A book that is fundamental to understand the deep reasons of the syrian drama and the many international interests behind the war. In the first part of the book the author retraces the long period of Ottoman rule of the Syrian territory, the political independence process that started between ‘800 and’ 900 and the role of the Syrian-Lebanese region in the Arabic cultural renaissance during modern times. He paints a political fresco describing in detail an history of turmoils and reconstructions. Until the last dramatic ten years. In the second part of the book, in fact, Paolo Sensini reveals the international interests of the US, Europe, Turkey, Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Israel in the war, in addition to the latest presence of IS. The result is a colonial context of extreme violence.