Assad’s downfall would be a chance to come together and heal the wounds of the victims’ families. It was not to be. The regime had left roots too deep and the new rulers failed to learn the lessons of our neighbors.

It seems that the 14-year-long civil war isn’t quite over in Syria. Since Thursday, violent clashes between deposed dictator Bashar Assad’s Alawite loyalists and supporters of the new Sunni regime in the coastal regions have left over 1,