I am writing to you today as a student at the College of William and Mary. I am in an International Security class and recently we studied the events occurring in Syria. As you are well aware, the situation in Syria has been dramatically deteriorating in recent months with the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the recent entrance of Russia into the conflict. Syria, meanwhile, has been in the midst of a ravaging civil war since the early spring of 2011. Currently, the government of Syria is led by President Bashar al-Assad, a member of the Syrian Ba’ath Party, a branch of the same Ba’ath Party that Saddam Hussein was also a member of. This similarity may lead some to think that Syria will end up like Iraq, with a …show more content…
This led to various sectarian strifes among the countries in the Middle East. Since Russia started bombing, they have mostly targeted anti-Assad rebels, rather than ISIL which they stated they were bombing. I propose to include Russia in the current coalition, led by the United States, which also include Australia, Bahrain, Canada, France, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom. There will have to be negotiations in order to get Russia to cooperate so they do not go rogue and bomb targets that are supported by the West and other countries in the coalition. By having Russia in the coalition and working with the United States, there will be a greater oversight of their operations and more transparency among the nations. This will help with making strategic attacks so ISIL can be degraded and destroyed and also so the Assad regime will finally relinquish power to a democratic government. There also must be targeted strikes upon ISIL’s main sources of income: oil reserves. Although this may harm potential future capabilities of Syria or Iraq to drill for oil, it will severely disrupt the income of ISIL so that they will not be able to buy the resources necessary to fight against the governments and to maintain the territory which it has already conquered. Next, in order to quell
Syria’s civil war is the worst humanitarian crisis of modern time. The “Syrian Civil war Began in March of 2011, between rebel brigades and government force; economy and infrastructure is destroyed” (Library, 2016). “Divisions between secular and religious fighters, and between ethnic groups, continue to complicate the politics of the conflict” (Corps, 2016). Additionally, the Syrian civil war has taken a significant
Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has been in charge since 2000, following on from his late father who ruled for 30 years. Commencing in March of 2011, an anti-regime uprising has since escalated into Civil War where it has been estimated that more than 400,000 have been killed (CNN, 2017). Just this death toll alone proves the danger and inhumane conditions the people of Syria have been living in for over six years. Controlling large areas of Northern and Eastern Syria, Islamic State (IS) have been left battling government forces, rebel brigades and air strikes from
Syria is engulfed in a civil war and a refugee crisis that now threatens the West. After fifteen years of wars in the Middle East, after trillions of dollars spent and thousands of lives lost, the situation is worse than it has ever been before.
Syria is currently all over the news regarding what many have to come to see as a civil war. A term like civil war needs to identify the players and the reasons for the war. In this case the players are being identified as pro government or antigovernment with a Sunni or Shia overtone. Sunni and Shia are the two major sects of Islam and both have a historical based conflict going back to the death of the Prophet Muhammad and how Muslims should be governed. This conflict has caused tensions and violence to flare up throughout Islamic history. This conflict has carried into modern times and has becoming a rallying point for Muslim people calling for change with their government and across the Middle Eastern region. The
In Syria we see massive civilian displacement and casualties due to fighting. The specific symptoms are armed conflict, air strikes, and purported chemical weapon usage. In following step two and collecting data we have verified proof that the problem exists via independent and state sponsored journalists reporting to all major news syndicates worldwide. The beginnings of the conflict formed over many years of pro-democracy civilians being suppressed in lieu of an authoritarian government. The beginning of the actual anti-regime uprising started in March of 2011 following the arrests of teens and children for political graffiti (Syrian Civil War Fast Facts, 2015). This lead to mass demonstrations in the country's capital and surrounding cities, and let to Syrian police and military forces beating and even killing protesters. This led to the formation to militias forming which split the country into the military and security forces of the Syrian state and militant rebels attempting to overthrow the government. The impact of the problem is that Syria has spiraled into a constant state of chaos throughout the country, resulting in almost complete devastation of all the country's main cities, as well as, constant war and the death of many innocent people and
The civil war that continues to rage in Syria for the past five years has been one of both great loss and great interest. Several key actors from around the world such as the United States, Russia, Turkey, the Syrian government, Syrian rebels or National Coalition, Iran, and Saudi Arabia all have a great amount at stake based on the outcome of the war. Thus, the difficulties of negotiating peace are almost impossible to overcome, which causes great powers like that of the U.S. and Russia to use their resources in order to obtain their desired outcome. In this essay, I will be outlining the key actors, which side they are on, and what is at stake for each of them within this civil war, as well as examining how this turmoil has “[created] a haven for the Islamic State to move in.” Now let us identify the key actors who have a stake in this civil war.
Another specific conflict area that this paper will examine is Syria. The area, today known as Syria, is in a unique location which has made it subject to many empires, including the Roman and Ottoman. Since the area has been at the center of history for thousands of years it is home to a diverse ethnic and religious culture. Currently the country is home to “Kurds, Armenians, Assyrians, Christians, Druze, Alawite Shia and Arab Sunnis, the last of who make up a majority of the Muslim population,” (BBC). Prior to World War I, the area was under control of the Ottoman Empire, after the war the empire was broken up and France took control of the area. In 1946, France granted Syria independence, and the country has been dealing with political instability ever since. From 1958-1961, Syria joined up with Egypt to create the United Arab Republic. The following years brought about a succession of upheavals within the government. In the 1960’s the Arab-nationalist group, Baath, took over power, and in 1970 one of their leaders, Hafiz al-ASAD, took control, which brought about political stability. In 1967 there was a war taking place between Israel and Syria, which resulted in Israel occupying a southwestern region of the country. In 1970, Syria’s neighbor of Lebanon broke out into civil war and Syria extended their military power into that country. The Baath government has been known to be a strong authoritative power and has powerful anti-western policies in place that
Moreover, nothing really secures a stable post-war situation in Syria. Even if the regime falls apart and Assad leaves, a national chaos will most likely dominate in Syria, because the Syrian people themselves don’t know yet what is best to come next, or what kind of regime should rule their country. Some are afraid that the extremist pro-Al Qaeda jihadist group might take over and make things worse with an Islamic state in Syria, which also threatens the rest of neighboring countries and messes with the balance of powers in the Middle East region.
"I shall try my very best to lead our country towards a future that fulfills the hopes and legitimate ambitions of our people," (Bashar al-Assad). By doing so, the Syrian president has evoked more violence than good. In Aleppo, (a major city of Syria) the terrain has quite literally been reduced to rubble as result from the civil war. Taking over this city was the last major hope for the rebels, but overtime the regime has taken over. Barrel bombs have been dropped throughout Syria resulting in great devastation. It has been estimated that over 6,000 barrel bombs have been dropped throughout the war, with their use escalating. Aleppo is just one out of the many cities that Bashar has been waging a war in. Even through Assad has been promising geographic reform, it has been shown that he has brought his people the opposite with the collapse
The Syrian Civil War continues to be a major issue in the world today. Though it began as an issue over the resignation of President Bashar Al Assad against the government and Syrians, the war has greatly escalated. It currently involves over 50 different groups, all supporting either the government or the Syrian people, but possessing a slightly different goal. All of this violence poses a threat to individual nations all through the world, focusing on the immigration of refugees into such nations and the impact of such a movement upon that nation. Furthermore, all of this violence has violated the human rights of millions of people, with rape , torture, and harsh execution style killings occurring on a daily basis. Millions of people caught
The Agency wishes to provide a summary of the current an ongoing situation with the rapid deterioration of Syria’s Civil War, which now includes multi-international coalitions supporting both sides of the civil war. This civil war also includes the spread and growth of ISIS aka ISIL aka Daesh’s influence across the globe and its continued spread of terror against all that oppose it. This briefing is designed to prepare the office of the Executive Chief to make well educated and decisive decisions for potential issues that will present themselves in coming days and over the next several years within the region.
Syria has been the epicenter of wars and prosperity for many decades. Whether it’s the Syrian-Franco war that gave their independence, or the flood of Universities that entered in the 1950’s; it’s always been a mixed bag with Syria. Many people will look at the destabilize modern Syria and wonder “How did it get to this point?”, well in reality it was not one event rather a concurrency of events that all led up to Syria’s likely demise.
Today the international committee and other nations around the world argue whether or not President Bashar-Assad of Syria ought to step down from his position as leader of the Syrian people.it’s not too late to save Syria from falling apart.
After reading the news this entire semester, there is a series of horrific events that have stood out for the shear amount of violence and bloodshed that has occurred thus far. This being the war in Syria that has taken over 500,000 lives thus far, this estimate including the deaths of civilians, fighters on all sides, and those that have lost their lives as a result of fleeing the conflict. In more recent news, Eastern Ghouta in Syria has received the blunt of the conflict as a result of anti-government and terrorist groups stationing themselves in the area. Although Russia has ordered a five hour ceasefire five that occurs every day , this has done little to stem the violence as Syrian civilians have feared leaving their homes to risk fleeing
Syria, a state located also in western Asia, in a region famously known as Middle East. Geographically, its’ location is bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Lebanon and Turkey. The state is currently in the middle of turmoil, torn between three sides, the Assad Regime, the dictatorial current President of Syria, the Syrian Opposition (Free Syrian Army and Jaysh Al-Islam), and ISIS. There are also Kurdistan armed forces mixed in the civil war, causing even more problem in Syria. To understand the geopolitical condition of Syria, we need to analyze the pre-civil war condition of Syria followed by ISIS infected condition.