Source: CGTN    Published: 2018-8-30

The Syrian civil war has been going on for almost 8 years with about half a million people losing their lives, one million suffering injuries and 12 million left homeless.

Now the major battles may be coming to a close but it doesn't make it any easier for the refugees who have run away from home in the last couple of years.

Rebuilding the nation is going to be an arduous task.

It's reported on Monday that Iran and Syria signed a deal for military cooperation after a meeting in Damascus, aiming to strengthen their relationship.

Meir Javendanfar, a Middle East analyst, cited the very importance of the timing for the accord, as both Russia and the US, two of the major powers intend, to take Iran's forces out of Syria.

Javendanfar also pointed out that Israel now is looking forward to the absence of Iranian forces in Syria instead of a leadership change.

“In Israel, the initial hope of a leadership change basically no longer exists. Israel is willing to live with Assad already.

“But the problem is the presence of Iranian forces on Syrian territory.”

Responding to the opinion above, columnist Ghanbar Naderi who is working with Kayhan International, recalled how Iran got involved in the very beginning and also clarified its willingness to pull out from Syria.

“We (Iranians) didn’t go to Syria on our own terms. We were asked to help Syria," he said.

“We helped the Syrian government in cooperation with Russia to flush out foreign-backed groups Al Qaeda and ISIS from this war-torn country when the whole international community turned its back on the people of Syria.”  

According to Naderi, the Syrian people will return home by all means once they receive the order from its government asking them to do so as the government intends to spend the money on its own economy.

Speaking in Chinese perspective, former Chinese ambassador to Iran, Hua Liming said China could help Syria to rebuild the country after the devastating warfare due to its rich experience of construction. But the heavy lifting cannot be done by China alone.

“No single country can afford such a big amount for rebuilding and reconstruction.”

Adding to that, Hua elaborated China’s principle on this long-lasting civil war.

At the end of the discussion, the current affairs commentator Einar Tangen said it was very reckless to start all this at the first place. Regardless of which power gets involved and how strong it is, the outcome and its process are far beyond the control of any player of this brutal game.

After defeating the major terror groups and foreign-backed forces, this is no doubt that rebuilding the devastated nation is yet another tough battle.

Hua Liming is a senior fellow of Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China.