On our radar Syria’s decade of devastation Next week marks 10 years since demonstrations against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad were met with force, and an uprising that was part of the so-called “Arab Spring” spiralled into a long and brutal war. It is a conflict that has been marked, at different stages, by sieges, starvation, bombing, street fighting, chemical attacks, the destruction of hospitals, the manipulation of much-needed humanitarian aid. Diplomacy has largely failed, entire cities and towns have been destroyed, and more than 12 million people have been forced to flee their homes, either becoming refugees or displaced people in their own country. Nobody knows exactly how many people have killed, although most agree that the number long ago surpassed 470,000. That doesn’t include lives lost to disease, hunger, or the children who have frozen to death in their tents. Pretty much every aid and advocacy group has a new report or statement about this “anniversary” (we’ll have something for you to read next week too), but to be honest, we’re not sure it’s possible to sum up what this level of suffering feels like for the civilians who have had no choice but to try and endure it.