The Syrian civil war decimated the country. It killed over 600,000 people and displaced more than half the population, with 7 million displaced internally and more than 6 million fleeing into Turkey and Europe.

Syrian President Bashar Assad’s exit resolves one problem. With the conflict frozen, the United Nations and international community had begun discussing Syria’s reconstruction. The problem was that U.N. agencies coordinate with the government in power, and that meant Assad. To channel billions of dollars through Damascus and Assad’s corrupt regime would essentially reward Assad for mass murder. Now, with Assad gone, he can no longer profit from his destruction.