Frederic Hof, Resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East pens an op-ed for Syria Deeply on whether the United States and world have a moral obligation towards trying to end the violence in Syria:
At a recent Washington, DC Syria program, a knowledgeable observer—someone who has spent time inside Syria trying to build bridges between warring parties at the local level—said the following: “Those committed to bring down the regime are not committing the resources to do it.” Those words invite reflection. How many Syrians have died because public statements of commitment to the regime’s fall by world leaders were taken seriously? How many Syrians elected to risk resisting a band of criminals backed by Russia and Iran in the expectation that the West would couple action with speech? What is the moral obligation of the United States, its allies, and partners to the people of Syria now that Syria is in ruins? What should be expected of the West with the regime secure in that part of the country important to Iran, while the other part of the country hosts parasitic bands of savages, including those who recent dropped mortar rounds on a tent-full of Assad reelection supporters? And if there is a moral obligation, what is to be done?