Aside from the obvious human toll of what has happened in Syria, there are two main goals being achieved by the war:
1- The obliteration of the original reformist protest movement which focused on real socioeconomic policies impacting the daily lives of the Syrian people, particularly in opposition to the neoliberal path Assad was taking.
2- The complete devastation of the country’s infrastructure from the ground up. It is estimated that rebuilding Syria will take approximately $250 billion. The reconstruction contracts are already being discussed among many of the same entities who are financing the destruction. The US companies that fund the policy think tanks which guide Obama’s strategy on Syria, are all lined up for highly lucrative deals to remake the country, replace state services with private providers, and enslave the population with national debts that will be impossible to ever pay back. It is a hugely profitable war, costly only for our own people, and the next generations.