If we take a step back to look at the Middle East since the start of the Arab Spring, we can see how the Syrian conflict has crushed every hope of any positive change. The violence in Syria has intoxicated the spirit of its people. The longer the conflict endures, the more savage it becomes.
The aggression has taken so many forms of cruelty. The latest wave of savagery has been in the form of “selfies” with corpses in the background. These images were captured proudly, or should we say shamefully, by different sides of the conflict.
It all started when a pro-Assad journalist snapped a picture of herself against a gruesome background of dead bodies.
The response from the opposition was swift. An activist published another inhumane picture with corpses behind him titled: “a gift” to the Syrian regime's reporter.
Kurdish militants decided to make their own show, too. They put the dead bodies of some of their opponents on the back of a lorry and paraded them around the town of Efrin in northern Syria.
A video has also appeared allegedly showing militants carrying out a bloody campaign in the small Alawite village of Al Zara.
One image shows a man standing in a room full of slaughtered women and children. These actions are only a few examples of how deviant the Syrian conflict has become. It all reflects an enormous level of dehumanisation, sick propaganda and intimidation.
Sadly, this inhumane behaviour will never be met with any condemnation inside the country. No one could possibly hear the cries when the sound of mortar bombs is loud and clear. The fabric of society is deteriorating with every passing day.
Some voices from each side of the divide are unrepentant about the use of brutality towards civilians. The excuse that’s often used is that one side had initiated the violence and the other is only retaliating. According to law, a crime cannot be justified. Crime is crime. Committing crimes as major as the ones we’re witnessing in Syria must not be left unaccountable.
The UN must warn those in Syria that what they are doing is a crime against humanity and will have serious consequences.
The incomprehensible scale of death and horror can only deliver more death in the future.
There is no hope of it ending when there has not been any serious red lines drawn by the international community.
The efforts to keep things under control have been disappointing.
It is hard to imagine that Syria can overcome this nightmare easily, unless there is a major commitment from all sides to bring an end to the conflict.
We have seen examples of this kind of conflict before. Lebanon’s long civil war and the horrific Bosnian war were recent enough for us to remember the horrible outcome of these conflicts and the sustained efforts to find a just peace.
The Syrian conflict raises the real possibility of having the violence travelling outside its borders and spilling into the whole region.
More worrisome is the prospect of some terrorist groups festering inside Syria.
These groups could attract new supporters by making false promises. Sinai and Libya already offer powerful examples of this.
The course this conflict is taking can only make us expect an ugly future for the entire region.
Syria has become the central arena for aggression, settling accounts, inhumanity and a proxy war that could reshape the region and even affect the whole world.
Unless, of course, the international community takes responsibility to put an end to this tragic war.
I recall these words every time I think of the miserable situation in Syria: "Evil prospers when good men fail to act."
What they ought to say is, "Evil prospers."
Omar Al Muqdad is a Syrian activist and investigative journalist now living in Washington, DC