The situation in Syria is murky.
What is holding today is a lot more complex and multi pronged vis a vis what was started on the onset of Arab spring.
It is however not unique to Syria - any armed conflict and drags on, and on issues will inevitably keep mutating.
For Syria, I venture that this conflict started with what came to be called the Arab Spring that started in Tunisia if my memory serves me well. Other Countries that went through this baptism by fire were – Egypt, Libya, and Yemen which also remains mired in turmoil.
The underlying motivation in these uprisings was to overthrow leadership that had come to be seen as dictatorial.
The situation in Syria quickly got embroiled in sectarian differences between factions of the same faith, a situation that is also pictured in Yemen.
Opposing powers within the Middle East took different sides and fuelled the conflict further – resulting to significant human loss and suffering.
Syria’s strong man Bashar Assad was said to be particularly brutal in dealing with those agitating for his removal from power, attracting condemnation from Washington and the greater West who viewed the insurgents as legitimate quest for freedom.
The US then began to aid and facilitate some of the myriad of insurgents – those that it felt would foster democratic rule if Assad was pushed out.
To complicate matters further, some undesired players, said to be backed by Riyadh and comprised mostly of foreign fighters joined the fray - fighting to overthrow Assad. This group variously tagged IS, ISIS, ISIL, had a fundamentalist agenda – talking caliphate and such.
These cocktail of rebels kept on advancing, capturing and controlling territory including parts of the famous Aleppo – with sections controlled by either side of the conflict.
Assad on the other hand decided to up the ante – allegedly gassing the rebels decidedly and across the spectrum – both the foreign and the home grown challengers.
Washing got alarmed since they had specifically warned Assad against chemical weapons following earlier claims. Washington eventually did not act on this red line they had imposed – a matter that invited ridicule to Obama for failing to act despite his warnings getting breached.
Obama’s hesitation was for a good reason though, as Russia, Assad’s long time godfather offered to rid Syria of its chemical weapons stock pile and delivered on the promise.
Thereafter, when Russia felt that Damascus was likely to fall to the Rebels, they checked into the theatre to bolster their protégée – heavily bombing the rebels indiscriminately and managing to push them into the back burner.
Both Assad and the rebels have been brutal and reckless in the conflict resulting in atrocities visited upon civilians especially women and Children.
Isuni yilu yi maa me muyo - ni Mbisuu