Was the Arab Spring Worth It?

The people of the Middle East have paid a steep price to overthrow their dictators.

BY HUSSEIN IBISH | JULY/AUGUST 2012

SYRIA

2011 rank: 48 | 2012: 23

Deaths: The most recent U.N. estimate of civilian deaths in the Syrian uprising, from late March, is more than 9,000. By now that number has likely exceeded 10,000. Opposition groups cite figures closer to 15,000.

Refugees: In May, the U.N. estimated that half a million Syrians had fled their homes during the fighting and that 73,000 had become refugees in neighboring Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey.

Economic costs: Syria's currency is in free-fall, inflation is soaring, and exports collapsing. The consultancy Geopolicity estimates that the country had lost more than $6 billion in GDP as of October 2011.

 

Hussein Ibish is senior fellow at the American Task Force on Palestine.