out. It has become apparent that al-Assad has no hesitation in reacting – in a violent way – to any threat to him or his regime. Even if by some miracle Assad does decide to leave, there are now so many groups or possible parties, creating in itself an entirely new conflict and cause of war. So it seems that now a main concern should be, if al-Assad does leave, who could be best suited to take over? Would there even be a “Syria” as it was before?

Another complexity to the matter are groups such as the Islamic State, Qatar, Iraq and other surrouding conflicts in the middle east. This civil war came from unease and disapproval of the government, and has turned into conflict of secularism, crimes against humanity, terrorism, and possible depletion of a nation. Syria has been home to numerous religious groups throughout its history, which has never been an extreme problem in the state. Now however, tensions have grown and exploded. Is this now the driving force of the revolution to focus on? There are so many sides to this and ( in my opinion) no foreseeable solution or peace in the near future. Hopefully over the next few blogs I will focus on all of these issues and come to some sort of concluding concept of this civil war.