@santiago was what worth the death of 15% of the population? I'm against cohersive force in general but the rest of the people in the south got to live to an old age and die without being starving slaves to the supreme leader ... maybe you should ask them?
To me your question comes down to how much relative freedom people get to enjoy and what sacrifices are ok for that. You can make the same argument with Ukraine, or Burma or the parts of Syria/Irak that were part of ISIS.