Colombiahas made important gainsingrowth, security, and economicstability. Those achievementshave reducedpoverty and improvedquality of life, notes thePartnershipStrategy.
While this might appear to mark a setback for Syria, it hasmade some important compensatory gains in its relations with the US, Europe and Saudi Arabia, and it is debatable whether Syria's security interests would necessarily have been served by a result enhancing the position of Hizbullah, the Iranian-backed Shia political and military movement that was the driving force of the March 8th opposition bloc.