Syria’s civil war: The most brutal of them all | The Economist

ANTONIO GUTERRES is a man of experience. A former prime minister of Portugal, he has run the UN’s High Commission for Refugees since 2005, dealing with crises from Afghanistan to Congo and Iraq. But of all the humanitarian catastrophes he has witnessed, nothing has proven as appalling or as dangerous as what is happening in Syria.

“This is the most brutal, even with very brutal conflicts elsewhere,” Mr Guterres has said. “If one looks at the impact on the population, or the percentage of the total population in need, I have no doubt that since the end of the Cold War it is the worst,” he told the Guardian, a British newspaper. “And it will become even worse still if there is no solution. My belief is that if we take all of these elements, then this is the most dramatic humanitarian crisis that we have ever faced. Then if we look at the geopolitical implications, I have no doubt that this is the most serious that we have ever dealt with.”.........

FULL ARTICLE: Syria’s civil war: The most brutal of them all | The Economist