Since March 2011, 70,000 Syrian civilians, military, government officials and opposition forces have been killed, 3 million have been displaced and 1.1 million Syrians have become refugees — plunging the country into turmoil and placing the security of the whole region at risk. The Syrian instability is dragging the country toward the throes of all out civil war, sectarian war and ultimately disintegration. If no immediate and robust actions are taken, this process could set into motion a chain of events that would pose a grave threat to the stability of the entire Middle East and beyond.
While the West advocates for “secular” systems, they are paradoxically opposing the current secular government of Bashar al-Assad and backing the opposition led by radical Islamists and terrorist groups. On the other hand, Iran, which is often portrayed as pro-Islamist, has been accused by the West of promoting fundamentalism and extremism, even as Tehran continues its support for the secular government of Assad in Syria.
