The United Nations is now considering a possible multi-national peacekeeping force for Syria in the event the Bashar al-Assad regime falls.  That goes beyond the limited, humanitarian role the world body had earlier been counting on playing in Syria’s near future.

Every day the civil war grinds on, there’s a patch of territory falling to the rebels.  The Assad regime is slowly losing control of its own supply lines and with them, the country.  Rebels already control much of Syria’s Oil-Producing east.  In the halls of the UN, they’re waiting for a decisive event to topple the Assad regime.

Therefore, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has reportedly tasked his own deputy Jan Eliasson with a major project involving hundreds of United Nations staffers called “Syria: The Day After”.  They’re already trying to pull together the resources for an effective peacekeeping mission, but there are many roadblocks.

The United States and NATO are wrapping up costly occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan and have no appetite for another Middle Eastern adventure.  That leaves the UN; The International Red Cross and Red Crescent; and Syria’s neighbors.

Turkey might be called upon to send troops south of its border, but Ankara will demand independence in action and support from its NATO allies.

Israel does not want to go into Syria at all, but likely will go past the Golan Heights if its borders are threatened.

The UN already has missions in Lebanon and the Golan Heights.  Equipment and resources are being pre-positioned in those areas to quickly respond to any regime collapse in Syria.