The Origins of the Syrian Civil War

The Origins of the Syrian Civil War

The land of Syria has been fought over for centuries, for example the Persian, Romans, Greeks, and British are just a small portion of the empires that Syria has been apart of. Modern day Syria however has turned into a civil war, set up as a proxy war and filled with terrorist cells which want only to destroy, pillage, and kill innocent civilians. Due to Bashar Al Assad’s attempt to suppress the media, international Involvement, and poverty Syria has become infested in a civil war which seemingly has no end and has been infested with terrorist groups which are just growing in number. With no end in sight the Syrian people have begun to flee the country which has caused a large refugee crisis mainly within Europe and then Middle East.

        Hafez Al Assad and his son Bashar are known for widespread media suppression. This is due to Hafez Al Assad seeing free media as propaganda against his government. When the media was free to release what, they wanted they would scrutinize the Hafez Al Assad’s government at any opportunity, this was due to anti-free speech policy’s and laws being passed. This caused outrage and dozens of arrests because of small amounts of protests in the early Hafez Al Assad regime, he then continued to lead for thirty years with an Iron fist as he had government control as well as military control. When Hafez Al Assad passed away, his son Bashar Al Assad took control with a 97% vote for him for a seven-year term. At the same time Bashar Al Assad become leader of what was called the Ba’ath Party. He promised to bring Syria into the 21st century. When he took control, he had to deal with a terrible Syrian economy, tensions with Turkey, and Israel, a military occupation of Lebanon. Many found him incapable of handling these issues and posted on online forums and messaging services. Then in 2008 a law was passed making all comments on chats to be posted in public. Then again in 2011 many sites were banned such as Facebook, YouTube, twitter, and other online forums. Bashar Al Assad was also accused of taking political prisoners, and sometimes even torturing and kill them. When the Syrian protesters started to write graffiti on walls and buildings, he responded with an iron fist, dozens were arrested and killed. This caused larger protest to take place and military force was used to subdue them. When protesters were being captured, tortured and killed, they started to fight back, ultimately causing a civil war to break out.  

        The civil war in Syria has caused an opportune situation for other countries to fight for their own benefits. Some countries involved are the US, Russia, China, Iran, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, France, Iraq, etc. While some countries are there for legitimate aid, others are there simply to counteract other countries, for example the US involved themselves as soon as Russia began to send economic and military aid to Bashar Al Assad’s regime. In turn the United States sent off the record shipments of military arms, and aid to the Syrian rebels. A religious battle also begun after what was seen as Shia vs Sunni battle between government forces and the rebels. This caused Sunni extremist groups to move into Syria, and to counter that Iran sent in officers and military personnel to help aid Bashar Al Assad. Also, a Shia extremist group known as “Hezbollah” moved into Syria to defend sacred shrines to the Shia religion. This caused Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States such as Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan to send aid to the rebels. The Kurds are also fighting almost all sides in this battle in an attempt to carve out a section of the country for themselves, and due to this the warring factions have all declared the Kurds of Syria rebels. With no end in site most groups are just fighting for small areas of land until a dominant force starts to claim land quickly there is no end in site.