Lingering arm race and peace conference in Syria

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Syrian crisis has been lingering for a long time. The crisis emerged after the Arab Spring spread in the Middle East and the North African nations in early 2011. Egyptian, Tunisian and Libyan autocrat rulers were toppled by mass movements. The Syrian crisis is still continuing and there is no sign of pacifying the crisis shortly. Both the Assad government and the rebels have been having logistics support from the two rival countries, Russia and the USA. It reminds the cold war when both the countries were engaged in ideological war. Syria being a Middle East country is important in geo-political aspects. Russia and China share huge trade volumes with Syria. Russian and Chinese companies are involved in trade and commerce in Syria. On the other hand, the USA wants to establish its hegemony over the Middle East and the Eastern Asia. More than 90 thousand people were killed and millions of people were displaced and took refuge in the neighbouring states since the crisis started in Syria. The crisis took a new twist as Israel, Hezbollah and Iran got involved in favour of both Assad government and the rebels. Israel pounded missiles into Syrian territory while Hezbollah took stance on behalf of Basher-al Assad led government and promised to take retaliation against Israel aggression. The Russian government is ready to give missile and ammunitions to Syrian Assad government and Syria claims to have had the latest s-300 missile consignment. Against this backdrop, the United States and Russia have summoned a peace conference in Geneva between the Assad government and the rebels. The Assad government supported the peace conference whereas the rebels denied it. The USA and Russian government should reach an agreement to diffuse the tension in the Middle East. Md Zonaed Emran Banker