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The Arab Spring And The Middle East

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The Arab Spring has largely affected the politics in the Middle East. While Tunisia is arguably the only country that was able to find some sort of success from the uprisings, most of the other countries were not as lucky. Being such a microcosm, the middle east has become a place for larger players to fight for their interests through the use of proxies. A noteworthy example of this would be the civil war that is occurring in Syria. Pro-democracy protests broke out in the Southern city of Deraa after the arrest of some teenagers who had painted a revolutionary message on school wall (Syria: The Story of the Conflict). When security forces responded to by opening fire on demonstrators, killing many, even more citizens began flooding the …show more content…

Western powers believed this was the result of the Assad government, while the government blamed rebel forces. The threat of U.S military intervention proved successful in pressuring Assad to get rid Syria of its chemical weapon arsenals (Syria: The Story of the Conflict).
As a result of Syria’s civil war, Syria has become a vacuum that has made it possible for a plethora of rebel groups to fight and thrive. The group catching much of the world’s attention recently is ISIS, a Sunni insurgent group that has taken over territory in much of the country and in 2014 has established itself as a caliphate in the Capital of Raqqa. They are most notable for their extreme jihadism that has resulted in the deaths of thousands, including public beheadings and executions. While ISIS does not back the Assad regime, they seem to have come to an agreement where they do not directly attack each other. In fact, ISIS sells oil from the oil fields they have seized in Syria and sells it back to the Assad regime. The Syrian government has also enjoyed the support from other Shia militia groups, most popularly Lebanon 's Shia Islamist Hezbollah party, who has been quintessential on the battlefield against Sunni rebels (Gilsinan).
This proxy war has large world powers aiding in both the government, and the rebel’s favor. Iran and Russia have continued to prop up the Alawite-led government and has been gradually increasing aid as the war rages on. Tehran is believed to be spending

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