The Syrian Civil War
Syria 101
Who: The Syrian Arab Republic
Where: Located in the Middles East, Syria shares borders with Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey, Jordan and Israel.
Capital: Damascus
Biggest city: Aleppo NN
Population: The population of about 22,530,746 (July 2012) shares a variety of ethnic and religious backgrounds, but Arab Sunnis make the majority of the population.
How: The Syrian State came to be as a French mandate after WWI, and only gained its independence as a parliamentary republic in April of 1946. With a tumultuous past filled with coups and a messy and quite non-democratic government, Syria has been under the control of Hafez al-Assad since the 1970s and was recently succeeded by his son, Bashar al-Assad, in 2000.
A Look Inside the Syrian Conflict
In 1970, Hafez al-Assad overthrew the previous government of Syria with a coup, and since then, the country has always been under his tight control. His legacy ended at the thirty year mark, but only to initiate that of his son’s, Bashar al-Assad. The launch of the new Assad president in 2000 was followed by a short breath of apparent liberalization, which slowly seemed to turn itself into a gulp of acid oppression. The censoring of media and the prioritizing of the elite is evident, and the country’s human rights record is plummeting further down into an abyss.
The uprising began with demonstrations in March 2011, where citizens of Deraa went to the streets in protest for the arrest and torture of teenagers who were responsible for revolutionary slogans painted on a school wall, and the conflict is still ongoing. In response, government security forces opened fire against the crowd, killing four people. At the funerals, the mourners were harassed by authorities and shot at, leading to another death. By July 2011, hundreds of thousands were taking to the streets in towns and cities across the country demanding the resignation of President Bashar al-Assad.
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The government’s initial reaction was to end the 48-year-long state of emergency and introduce a new constitution. But with the continuous use of violence and the violation of the UN mediated cease-fire in April 2012, the massacres are short from coming to an end. Syria is currently undergoing the exhausting and devastating process of dodging the attacks between the forces of Bashar al-Assad and those who oppose his rule. The continuously escalating conflict is already a cause for thousands of deaths and the reason for millions being obligated to flee the country.
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By January 2013, the United Nations had a record of 60,000 deaths. The UN is accusing pro-government security forces and Shabiha militiamen of violation of international humanitarian law. Authorities are currently under suspicion that government forces have been targeting civilians for bombings and blaming the rebel armies responsible. As of August 2013, there were occurrences of chemical attacks in suburbs of Damascus and by September, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had a death count of 110,371 people. The fighting and the protests have spread to others parts of Syria such as Damascus, Aleppo and Homs and the country is now under a full-scale civil war.
The catastrophic events in Syria can be reason for great sorrow, as expressed by Ko Un in his poem Song for Peace, “Humanity has always been a prisoner of war, caught between war and war.” The Syrian conflict is another milestone in our strive for peace; a struggle for food, dreams, and cheerful children. The reconstruction of this bridge between the Syrian people and government is key in a reconciliation also in a world-wide spectrum. The war has been
The Syrian conflict began with the hope for a political and economic reform, allowing for a democratic Syria and a population with rights granted to them. Nevertheless, the more the rebels protest, the more the number of deaths grow, and as the population continues fighting, the government and the Syrian army fight back.
Between war and war
Syrian War and WWII
The Syrian Civil War, while a more limited conflict to Syria in an international view, can already be considered a total war due to methods used and the devastation that has and is occurring in the country, while also beginning to impact its neighbors such as Lebanon, who is taking in most of the Syrian refugees and the camps are already overcrowded with almost a million people living in them. The conflict is, to
Syrian War and the Korean War
The Korean War began as a civil war between North and South Korea, but the conflict soon became international when, under U.S. leadership, the United Nations joined to support South Korea and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) entered to aid North Korea. While the Syrian Civil war began with protests against President Bashar al-Assad's regime in March 2011, It crossed an important threshold a year and a half later, when the international Red Cross formally declared it a civil war. Although both are civil wars, the Korean war in 1950-1953 built up into a international based war as China and the USA joined Korea in its Civil war due to the fears of spreading communism by the US. On the other hand, China and the USSR did not wish for North Korea to fall in fear of democratic Korea becoming an opening for USA-UN invasion which would lead to the downfall of communist China, a plan proposed but never executed by General MacArthur. This would have led into the Cold War becoming a hot war if the USA invaded China, something neither the Soviet Union, nor the USA were prepared for.. While in the Syria there were no major international interference or aid until the use of chemical weapons being on civilian population, causing the UN and other countries to step in to reinforce and guarantee no laws from the Geneva Conventions were broken. While the Korean War and Syrian Civil War are similar with mass involvement and movement of the population, the Korean war involved a large scale international intervention by the UN, and later China, while Syria is currently in a stalemate between government and rebels as no international intervention is passing in the UN, only aid to refugees and, after the use of chemical weapons, UN investigators checking if the Geneva Conventions are being respected.
An Expert Opinion
Friedrich and Brzezinski
Friedrich and Brzezinski’s six general characteristics of totalitarian dictatorships are: an elaborate ideology; a single party typically led by one man; terroristic police; a communications monopoly; a weapons monopoly; and a centrally directed economy. Bashar al Assad can be almost perfectly fit into the characteristics of an authoritarian dictatorship through his actions. He is a single-party leader, inflicting terror on the people through systematic and intricate terror police to maintain his rule. These authoritarian characteristics, along with attempting to monopolize weapons and armed forces in Syria links to the aspects of a totalitarian leaders as described by Friedrich and Brzezinski as they all connect to Bashar's iron fist rule over Syria.. Like other totalitarian leaders such as Stalin who used the Red Guard and secret police (KGB) to terrorize the population so they wouldn't go against him, he was able to hold full control of the country, however unlike in Syria, his systematic terror did not lead to revolution. Both the Arab Spring and Globalization led to a more open view of the situation to Syrian people, which lead the protests, government crackdown, and eventually full scale revolution and civil war in 2011-2012.
AJP Taylor
AJP Taylor as a revisionist historian had a unique take on Hitler’s regime and his method of rule from rise to power in 1933 to the beginning of World War II in 1939 with the invasion of Poland. He was described as an opportunist, with ever increasing bold political actions from the Re-militarization of the Rhineland, to taking over Czechoslovakia, all while Chamberlain maintained his appeasement policy and allowed Hitler to do as he pleased. Incidentally, a similar situation is occurring in the current Syrian Civil War. The current Assad regime and Syrian conflict is fueled by a revolutionary campaign influenced by the Arab Spring, however the regime reacted and military conflict between opposition rebel and loyal Syrian forces ensured as of 2011. As the UN is failing to strongly condemn and take action for the duration of the conflict, Assad has used increasing force to take down the opposition, escalating from Riot police, to armed conflict against the insurgent, use of ballistic missiles and now is accused of use of chemical weapons. With Russia still backing the Assad regime, Assad can continue to make indiscriminate use of weapons and harm the civilian population in the country to hold his regime, as well as paralyse them with fear of supporting the rebels. The Civil War in Syria therefore has dim prospects for a peaceful resolution, while Assad manages to maintain his opportunistic and strong hold on Syria through the military, similarly to how AJP Taylor described Hitler’s rule, the Syrian conflict is unlikely to end peacefully, considering how far the conflict has escalated as of 2013 and the Geneva peace talks going roughly.
an extent, similar to World War II, particularly the Eastern Front, not in numbers and large scale conflict, however in indiscriminate weapons use as well as atrocities committed. Either side is willing to use weapons and terror in the civilian population to exercise their influence, with the Syrian regime arguably using them to terrorize the population and make the fear joining the rebel forces, while the rebels use terror to subdue any supporters of the Assad regime, however are more similar to the Russians as willing to indoctrine to population to support the revolution. The urban scenario also drastically changes the battlefield, and modern weaponry makes a World War II battlefield almost incomparable. In this aspect, the Western front of World War II was closer linked to the Syrian conflict, with Urban combat and modern tactics being used to hold ground by the Allies, while the Germans seeked to hold their positions and leave nothing for the allies, similar to the current Syrian regime who always uses terror tactics and regional bombing to fear and displace the population whenever they lose an area to rebels.. Overall, the Syrian conflict is becoming in nature, a small scale version of World War II, with both sides committing atrocities and using full scale terror tactics and patriotism to maintain troop morale and support while spreading fear to the enemies, with spreading effects and worries towards neighboring countries who do not wish to be dragged into this conflict, while some already arguably have, such as the paramilitary group Hezbollah, based in Lebanon. Niall Ferguson also argues that the Korean War may be considered an extension of World War II, and comparison of this separate, first proxy war of the Cold War will be done in the next section.
contingent upon great disunity in the UN. The United States and France have been very active in their purpose to take military action in Syria; and have also gained the support of countries such as Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Russia, strongly backed by China, is pushing for a peaceful solution, in which Syria would willingly place all its chemical weapons under international control. The most menacing collision of interests would be the position Iran and Iraq have taken, promising to engage in military combat to protect Syria if the United States were to act violently.