Ahmed Al-Jarallah – Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times

AFTER six years of war in Syria, negotiations continue to wobble while killings and destruction are worsening. The first meeting concerning the Syrian crisis was held in Geneva, which was followed by the second, third and fourth.However, none of these meetings managed to reach any tangible agreement. Eventually, the negotiations were relocated to Astana, where the first and the second meetings failed to produce any significant results. The third Astana meeting is soon to be cancelled. The Syrians outside their country have no idea what this new Astana meeting could bring to them, especially since major countries are gathering their soldiers on the Syrian land.It is like hundreds of militias and factions from almost every corner of the world were not sufficient for achieving the objective. Hence, Iran, Russia, USA, Poland and Turkey came with full representation to aggravate the ongoing misery of displacement, killings and destruction. Amid all of that, no one paid any concern to the Syrian immigrants who are widely spread in various parts of the world, sleeping on grounds and looking at the skies, while at the same time, they are being harassed by European border security forces. Then there are those in Lebanon and Jordan where they are living in tents that are totally unsuitable for living in.The number of Syrian refugees has reached 12 million. They have started raising their voices in demand for their return to their homes, which have been reduced to rubbles, or to tents that are on their land. This was the response received during an opinion poll conducted by Al-Arabia satellite TV channel. The response of 56 percent of the Syrian refugees was that they wanted to return home.This in itself is an honest answer representing millions of displaced Syrians who are stuck between the dungeons of negotiations that are sponsored by countries in accordance to their interests and not the interests of the Syrian people.A question that begs to be asked is — Isn’t it better for the countries, which are gathering their armies and spending billions, to save that money and souls, and instead work on helping the displaced Syrians return to their country? By doing so, wouldn’t it be of more benefit for these countries because they will be pushing the wheel of economy forward through their participation in the rebuilding process? After six years of war, not a single party involved has achieved any of its objectives.The factions which revolted have not toppled the regime or even agreed on an alternative which will receive the Syrian consensus or at least get the support of a majority. Instead, the war helped in the establishment of terrorist groups such as DAESH, Nusra Front and Hezbollah, which have committed crimes against humanity in different ways.They openly declared that they are striving to topple all the regimes in the region and establish their own state. It reached the stage where their crimes were extended to the Western countries and they managed to pull about 60 countries into the war. From the beginning, we have been insisting that the solution is for the 12 million Syrian refugees to return to their homes. They are the only ones to decide on the type of regime they want after rebuilding the country. If the war continues, its scope is bound to expand and its fire will burn other nations.In fact, the gathering of military forces of Russia, Iran, USA and Turkey threatens the expansion of the crisis into becoming a world war. Is this what the major countries want? By Ahmed Al-Jarallah Editor-in-Chief, the Arab TimesEmail: [email protected] or [email protected]