At the height of the civil war, Syrians fled heavy bombardment to save their lives, but now most of those who stayed back are determined to escape a life of penury. Most recently, Syrians were among the migrants flocking to the borders of the European Union via Belarus. That crisis was orchestrated by Russia, the Syrian government, and their Belarusian ally, but the desire of Syrians to flee the shattered economy at home was a given.
Syrians’ desperation has not subsided even though the armed conflict has. The crisis rang alarm bells in European capitals but also exposed the failings of Western policy. The international community cannot wash its hands of the Syrian problem by simply imposing sanctions. It must think more pragmatically and find a way to leverage sanctions to improve the lives of the Syrian people, rather than just keep them in place to say it has done something to punish Bashar al-Assad for his many alleged war crimes.