Conflict Blogpost: The Syrian Civil War

One of the biggest ongoing conflicts in the world right now is the Syrian Civil War. How did this start? In 2011, due to the arrest and torture of some teenagers who painted revolutionary slogans on a school wall in the Syrian city of Deraa, pro democracy protests sprung up all over the city. This nonviolent conflict was met with violence, which escalated the situation further. This lead to nationwide unrest, protests, and demands for President Assad's resignation, which were also met with force. Eventually, protesters took up arms, and the country descended into civil war. Eventually, more sides got involved in the conflict, such as ISIS, who took advantage of the chaos to try to gain control. Currently, there are multiple rebel groups, who are fighting among themselves. Attempts at deescalation have failed and the war has raged on, causing large amounts of Syria's population to flee the country. Many different foreign actors are also involved in the war, and in a way it has almost become a proxy war. Some of these foreign conflicts involved are Israel vs. Iran, Turkey vs. the Kurds, U.S. vs Turkey, Russia vs U.S., and secularists such as Russia, the U.S., and United Arab Emissaries vs. Islamists such as Turkey, Iran, and Qatar. In  a complex conflict like this, it is often hard to say which sides are "in the right," but Assad's harsh actions as a dictator and ISIS's actions as a terrorist organization lead me to believe that they are both, for lack of a better word, the "bad guys" in the situation, however one could make the argument that Assad's rule would bring stability to the region. In recent times, ISIS has been largely beaten back, but between Assad and the other actors involved, nothing seems decisive. It seems that the war won't be over any time soon. 

Citations:
No Author. “Syria: The Story of the Conflict.” BBC News, BBC, 11 Mar. 2016, www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-26116868.

Bremmer, Ian. “Syria's Civil War Complicated By Multiple Proxy Battles.” Time, Time, 166 Feb. 2018, time.com/5162409/syria-civil-war-proxy-battles/.

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