No one can ignore the reality any longer now that the conflict raging in Syria has evolved beyond the simple question of a people fighting for the right to participate in government and determine their own fate. Nor can the conflict be defined solely within the parameters of a Sunni-Shiite contest — despite an undeniably sectarian aspect to the fighting. Rather, the conflict has — to a considerable degree — metamorphosed into a competition over influence being waged among global and regional powers. The fundamental backstory to this conflict revolves around natural gas and gas-related dilemmas, which extend well-beyond the Syrian arena and directly encompass the other countries in the eastern Arab world such as Iraq, Lebanon, Israel, Turkey and even Cyprus.
Indeed, the time may well have come to bring this issue into the open and out of the shadows, where it has been the preserve of specialists. Perhaps once the facts are exposed, their clash with public opinion will facilitate peaceful settlements and rational solutions, built upon shared interests and aimed at halting the killing of innocent civilians. This, in turn, may suppress the wars now raging and ward off the specter of future wars yet to come.
