One doesn’t really know what Aleppo’s real tragedy is. That it brought an almost closure to a civil war at the expense of hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths. Or that it brought destruction of such great magnitude upon one of the world’s oldest living cities. Or that the entire world is blaming the ‘other’ side. Or that the entire world got involved in Syria, to settle their own scores or to further their expansionist agenda. Or that what is being lamented is a supply of less arms by one side for one side. Or that it sealed the secular democratic zeal of the Arab Spring against a repressive regime. Or that it turned into an extremist, sectarian and ethnic conflict, anything but secular or democratic. Or that it cut the entire region along sectarian lines. Or that millions of people were forced to flee the place they used to call homes. Or that refugees are seen as ‘terrorists’, igniting petty nationalistic feelings within host countries. Or that it obfuscates other tragedies like Israel’s occupation of Arab territories or the deaths in Yemen. Or that this might be the end of the multi-religious, multi-ethnic, multi-sectarian state called Syria. Or that, after all, there is impunity for all kinds of violence inflicted on innocent people. Or that this might not be the end of it all and that there is still more to come.

Read also: Arab Spring to Aleppo