I feel guilty for not wrestling more with the literal, actual human cost of this ordeal. It’s so easy to philosophize and intellectualize war from a policy standpoint while not grappling with the lives actually lost and wasted, and those traumatized for years to come...I remember watching a Food Network special take place in Damascus years back - it looked like such an intriguing and colorful place with an ancient spirit. Very hospitable people.
Prior to Turkish invasion of N. Syria, the Rojava region was poor, but the people lived Spartan but quiet lives. First the Jihadi’s came and then ISIS, the Kurds and their neighbors had to adapt to survive. They did this with little or no help from Assad. (A time that I once called “Beyond Damascus”. You're on your own.)
There are still kind people and good neighbors in much of Northern Syria, but the war has changed that too.
Turkey is a source of great evil there. I hear rumors that the US has become very weary of his nonsense.
Syria will never be “the same”. It will get better or get worse. The US presence there is a positive thing for the stability. Israel needs this worked out. The anti-ISIS coalition is the basis for the new equilibrium. Iran and Turkey are the destabilizes.