Syrian Civil War By: Stacy Briggs

Research Process

It was challenging to find analysis articles since this is an ongoing war and their hasn't been much time to look at the causes. I chose to study this revolution because I hear about it a lot on the news. I was interested to figure what they are fighting for and if there is even a purpose for all the death and destruction going on.

Incubation Stage

People are angry at the government because of the failure of long-promised economic and political reform. There have been peaceful protests going on. Also, pro-democracy protests erupted throughout the country. These protesters were demanding an end to the authoritarian practices of the Assad regime.

Symptomatic Stage

March 6th, 2011 was the spark that started the civil war in Syria. Children painted anti-regime graffiti. They were arrested and jailed. Some were even killed in detention. This led to many public protests which caused the outbreak into war.

Crisis stage

A bombing at the Syrian national security building in Damascus during a high-level government crisis meeting that killed four top officials was one of the first events of the crisis stage. Fighting spread to Aleppo, the largest city in Syria. US-led coalition begins airstrikes against Islamic State group targets in Syria.

Convalescence Stage

The government is gradually restoring some basic infrastructure in Aleppo: a train service has started operating inside the city, the airport is scheduled to open soon and bulldozers are clearing streets of barricades and other debris. Some refugees have even thought about returning to Syria once the fighting settles down.

Syrian civil war vs. French Revolution

Similarities

During the French Revolution the people didn't support their leader Louis-Phillips and the radicals in charge which is similar to the people of Syria not supporting the rules of President Assad. Both rulers did not feel the need to spend money on things that people saw as important. Instead they spent it on luxurious things while the poor people were suffering. Both of these wars started with simple protests over unfair government and living issues, but when nothing changed it caused an outbreak.

Differences

The French Revolution started in 1789 and lasted 10 years, and the Syrian Civil War started in 2011 and is still going on. The French's protests were very violent while the Syrian's were peaceful. The French Revolution was caused by the upper social classes taking advantage of the lower and treating them unfairly. The conflict in Syria was caused by unjust military government addressing rebellious civilians with military action and torture sparking an uprising to create a more civil government. The French Revolution was peaceful but in certain events deaths were such as during the storming of the Bastille. The ongoing Syrian Civil War has caused tremendous amounts of bloodshed.

Essential Question

What effect does the Syrian Civil war have on global relations?

Global effects range from the shifting balances in global power to the refugee humanitarian crisis. Before the war, U.S. was the dominant powerbroker in the Middle East until war broke out, then the U.S. took a firm resistance to the Assad regime.

For example, Obama didn’t want to use chemical weapons but when Assad did we looked at launching airstrikes against Syrian military. Meanwhile Russia then became the superpower of Syria and their main goal was to support the Assad regime. ISIS, the Assad regime and Russia by association have been using this disarray to affect political and social dynamics throughout Europe.

There are many refugees leaving Syria, so they need somewhere to go. There are 1 million refugees in Europe, which puts economic and social strain on already fragile countries. Some have even opposed letting refugees into their country because they can't handle them. Around 6 million refugees have fled from Syria. Greece has taken on 50,000 refugees in addition to their own financial crisis. The U.S. has taken in 10,000 refugees. 2.7 million refugees reside in Turkey. One million are in Lebanon, 656,000 in Jordan, and 229,000 in Iraq.
Russian and Turkish jets carried out their first joint strikes on so-called Islamic State (IS) inside Syria. There were nine Russian aircraft and eight Turkish planes involved in Wednesday's strikes. The ironic thing is that Russia and Turkey fought each other in the air just over a year ago. It brings up the question of if their involvement in the Syrian Civil War has helped them resolve their own issues with each other. The two countries have not only mended economic ties but worked together the last month to secure a nationwide truce in Syria. The war could bring together Russia and Turkey against the common enemy of terror.

Sources

http://www.wildcat.arizona.edu/article/2017/01/daily-wildcat-fast-five-syrian-civil-war

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-38667895

http://www.news.com.au/world/10-simple-points-to-help-you-understand-the-syria-conflict/news-story/ab4bf33fed028d63990b8e09e6778ee7

https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/12/14/stop-calling-the-syrian-conflict-a-civil-war-its-not/?utm_term=.b3b54dd2c157

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-26116868

https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2015/3/13/timeline-syria-4-years-of-devastation

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