The Civil War is a proceeding multi-sided chaos in Syria between the government led by President Bashar al-Assad and the opposition. Since its commencement in 2011, the conflicts have devastated the entire country due to its adverse impacts. Syrian neighboring nations, foreign countries and terror groups such as ISIS have played a critical role in the civil war. The paper will, therefore, focus on the background, causes, the consequences and the international reaction regarding the Syrian Civil War.
Before the chaos instigated in 2011, a significant number of Syrians complained about skyrocketing rate of unemployment and corruption under the leadership of Bashar. Al-Assad succeeded his father in 2000, and his administration had displayed oppression and economic turmoil (Erlich & Chomsky, 2014). In March 2011, there was a demonstration in the southern city of Deraa that resulted from the motivation of Arab Spring for the president resignation.
The government consequently utilized deadly force to eradicate the dissent in the city. The protest erupted nationwide while demanding the president to resign due to his economic failures and lack of freedom. The unrest spread all over forcing the opposition to take up arms to defend themselves and try to support the protesters since they were against the leadership of al-Assad. Due to the rapid violence in the country, it led to civil war.
Political oppression that maintained family ruling such that al-Assad succeeded his father built a lot of anxiety in the country. President al-Assad took over the power in 2000 from his father who has ruled Syria since 1971. Citizens did not like continuous leadership concentrated in one family. Also, the country is one party state meaning there is no freedom to form or join other parties that do have different ideas and policies. When there was a transition of leadership in 2000, people expected great reforms in the country but only to realize their hopes tarnished (Ozturk et al. 2015).
The restriction of media freedom did not favor Syrians at all. Civil society activists did not have the freedom to speak out and point out government’s mistake towards the protection of the citizens. The cynical political climate of Syria caused intensification of civil war.
Furthermore, an uneven economy for instance lack of jobs continued to deteriorate the living standard of people, and there was a need to change leadership. The government also favored wealthy individuals and those tied to the regime. Most of the privatization will fall on either wealthy or those linked to the system. Consumerism lied on the upper-class individuals and neglected any form of protection among middle and lower classes of people. Inequalities in the country became rampant, and Syrians could not take it any longer.
Besides, population-surge demonstrated a vast number of young population. Syria was one of the highest growing population in the globe. According to the report presented by the United Nations in 2010, Syria was ninth of an increasing population (Juan & Bank, 2015). The sputtering economy of Syria with a large growing population caused imbalances in the country. With the aggressiveness of the youths that do not have jobs and do not go to school automatically lead to chaos. A high population in Syria in 2011 caused shortages of food and schools.
Ultimately, the level of corruption in the country was alarming since it oppressed the middle and the lower classes. To make it worse anti-Assad rebels imported weapons by bribing the security officials. Licensing a business or a car became cumbersome because the authorities wanted bribes. The regime continued to deprive income of the middle and lower class of people. The rise of the black market contributed to a high rate of corruption in the country.
There was Tunisia effect that adversely inflated the chaos and unrest in Syria. There was fear in Syria of conducting rebellion against the government or starting an opposition. However, Mohamed Bouazizi of Tunisia commenced anti-government uprising. The group was called Arab Spring which was across the Middle East in 2010. Fall of Tunisia and Egyptian governments announced in Al Jazeera made Syrians perceive that they can do the same (Juan & Bank, 2015). Live broadcast made Syrians believe that they can lead their uprising and oppose the regime and they will succeed just like Tunisia. Citizens gained courage and motivation to challenge the al-Assad regime thus leading to civil war.
The civil war consists of many allies that support either the government or the opposition. Russia and Iran are the principal supporters of the government under the leadership of President al-Assad (Bakke & Kuypers, 2016). On the other hand, the United States of America and Saudi Arabia supports the opposition. Apart from the international groups taking part in the conflict, some groups such as ISIS and al-Qaeda have also joined.
Russia joined the war in 2015, and since then it has always taken government side. Russian troops have aided president to overcome the opposition. Another international government supporter is Iran. Furthermore, Iraq and Lebanon have also shown immense support of Assad. However, Turkey and Saudi Arabia support the opposition. Turkish troops carried out operations against ISIS and Kurdish groups.
The United States of America has also displayed its support against the government and backed the opposition. In 2014, the USA bombed ISIL groups and had continued to support the anti-ISIL coalition. Under the leadership of President Trump, the USA decided to lead strikes against Syria by launching aircraft and ship-based missiles (Corstange & York, 2018). The idea behind the US strikes was to fights against the government and ISIS. In December 2018, Trump twitted sating that his government has defeated ISIS in Syria and US troops must withdraw from that country. However, although the twit wrote by Trump demonstrated a lot of controversies, the main message was the retreat forces from Syria.
The enduring civil war in Syria has caused adverse effects in the country. More than 470 000 people have been killed since its outbreak in 2011 (Bakke & Kuypers, 2016). Over one million individuals injured and many flee the country — over five million people displaced where they seek refuge in Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan. Destruction of businesses has resulted in a weak economy. Further, the war has escalated the level of poverty in the country and eliminated access to medical care and education.
Another negative impact of the Syrian war is the country’s deteriorating economy. Chao in the religion has unfavorably affected national trade and trade with fellow Middle Eastern countries and other Western countries, for instance, France and the United States of America. Some of the countries have cut off trade ties with Syria. Besides, civil war has ruined infrastructure, stopped toddlers from going to school, caused closure of factories and daunted overall investment.
Syrians are facing a devastating level of unemployment at 58 percent. In 2013, the GDP dropped to 20.6 percent which demonstrates the impact of civil war. In both 2015 and 2016, Syria recorded a deficit of 22 percent and 15 percent respectively (Juan & Bank, 2015). According to the report presented by the European Council on Foreign Relations, Syria’s economy has deteriorated to where it was 40 years down the line.
The religion unrest has adversely affected the production of oil in the Middle East. Prices have skyrocketed due to the uncertainty in the region. Although Gulf State has strived to stabilize the oil prices, there is still a possibility of an escalation of prices in the Middle East. Notably, Middles East is the oil capital that the whole world depends on it, and if there is any price fluctuation, it will consequently increase the prices of oil around the globe.
Continuous unrest has consequently led to refugee movements to the nearing countries in search of security and quality life. At the end of 2015, there were 190 0000 refugees who were seeking peace in the neighboring countries (Ozturk et al. 2015). Seventy percent of the refugees are in Greece and Turkey. Countries that shelter refugees seem to face a lot of challenges trying to feed the citizens and at the time gather for the refugees. Other than creating tension in the host country, it also upsurges overcrowding. Besides, the citizens of the country hosting refugees will lose jobs as the country record decreasing finances due to a high cost of sustaining the refugees.
The ongoing civil war in the country has also affected the neighboring countries leadership. The country has forced the leaders in the Middle East to either support the government under the leadership of president al-Asad or back the opposition. On whatever side they choose, it potentially creates more instability in Syria. Neighboring countries will not only drain their resources to support a particular party but also build a different picture with international countries. Some international countries may shy away from conducting trade with a country since it backed a specific side in Syria.
Syrian civil war has not only affected its national progress, but it has also raised a lot of concerns to the foreign countries. A massive number of killings that include both adults and innocent children have triggered international humanitarians to conduct peace talks to end the war. Since its commencement in 2011, there have been peace plans every year until now, but unfortunately, they bore no fruits regarding the end of the civil war. The primary stakeholders for peace plans include Arab League, United Nations, Russia, and Western nations.
Arab League commenced its peace took in 2011 and persisted until 2012. The main agenda was to engage both opposition and government to talk and make them shun away from fighting. The AL group called for Russia and China to pressurize Syria to adhere to the terms agreed after the negotiations, but it never stopped the civil war.
In 2014, there were Geneva IV talks that involved both the government and the opposition. The peaceful talks engaged the United Nations, and the High Negotiation Committee represented opposition while UN ambassador represented the government. Besides, in 2017, there were Astana talks in almost every month supported by Russia and Turkey. Ultimately, 2018 had both Sochi and Astana talks in January and March respectively (Corstange & York, 2018). All the talks seemed not to have worked well since the opposition claims that they will not engage in any negotiations until president al-Assad resign.
Syrian civil war came into existence due to political issues, a weak economy, population surge and corruption that had taken root in the nation. The adverse impacts of civil war have devastated not only the national economy but also affected international communities. Although there have been numerous peace talks hosted by the United Nations, AL and western nations they have bored no fruits. Both opposition and the government are not willing to relent and agree on the terms of peace.
