After a decade of war, Syria deserves a political solution

The reconstruction process could cost Syria as much as $442 billion, as per the estimates of a report published in September 2020 by the United Nations.

March 15, 2021, marks the 10th anniversary of the Syrian conflict. For 10 years now, the war in Syria has been one of the world’s most complex and protracted crises that cost the lives of more than half-a-million people.

The reconstruction process could cost Syria as much as $442 billion, as per the estimates of a report published in September 2020 by the United Nations. A third of the housing stock in Syria has been destroyed or damaged. Almost 83 per cent of the population lives below the poverty line. More than two-thirds of Syrians have had to leave their homes: 5.6 million are refugees outside the country and 6.5 million are internally displaced.

Most of the country is completely destroyed and some regions were razed to the ground. While the war is almost over, the conflict continues at a low intensity today in some parts of northern Syria and in Idlib. The sleeping cells of Daesh are also a source of concern as they are being active more and more, killing innocent people.

Today after a decade of war, Syria deserves a political solution that will end all the killings and destruction so that people can return to their homes. The country also needs a permanent solution to revive its economy that has been deeply affected by the conflict.

Syria is facing its worst economic crisis since the beginning of the war in 2011, as the price of the pound against the dollar fell on the black market this month to its lowest levels ever, which led to a decrease in the value of salaries and an increase in the cost of imports.

Food prices have more than doubled over the past year, and the World Food Programme warned this month that 60 per cent of Syrians, or 12.4 million people, are at the risk of starvation.