The inevitable is about to happen. Well, it is almost certain to happen. Syrians face imminent bombing by Western forces led by the United States. They face more deaths and destruction, ironically, for suffering what many believe is a chemical weapon attack and seeing more than 100,000 of their compatriots perish and a good part of their country devastated in almost two and half years of civil war.

The Middle East has been a tinderbox since ancient times. Initially, the struggle between the mountain people of the north and desert wanderers of the grasslands turned it into a battlefield for the resources. The "Fertile Crescent" of the Levant, with its crops from wheat and barley to flax and pea, fueled conflicts among warring ethnicities and nations. Religious wars kept the blood flowing from Roman times through to the Crusades and the creation of Israel, which unfortunately continues to this day. The 20th century ignited a different kind of conflict, over oil and waterways (the Suez Canal).

Through all this, the Middle East, home to the oldest civilizations from the Sumerian and Egyptian to the Phoenician and Persian, has survived to develop as a fractured land of pain and suffering amid pockets of riches and luxury. But it has also given birth to militancy and terrorism, partly because of the havoc wreaked upon the land by outside forces and the sufferings of their fellow Muslims in other countries and regions.