500,000 killed. 1.6 million internally displaced. Millions starving, cold, poverty- and war-stricken. The Syrian-American Council and Americans for a Free Syria are pushing for the end to the war. I don’t know how the US can provide stability to the region, or if US intervention will lead to another Iraqi situation, where there is barely a government to speak of, and people are just as badly off before Hussein’s toppling. Maybe a Syria free of Assad would be best, maybe it wouldn’t.

But, the organizations above are calling for a “remembrance to the ten years of hope, loss, and bravery that have characterized the Syrian Revolution.”

They also are reiterating guiding principles to a free and safe and stable Syria:

• Political independence
  • Constitutional declaration
  • Fully-fledged transitional governing body based on the Geneva Communique 1 (2013) and on UN Security Council Resolution 2254
  • Foundational conference
  • Constitution
  • Elections 
• Achieving Transitional Justice
• Security Independence,
  • Removing all foreign powers and militias 
  • Rebuilding the foundations of military and security institutions 
  • Peacekeeping forces that respect human rights
  • A military under civilian authority 
• Economic Independence,
  • Linking economic recovery measures to a real political transition 
    • Lifting international economic sanctions on Syria as soon as the transitional governing body is established. 
    • Releasing the frozen assets of the Syrian state around the world and assistance in returning looted Syrian assets deposited abroad and placing these assets under the management of a transitional national government.  
  • Tying reconstruction to the creation of the first national transitional government.  
• and the voluntary, safe, and dignified return of refugees.

Read more here.