Humanitarian Intervention in Syria Essay

The war in Syria has brought pain and destruction to the people and cities affected. Upwards of 500,000 people have lost their lives and the country itself has crumbled as result of the irreconcilable differences between the protestors and government. The conflict in Syria is the deadliest struggle that the 21st century has experienced so far. This research explains what sparked the war, how it has affected Syria, and what is being done to end the battle.

Syria’s civil war is the worst humanitarian crisis of modern time. The “Syrian Civil war Began in March of 2011, between rebel brigades and government force; economy and infrastructure is destroyed” (Library, 2016). “Divisions between secular and religious fighters, and between ethnic groups, continue to complicate the politics of the conflict” (Corps, 2016). Additionally, the Syrian civil war has taken a significant

In this essay’s scope, the Syrian war has been analyzed using the just war theory. The just war theory highlights situations where waging a war can be justifiable and also provides guidelines on how a war should be fought. In as much as the theory recognizes the need to protect innocent human life even when it involves the use of force, the theory puts in place several principles that need to be met to qualify a war as being just. As for the Syrian situation, the bone of contention is whether the proposed US military intervention is justifiable or not. Those who are for a US military intervention observe that the enormity of the massacre in Syria justifies an external intervention. They point out that an intervention would protect further loss of innocent human life. Those against such a move point out some guidelines that have not been met to merit such an intervention as a just

Nowadays, we can scarcely turn on our televisions or pick up a newspaper without being confronted with yet another depressing news item about the Syrian civil war. As the crisis in Syria rages the question of whether western countries especially UK should intervene militarily in order to halt the Syria regime’s slaughter of innocent civilians is raised. Should the western countries turn a blind eye to the atrocities that take place in Syria or should they use force and intervene to the state affairs of another state in order to quell the violence? This essay is

Much recent discourse surrounding humanitarian intervention has focused on the responsibility to protect (R2P). Prevention is a key component for good international relations and few would say it is not important, but as evidence to date would show prevention is very ineffective, the legality of military intervention still needs to be debated, as to date there is no consensus. For any intervention to be legitimate, whether unilateral or multilateral, it must comply with international law. So as not to cause any confusion, any situation in which an “intervention” is done with the permission or by request of the state being intervened, should be considered humanitarian assistance as state sovereignty is not breached. This paper will

Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has been in charge since 2000, following on from his late father who ruled for 30 years. Commencing in March of 2011, an anti-regime uprising has since escalated into Civil War where it has been estimated that more than 400,000 have been killed (CNN, 2017). Just this death toll alone proves the danger and inhumane conditions the people of Syria have been living in for over six years. Controlling large areas of Northern and Eastern Syria, Islamic State (IS) have been left battling government forces, rebel brigades and air strikes from

In Syria we see massive civilian displacement and casualties due to fighting. The specific symptoms are armed conflict, air strikes, and purported chemical weapon usage. In following step two and collecting data we have verified proof that the problem exists via independent and state sponsored journalists reporting to all major news syndicates worldwide. The beginnings of the conflict formed over many years of pro-democracy civilians being suppressed in lieu of an authoritarian government. The beginning of the actual anti-regime uprising started in March of 2011 following the arrests of teens and children for political graffiti (Syrian Civil War Fast Facts, 2015). This lead to mass demonstrations in the country's capital and surrounding cities, and let to Syrian police and military forces beating and even killing protesters. This led to the formation to militias forming which split the country into the military and security forces of the Syrian state and militant rebels attempting to overthrow the government. The impact of the problem is that Syria has spiraled into a constant state of chaos throughout the country, resulting in almost complete devastation of all the country's main cities, as well as, constant war and the death of many innocent people and

The sharing of the image across social media of Syrian toddler Aylan Kurdi’s dead body washed up on a beach in Turkey has brought the Syrian’s plight into the eyes of the world. Thousands of men, women, and children make illegal and unsafe journeys across entire oceans just to get away from the conflict that is occurring in their home country. In view of the root of this horrible situation, one observes events dating back to 2011, when pro-democracy protests began throughout Syria. These protests displayed the anger prevalent among the people against President Bashar Al-Assad’s authoritarian government. The attempt by Assad to suppress the numerous protests with violence only induced more wrath from the irate Syrian people. Rebel militias

The sharing of the horrifying image across social media of Syrian toddler Aylan Kurdi’s dead body washed up on a beach in Turkey has brought the Syrian’s plight into the eyes of the entire world. Thousands of desperate men, women, and children make illegal and unsafe journeys across entire oceans just to get away from the ongoing conflict that is occurring in their home country. In view of the root of this horrible situation, one observes events dating back to 2011, when pro-democracy protests began throughout the country of Syria. These protests displayed the anger prevalent among the Syrian people against President Bashar Al-Assad’s authoritarian government. The attempt by President Bashar Al-Assad to suppress the numerous protests with

The Syrian Civil War continues to be a major issue in the world today. Though it began as an issue over the resignation of President Bashar Al Assad against the government and Syrians, the war has greatly escalated. It currently involves over 50 different groups, all supporting either the government or the Syrian people, but possessing a slightly different goal. All of this violence poses a threat to individual nations all through the world, focusing on the immigration of refugees into such nations and the impact of such a movement upon that nation. Furthermore, all of this violence has violated the human rights of millions of people, with rape , torture, and harsh execution style killings occurring on a daily basis. Millions of people caught

Assad has been manipulating its own country and making its people be afraid (“CNN”). Genocide has occurred and is ongoing,” Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, chairman of the panel, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, said in a statement (“Bruce”). We also have heard that the commission on Syria has repeatedly recommended referral of the crimes to the International Criminal Court, but no action has followed from the Security Council, where Russia, a permanent member and the closest ally of Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, wields a veto (“Bruce”). Also the US strikes inside Syria an effort to “degrade and ultimately destroy the U.S intervention because of the chemical attack and the deaths of hundred civilians (“BBC”). Hezbollah, Iran’s ally and Israel’s enemy, is now fighting alongside Assad’s forces (“HuffPost”). What moscow insists to only have peace in syria and settlement because of all the violence and stop terrorizing pure Syrians(“Huffpost”). Russia has about 6 million muslims in their country (“Huffpost”). Well Russia (and China) insists that humanitarian interventions should rightly be authorized by the U.N. Security Council (where Russia wields a veto). But the U.N.-sanctioned, NATO-led war against Mu’ammar Gaddafi's Libya the prime minister

What started out as low-scale anti-government protests in 2011, have now uproared to an entire civil war throughout Syria, as well as involving other neighboring countries and outside nations. Over twelve million Syrians have been forced to leave and over 250,000 have already been killed. Jihadist militants from Islamic State are taking control over almost half the territory of Syria, as well as parts of Iraq, and the public claims that Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad is not taking the right or necessary steps to help find the solution to this chaos, which causes some countries to strongly encourage him to step down.

The “just cause criterion is central in the “just war” doctrine. When assessing the sufficient “just cause” reasons the principle of self-defence is undoubtedly tolerable. It can be extended to the reason of assisting aid to victims of oppression or external threat (Moseley n.d.). Following this principle, the mass murder of the Syrian civilians by the government forces that reached nearly 40000 (Aloyo 2014) create a justified cause for the USA and the international community in general. However, in the case of Syria using forces against the aggression as a whole will be an impossible task, as both parties

Non-intervention has always been a commonly understood principle in international relations. However, a problem arises when a nation cannot protect the wellbeing of its own citizens against either internal or external forces. That is when the question of whether our ethical duties to others transcend the community of the nation-state arises. It is indeed difficult to answer as history has shown there often is no obvious benefit that comes from humanitarian intervention. This partly has something to do with the international consensus and the guiding principles currently in place for such action.

The key objections to humanitarian intervention include the conflict of interests with the self-interested state and sovereignty, the difficulty of internal legitimacy, the problematical Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine, and the debate over legality of intervention. The issue of morality stands as an overarching issue which touches on all of these. Overall, one finds that despite a moral imperative to intervene, humanitarian intervention should not occur but is perhaps the lesser of a series of evils.