The heart-wrenching Syrian crises is no less than the biggest tragedy of this decade. More disturbing is the fact that common citizens of the world are not getting a clear picture of what is happening to the innocent people of this country. The wretched Syrian people who are playing the role of grass in the war of elephants are the worst victim of so-called Arab Spring that turned the Middle East region into a conflict zone.
The Syrian crises that has multiple stakeholders in the form of local political and extremist groups, regional countries and the world powers is only making the Syrian people suffer, while rest of the world is just a spectator who is busy in sharing the images of corpses and wounded homeless children buried in ruble.
Before the flawed stories on social media which is a hotbed of fake news prompt you side with trouble mongers let’s have a look at what is happening in Syria.
Things You Need to Know About Syrian Crises
1. The Warring Groups
Following are the three major groups, responsible for the Syrian civil war.
- Syrian Forces which are loyal to the President Bashar al-Assad
- Rebel groups that want to topple the regime of Bashar Al-Assad
- Islamic State (IS)- Extremist militant group struggling to implement their version of Islam
2. The Syrian Civil War
The Syrian crises is rooted in the civilian protests that erupted in 2012 against the dictatorship of the President Bashar- Al-Asad. Later the use of force to silence the dissent of the anti-Assad people of Syria led to creation of rebel groups, who started an armed struggle against the government. And hence began the Syrian civil war that resulted in the death of 90,000 people by the end of 2013, reportedly.
3. ISIS Joins Provokes the Conflict
It was in 2014 when the Islamic extremist group ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria), succeeded in capturing considerable territory in Syria. The group that had already occupied some major area in Iraq, had found Syria an easy target due to ongoing civil war. ISIS aimed to implement their version of Islam and executed those who denied to follow their ideology. Both rebel groups and Pro-Asad forces fought the ISIS.
In order to stop ISIS, US launched air strikes in Iraq and Syria. Hence, another party joined in to bomb on the Syrian people.
According to media reports the US led coalition forces have succeeded in reclaiming the 98% of territory that ISIS held earlier.
4. Shia-Sunni Conflict
It was unlikely for religious partisan and sect-based conflicts to stay out of the Syrian crises that initially began as a result of pro-democracy struggle by anti-Assad factions. The civil war has also an ingredient of Shia-Sunni conflict as the President Bashar al-Asad belongs to the Shia Alawite faction. Therefore, there is tension on sectarian lines which is drawing in the regional and world powers. Russia, Shia majority Iran, and Hezbollah group in Lebanon are supporting the President Assad. While the United States, Saudi Arabia, UK and France are against the Bashar al-Assad. Hence, the Syrian crises has become a conflict between the world powers.
5. Controversy of Chemical Weapons
Syrian regime, headed by the President Asad has also faced the allegation of using chemical weapons which is a serious wire crime. An alleged chemical attack by the Syrian forces that took place in 2013 reportedly massacred the hundreds of people.
The recent offensive by the pro-Asad forces also killed more than 250 people in rebel held East Ghouta within two days.
6. The US Airstrikes on Syria
The reports of using chemical weapons by the Asad regime raised a serious concern among the world powers. Consequently, President Asad agreed to destroy the chemical weapons by reportedly succumbing to the pressure from the US and Russia. Later in April 2017 another chemical attack happened that was attributed to the President Assad. This time Syrian President and Russia denied the allegations and said that chemical weapons were dropped by the rebel-held aircraft.
In response to the alleged chemical attack of 2017 the United States carried out missile attack on Syria. The US missile strikes on Syria, that were the first direct action by the America also resulted in causalities.
The Real Sufferers From Syrian Crises
Till now, the war in Syria has killed almost more than 300,000 people and created millions of refugees and IDPs.
An overview of the tragic Syrian crises reveals that the world has badly failed the Peace. Governments, extremists and the world powers always use torture, weapons and forces to stay in power, get their ideologies implemented and promote their hegemony on the world. As a result of all this conflict only innocent people get killed. And, those who share their pictures on social media with viral slogans of Save Syrian Children don’t even know who to curse and to whom they should blame. As every warring party has their version and their reasons of using war to implement peace.
