No, thank you. I’m not going to quote someone who has whitewashed terrorism in Syria. The Syrian state has endured years of sanctions and been deprived of its energy resources until it was ultimately brought to its knees. Now that the sanctions have been lifted and agreements have been signed with other countries for reconstruction, they are still unable to improve the country’s economic situation. The regional situation undoubtedly plays a role, but there’s no point in using that as an excuse when the new (and not-so-new) economic and political elite continues to enrich itself at the expense of the people, perpetuating the previous system of corruption. Even under those circumstances, the Syrian state was capable of providing basic public services.