Sadly the mounting death and destruction in Syria has long since become mere statistics.
The international community has grown numb to the horror, the likes of which we haven’t seen since the Second World War.
According to World Vision International, “millions of children under five are now more vulnerable than ever to physical trauma, injuries, communicable diseases and malnutrition”.
At least 8.2 million children inside Syria and across the region are now experiencing displacement, shattered health systems and food insecurity, while more than 2m are refugees.
Nearly 3m under five have grown up knowing only war. One in four children is at risk of severe mental health disorders, with potentially lifelong consequences.
Attacks on hospitals have left 43 per cent of Syrian hospitals dysfunctional, while half of Syria’s doctors have fled the country.
As many as 80,000 children in Syria are believed to be infected with polio, which was eradicated in Syria in 1995.
During the five-year span of the conflict, life expectancy at birth dropped by 15 years and tens of thousands of children were killed.
Children have also been deprived of basic education, with one in every four schools damaged, destroyed or used for displaced people.
There were 400,000 more children out of school in 2015 than 2014, as more than 4,000 attacks against schools made educational institutions financially insolvent.
This is a catastrophe in the making.
Two generations have been lost, but no-one is talking about a solution that could end this calamitous war.
The United Nations Security Council has been inept at best.
Russia’s veto-wielding power continues to prevent the passage of any solution that does not meet its requirements.
President Putin will continue to support Assad and spare no effort to maintain Russia’s presence in Syria as a springboard to enhance its regional influence.
Iran, which is fighting for regional hegemony, will continue to support Assad’s regime until the last Syrian soldier.
The mullahs claim “moral authority” to ravage the country for as long as it takes to secure their hegemonic ambitions from the Mediterranean to the Gulf.
Turkey’s President Erdogan is fighting to secure a foothold in Syria – bombing Syrian Kurdish fortifications amid accusations they support the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) in Turkey.
While Obama allowed Russia and Iran to pillage the country, President Trump has yet to lift a finger other than ineffectively bombing a Syrian airfield in response to Assad’s use of chemical weapons. Trump has shamefully stopped the training of anti-Assad rebels, rendering them vulnerable to attacks by Syrian, Russian and Iranian forces.
Meanwhile, Assad rampages the country only to stay in power. No despot in recent years has inflicted so much devastation, desolation and despair on his own people.
Nearly 500,000 Syrians have been killed since the beginning of the civil war in 2011.
An estimated 13.5m people, including over 6m children, are in need of humanitarian assistance and protection; 6.3m people are internally displaced and nearly 5m Syrians have fled the country and become refugees.
The cost of the conflict to date is estimated at $275 billion and there is no end in sight.
The UN has requested a record $8bn in aid this year for Syria, but 65pc of Unicef’s appeal is underfunded – even as the five permanent members of the UN Security Council spend more than $1 trillion collectively on the military.
People of conscience, regardless of their country or religious, cultural and ideological orientation, must make their voices heard.
They must speak up for the voiceless Syrian people condemned to dispersion, destruction and death – a sad testament to the international community’s moral bankruptcy.
Dr Alon Ben-Meir is a professor of international relations at the Centre for Global Affairs at NYU. He teaches courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies.