Last April, Syria was embracing new wave of Arab awakening. A young Syrian friend shared with me his worries for the future after he completed his education in the European university. December seemed quite distant. He feared being arrested at the airport for working against the regime.

I laughed and told him gently, “You may come sooner to celebrate the regime’s ouster.”

Come second half of December, neither my friend could return to Syria nor did Bashar’s regime collapse under public and international pressure.

Syrian citizens had a bloodbath with none coming to the rescue, albeit crispy soundbites from Turkey as well as the Arab league. Shocked and awe-struck people braved their way to the street at least on each Friday as women and children saw the country being attacked by an army raised, trained and equipped by their hardearned money.

Sanctions are no good against trigger-happy, stubbon dictators. The Arab League and the European Union curbs had no bearing on Bashar Al-Assad’s actions. My fellow Syrians are increasingly suspicious of the world’s conscience.

While my friend awaits an uncertain career ahead, countless come to clog my mind. When would this stop? Will Bashar step down? Would we be killed before seeing a new democratic country? Why would the world keep watching us senselessly? Is Syria blood so cheap?

Its anybody’s guess that post-Assad Syria would be democratic and peaceful or for that matter any better than what we have suffered through many decades. Some suspect that Syria has become a playground of various international and regional players, thus discrediting those laying their lives or sacrificing their time and money.

Six months ago, a writer predicated that the world would wake up when Syria becomes another Prishtina. I did not buy his pessimism but now his bitter prediction seems turning into a reality.

While media tirelessly struggles to dig out news despite a strict information blackout, many foriegn journalists I speak to find the world conscience in slumber, perhaps waiting for the cries of a Kosova-like masscare.

How timid is it to rely on an organisation called Arab League. The spring shouuld have started from there instead of the bloc having the audacity to mange the public awakening. Any given protestor in a Syrian street would tell you that the Arab League is a ghost from the past.

Where do we go from here then? Some will say that the sitauion in Syria is more complicated and different than the other countries of Middle East and North Africa. I believe that the world made Syria look so complicated, owing to its lack of political will.

Why does Syria look so different from the other countries? Is it because of Bashar’s Lebanon, HezboAllah and Iran cards? Well, Mobarak was supported by US and Israel. Besides the west, bin Ali even had Saudi backing. The Arab states rant that Iran is the problem makes the obstacle look stronger than realtiy.

On Friday, the Human Rights Watch demanded of the UN Security Council to refer the Syria situation to the International Criminal Court (ICC) following over killing of over 5,000 people and and countless injured and missing. The report names commanders and officials from the Syrian military and intelligence agencies who allegedly ordered, authorized, or condoned widespread killings, torture, and unlawful arrests during the 2011 anti-government protests.

At the same time, some Syrians protestors bombed one of the army tanks that killed one soldier, thus a Syrian killing another. The situation highlights the dilemma of a common Syria who wants to remain peaceful and protect his famiıly at the same time. When every youth, child, women and business is threatened, instinct of self-defence is automicatlly invoked. Reason and rationality are lost in search for a secure and dignified living.

Regardless of the fact that we oppose foreign intervations, it appears as the only choice. The regime will crumble as soon as its positıons are targeted in Syria. As long as the buffer zone is imposed that seems coming after US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta’s visit to Turkey on Thrusday, the Assads would start to lose confidence and command.

The Gaddafi story predicts Bashar’s fate. However, its anybody’s guess as to how many Syrians will lay their lives furthermore, and to what extent the regime can go to preserve itself. The moment of truth has arrived for us all, the Syrian people, its tyrant regime and the mighty and the powerful world powers.

Until then, my expatriate friends should knock the doors of their European and Arab hosts instead of ending up in Syrian jails.

Aloosh Devrim is a social media activist whose family struggled against Hafiz Al-Assad's rule and policies.

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