Syrian civil war: No respite in sight

The Syrian civil war entered into the fourth year with no sign for settlement of the conflict. The uprising in Syria began on March 11, 2011 as a sequel to the "Arab Spring", sweeping across the Middle East and the North African (MENA) region against the regime of president Bashar al-Assad. The long running crisis so far has taken more than 1,40,000 lives and displaced nearly nine million people. Despite the colossal damages, the contending parties are showing no signs of looking at other options than the war, as efforts have only floundered with the government and the rebels accusing each other for the failure of talks.
The failure of the second international peace conference in Geneva recently caused frustration and anger among all concerned quarters and consequently, the war seems to be getting further intensified. Even though the government and the rebels sought to put up a brave face following the week- long talks with both sticking to their respective positions, UN peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said the 'inconclusive discussions have made no progress, but everything is not lost.' The delegation of president Assad ruled out any major concessions to the rebels in future while the other side boasted that it was its victory that the regime had been forced to the negotiating table.
The warring sides of the Syrian conflict finally met in Geneva after United Nations peace envoy averted a collapse in the crucial talks when the two sides refused to meet in the same room and preferred to talk through mediators. The rebels wanted a commitment from the powers who mediated the peace talks that president Assad agree to a transition government in Syria and step down to facilitate the process of reconciliation. Not surprisingly, the regime considered such attitude as unacceptable and a deadlock persisted over the start of the crucial talks. Fortunately, the perilous situation was salvaged, thanks to the efforts of UN peace envoy Lakdhar Brahmi, who made great efforts in convincing both sides for adopting conciliatory approach for larger interests.
The rebels fighting the regime of president Assad are hell- bent on the their demand that he quit power, but the Damascus government is equally adamant not to give in  as it feels that the regime is firmly secure on the saddle. It is in this diametrically opposing situation that the "Geneva -1" talks took place earlier without any progress and now the "Geneva-2" talks ended amidst a growing necessity of a breakthrough in the conflict.
 Major global powers taking sides with the parties in Syria are involved in the peace talks with the United States supporting the rebels and Russia, most ardent backer of the regime, are spearheading the mediation in the talks. But Washington and Moscow are also now accusing each other for failure of the discussions.
 Russia and the US reached a landmark accord on the elimination of the chemical weapons of Syria several months ago when an American military assault on Syria looked inevitable. Washington felt that the Assad regime must be "punished" for alleged use of chemical weapons in the conflict - an allegation the regime denied.
As the "Geneva-2" peace conference on Syria ended, the government of Assad looked confident in remaining power and said it took part in the talks because it wanted peace. Information minister Omran al-Zohbi said that no major concessions would be given to the rebels as Syrian government made no concession to Israel in the last 25 years and also none to several nations like Turkey, Saudi  Arabia, Qatar and Jordan in recent times.
The US is reportedly also now thinking of supplying arms to the rebels and this is an indication that the war could be more prolonged and complicated. Another report said Saudi Arabia, a major financer of the rebels, is exploring possibilities of purchasing arms from Pakistan for the rebels and Pakistan's chief of army staff Gen. Raheel Sharif has recently been to the kingdom when discussions took place on this issue. But, Islamabad has denied such reports.
Meanwhile, prospects of fresh round of talks on the Syrian conflict look bleak as the US and Russia are now bitterly engaged in the Ukraine crisis where Moscow is directly involved while the US and its allies  have thrown their entire weight behind the pro-West new government in Kiev. This means that now they would have little time to think of the Syrian war which looks certain to continue taking more blood and causing larger destruction.
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