With a death toll in the hundred of thousands, and millions displaced, the Syrian civil war has become a violent mark on the world’s history. What started as a peaceful protest has spread over five years, has evolved into a war with a tyrannical government, a clashing rebellion, and terrorism fighting either side. But what is it that really fuels the immense amount of violence? It can be narrowed down to four groups that are obvious. The government and the rebels are the forerunners in violence in the war, sure, but they aren’t the only ones. There are the terrorist groups, with skewed views to support the destruction of people and things around them, and in itself the stark difference of the religions and ethnicities of Syria. Who causes …show more content…
In document B it is stated that “ with a Sunni-dominated opposition facing off against an Alawite heavy regime… Sunnis and Alawites increasingly hold one another collectively responsible for violations real and percieved. This… has given rise to a grim, self-perpetuating cycle of sectarian violence.” In document C it is stated that “ Most of the shabiha are Alawites, and resentment against them run high: many people accuse them of killing thousands of unarmed civilians.” Sunnis being the majority of Syria, shows that in the end having a minority rule a majority leads to nothing good. This violence stretches to before the civil war, but continues to be a constant fuel for the civil war, as tensions between the two ethnic and religious groups never seems to lessen. Whether or not either side is right or wrong is not the point, as long as this conflict continues between the groups and the alawites stay in power, there will always be rebellion, which will always lead to harsh response. Overall, the tension and violence not only provided one of many catalysts for the civil war, but also a fuel source for …show more content…
In document E multiple solid points are brought up on the influence of ISIS on the rebellion : “ ISIS has changed the course of the Syrian war. It has forced the mainstream Syrian opposition to fight on two fronts… ISIS is a group with an international profile and and extremeist view of Islamic rule. And it has shown its readiness to take on any Syrians it doesn’t like opposition or regime supporters. “ This gives us a wild card among the violence, one that causes violence for both sides, which is just like stirring the pot. It weakens the rebellion, causing to fight two things, and will provide fuel until people stop supporting the group, which could be
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
One thing that may be fueling this violence is religion. Religion is a huge part to countries and conflict. In Syria, the background essay states that, “People’s ethnic and religious identity began to play an increasingly important in determining on which side of the conflict they stood.” For instance, most Sunnis do not agree with the Assad regime. Also,
For many ongoing years now, Syria has been in a war with thousands of fleeing refugees, terrorists that could be attacking at any minute, and the constant involvement of other countries that has done more harm than their planned good. I believe that the foreign involvement of countries such as the US and Russia have fueled more of the ongoing violence in Syria.
In the Middle East a lot of conflict has been spreading around the countries that have been getting worse and worse. The groups don’t really like each other at all but they are all striving to stop the government. The reason why they are trying to stop it is because the government has been putting a lot of violence toward the civilians for doing nothing wrong or a specific group of people that made them mad. So is the real question is, “What is fueling the violence”?
The US sponsored research conducted by the Political Instability Task Force identified key factors responsible increasing the political instability of states. These factors include: bad neighborhood, state discrimination and anocratic regimes. ( USAID, 2012 ). These are clear characteristics of Syria.The Syrian constitution for example does not address sexual orientation, the Alawite community ( from which Asad is a member ) dominate the entire government and according to Human Rights Watch, the government detains protesters and subject them to atrocities. Political parties are also harassed. (United States Department of State, 2014). Terrorists prey on domestic political instability to advance international terrorism because unstable states offers them the military and organizational skills. ( Campos & Gassebner, 2009).
Throughout history, our world has constantly been bruised and battered by civil turmoil. Today, the civil war in Syria decimates the country; the Israeli and Palestinian conflict rages on; tens of thousands of people have been killed in South Sudan's ongoing civil war. It is not always easy to isolate what exactly ignites the flames of war, but, whenever possible, finding a workable, calm and satisfying solution to a potential uprising is preferable.
The editors of Britannica Encyclopedia bring up how the Syrian War started due to “protestors demanding an end to authoritarian practices in the Assad Regime that have been in place since 1971 under Hafiz al-Assad, Bashar al-Assad’s father” (“Syrian Civil War,” par. 1). With this want of an end of an era rebel militia groups sprung up over a very short period demanding change in the Syrian government. Militias started small by attacking government meetings and targeting specific Syrian government officials. In a little under a year Syrian militias began a full-fledged war between themselves and the Syrian government. Almost immediately after the Syrian War was declared a war the United Nations jumped in to aid the innocent civilians who were being hurt from the weapons of warfare. Since Syria was already a poor area the war only made it worse and left many homeless and exposed to the fighting in the streets. With over 25,000 dead and 2.5 million in need of food, water and medical supplies the Syrian War crisis has received responses from all over the world… but it’s not enough to bring a sense of safety to the innocent people of Syria (Hilleary pars.
The Syrian Civil War has had a profound effect of all Syrians as well as neighbouring countries and the international community. With more than 11 million homeless Syrians comes consequences beyond what most of the world population has ever experienced or anticipated. Of the displaced, almost 5 million are refugees outside Syria and around 6 million have been displaced inside Syria, with half of all displaced Syrians being children. The main causes of displacement amongst the population is the violence committed by all sides of the war, and which often targets civilians or centres of high civilian activity (such as markets, hospitals, schools, workplaces or high density residential areas). One main group heavily affected by the conflict
The Syrian Civil War is no different. There are two opposing views that feel strongly about what they are fighting for and the war is having a major effect on the country’s infrastructure and rate of development. However, only time will tell if any good will come out of the country’s civil war.
The Syrian war is a multi-problematic situation that started within Syrian borders. The Syrian war began in 2010 with something called the Arab Spring. The Arab Spring is a chain of events where people caused aggressive and non-aggressive situations such as protests which created harm in the Middle East. In 2011 people started a non-aggressive protest because children were being abused after spattering graffiti that stated how they agreed with the Arab Spring. The president during this time was Bashar al- Assad. Assad would torment and imprison the people of Syria who protested. The Syrian People wanted to end Assad’s brutal actions so they created a Free Syrian Army which led to a civil war (i.e. the Syrian war). There are several countries
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
Syrian Sunni rebels have been trained by the U.S. military to attack northern Syria, and turned to U.S airstrikes. This is a semi alliance, and it is loose, so they do not actually work together; they just have a common goal. In this semi alliance, the US provides support, and trains Syrian rebels, to fight the war against northern Syria. This is a different kind of war than WWII. WWII was fought between countries and ended with a clear winner. In this scenario, Part of a country rebels against another part, but with another country aiding the rebels. Nadim Hassan, who is the leader of the 30th division, which is a not as extreme group of rebels, has been captured along with others. Syria became independent in 1946, and very shortly became and unstable nation with a lot of cases of rebellion and other things. In 2011, Syrians became inspired to rebel because of the Arab spring activists in Egypt and Tunisia. The Arab spring is a giant collection of protests, wars, and revolutions around the Middle East that started in December 17, 2010 in Tunisia. The consequences of the Syrian war also differ from the consequences of the nuclear bombs that were dropped and Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The consequences resulting from the war in Syria include the deaths of over 10,000 people, and Syria is currently a nation in crisis. The Islamic religion is split into two branches, which are called Sunni and Shiite. Syria is considered an Islamic country, and the government in Syria is dominated with Shiites. This Sunni versus Shiite conflict is another reason along with the Arab spring for the war in Syria. The Sunnis are rebelling against the Shiite government, and this is similar to a civil war. Civil war is similar to another topic, revolution. Revolution is defined as: “A fundamental change in political organization; especially the overthrow or renunciation of one government or ruler and the substitution of another by the governed.” The main
The original cause of the Syrian civil war was the want for a democratic republic in Syria. Syrians also want their ruler, Bashar Al-Assad, to issue free election and equality reforms. The Kurds living in Syria want equal rights to others in Syria, as they currently have fewer rights than any other group in Syria. The Kurdish people are an ethnic group in the Middle East, spanning parts of Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria; but they have never obtained a permanent homeland. The war was originally a series of peaceful protests, but Assad had the army fire on the protesters in an attempt to keep them in submission. This act led to armed rebel attacks on the government, and the war officially began.
Syrian civil war started in 2011 was the outcome of the opposition against the President Bashar al-Assad regime. The uprising emerged as a response to the Arab spring movement that lead to regime change in Tunisia and subsequently turned into mass unrest rooted into the discontent with long-term dictatorship and poor economic situation in the country (Manfreda, n.d.). The number of Syrian citizens killed in the civil war reached 140000 since March 2011 (SBS 2014). The European Commission (2014, 2) reports approximately 9.3 million civilians “in need for humanitarian assistance”. The scale of armed rebellion between government and opposition that lead to an increasing number of casualties among civilians did not remain unnoticed by the
Syria like many countries before them, such as Libya and Egypt has become the epicenter for change in the region, allowing for other countries to follow in their footsteps. The question that is asked, what are the factors behind the instability in Syria and how does the religious conflict within their region have causal relations to the growing instability and the blending of borders due to refugees and displacement of their citizens? Looking exclusively at Syria serious key factors can be represented sociologically with regards to stratification, religion and power that is held by the elite class, which also makes up the religious minority. While roughly 90% of country is Muslim, 74% are Sunni, that makes up a majority of