THE SITUATION IN SYRIA.

The situation in Syria is a mixture of sectarian war and a revolution stemming from the erstwhile Arab Spring; and although, the suffering there of civilians, consisting mainly of children and women, is horrible and reprehensible, it can mean that Assad has lost control of the country and he himself is confused and totally flabbergasted.

He is dubbed the "butcher of Damascus", and that is appropriately so, but he is being pushed and getting support from Iran to continue to encourage the atrocious behavior of the Syrian Security forces under his command, and so if he decides to relent his aggression on his own people, his backers will consider him ungrateful on religious grounds.

Russia and China are also involved. The two have jointly vetoed the resolution at the United Nations Security Council, backed by the United States and its allies, and which also has the approval of the Arab League, requesting Assad to step down. The resultant is still negative, and it can only make the matter to remain open-ended.

International pressure and sanctions are proving worthless, and the crackdown continues, with several people being killed on a daily basis. The U.S. is considering taking another route by sending humanitarian help to Syria, which will be just a good idea, for it will have come too late for the dead and the injured, among whom are little infants and the very old.

The crisis has come before the Senate Armed Services Committee, yesterday, with the Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey recalling that there is no clear view of what is happening in Syria. The U.S. does not have "as clean an understanding of the nature of the opposition," he is reported to say.

Adding that there are too many elements involved, as "All of the players in the region, it seems, have a stake in this,"
(http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/02/14/dempsey-syria-much-different-than-libya-big-players-involved-in-conflict/#ixzz1mRnymcyF).

President Barack Obama is making every effort to take the brunt off the civilian population caught up in the violence, through diplomatic and other means, as U.S. military intervention is not possible as in Libya; at least not at this point.

However, if Syria's case is a Sunni-Shia fight then the rest of the world cannot be safe in any real sense of the word, as such a conflict can escalate beyond the region and further threaten other countries and therefore world peace.

In other words, it is not just the U.S. that has got its work cut out for it to do something to stop the carnage; the U.N. has a more vital role to play for all its members to come to an agreement, sooner than later, to resolve a "deadly issue." that can become global.

Assad may be considered a killer, but he is allegedly having the backing of Iran, whose leaders may be tying up his hands. To free him will not be so easy.