Syrian Kurds And The Civil War

Syria and Lebanon are two dramatically different states with a deeply intertwined history. They were both born out of French interventionism following World War 1, and have experienced complex and strained relations ever since. The two nations have both experienced prodigious political turmoil since gaining their independence, with both suffering from civil wars and conflict with their mutual neighbor, Israel. The war and turmoil that has plagued these two countries can be traced back to various competing national interests, as well as a struggle for regional power. The various religious groups in the area have historically formed transnational advocacy networks with the intent of influencing regional politics. These groups have proved to of been a major factor in the history of both nations.

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

With a death toll in the hundred of thousands, and millions displaced, the Syrian civil war has become a violent mark on the world’s history. What started as a peaceful protest has spread over five years, has evolved into a war with a tyrannical government, a clashing rebellion, and terrorism fighting either side. But what is it that really fuels the immense amount of violence? It can be narrowed down to four groups that are obvious. The government and the rebels are the forerunners in violence in the war, sure, but they aren’t the only ones. There are the terrorist groups, with skewed views to support the destruction of people and things around them, and in itself the stark difference of the religions and ethnicities of Syria. Who causes

The Syrian Civil War has had a profound effect of all Syrians as well as neighbouring countries and the international community. With more than 11 million homeless Syrians comes consequences beyond what most of the world population has ever experienced or anticipated. Of the displaced, almost 5 million are refugees outside Syria and around 6 million have been displaced inside Syria, with half of all displaced Syrians being children. The main causes of displacement amongst the population is the violence committed by all sides of the war, and which often targets civilians or centres of high civilian activity (such as markets, hospitals, schools, workplaces or high density residential areas). One main group heavily affected by the conflict

Syria is currently all over the news regarding what many have to come to see as a civil war. A term like civil war needs to identify the players and the reasons for the war. In this case the players are being identified as pro government or antigovernment with a Sunni or Shia overtone. Sunni and Shia are the two major sects of Islam and both have a historical based conflict going back to the death of the Prophet Muhammad and how Muslims should be governed. This conflict has caused tensions and violence to flare up throughout Islamic history. This conflict has carried into modern times and has becoming a rallying point for Muslim people calling for change with their government and across the Middle Eastern region. The

Another specific conflict area that this paper will examine is Syria. The area, today known as Syria, is in a unique location which has made it subject to many empires, including the Roman and Ottoman. Since the area has been at the center of history for thousands of years it is home to a diverse ethnic and religious culture. Currently the country is home to “Kurds, Armenians, Assyrians, Christians, Druze, Alawite Shia and Arab Sunnis, the last of who make up a majority of the Muslim population,” (BBC). Prior to World War I, the area was under control of the Ottoman Empire, after the war the empire was broken up and France took control of the area. In 1946, France granted Syria independence, and the country has been dealing with political instability ever since. From 1958-1961, Syria joined up with Egypt to create the United Arab Republic. The following years brought about a succession of upheavals within the government. In the 1960’s the Arab-nationalist group, Baath, took over power, and in 1970 one of their leaders, Hafiz al-ASAD, took control, which brought about political stability. In 1967 there was a war taking place between Israel and Syria, which resulted in Israel occupying a southwestern region of the country. In 1970, Syria’s neighbor of Lebanon broke out into civil war and Syria extended their military power into that country. The Baath government has been known to be a strong authoritative power and has powerful anti-western policies in place that

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

Syria’s civil war has overflows of violence all around the world. Groups like ISIS who feel as if the west has caused the plight of the Arabs or Muslims will attempt to retaliate against the west, curbing that overflow by funding NGO’s, United Nations agencies, and other programs that are assisting in putting an

Today, the Turkish authorities will push back the curfew for the kurdish town of Diyarbakir from 5 to 7:30 P.M. The officials claim the curfew is necessary to stamp out the Kurdish Workers Party or PKK. The PKK is infamous for its battles against The Turkish government in hopes to establish an independent Kurdistan. Turkey claims the PKK is a terrorist organisation in hopes to gather support from NATO and the European Union against Kurdish Nationalism. Yet, the PKK is only one of many Kurdish militant groups fighting for autonomy and self determination. The Kurds have gained some autonomy in Northern Iraq under the Kurdish Regional Government. Granted the Kurdish autonomy is limited, it gives a glance of hope to the 30 million

The Kurds are a Middle Eastern group that distinct from the Arabs, Turkish, and Iranians. About 30 million Kurds live in Kurdistan which are combined parts of Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria. The Kurds are the most popular ethnic group that doesn’t have their own independent country. The reason that the Kurds haven’t established their own independent country is because of all the issues that exist in the region. The area and neighboring states they are surrounded are filled with war and disagreements over natural resources, mainly oil. Many of the city officials and people who hold most of the powers are corrupt. It’s hard to develop a strong independent country with corruption and conflicts.

The Iraqi election in 2005 is viewed by most as a success for the Kurds, they won the large number of seats as an appositive and deserved outcome. However, many obstacles stand in the way of their autonomy. These include the style of government in Iraq, as many, including the Arabs and Turkmen of Kirkuk, oppose the federal state structure. In addition, the claim of Kirkuk has instilled fear among Iraq’s neighbours and poses a threat to the future of the Iraqi State itself. The city has become a source of ethnic-sectarian conflicts, as well as the possibility of a regional conflict. This article explains that, what would happen if Iraq proves to be a failed State that cannot sustain a federal democracy? Rather, it will explain that whether federalism will become the road to secession for the Kurds, as the language of the new constitution is problematic and illustrates a lack of sophistication in constitutional writing.

What it started as a protest against of Basher al-Assad dictatorship regime in Syria would end five years later in one of the biggest civil war in the world history. Military forces have committed different war crimes, including assassination, torture, rape, force disappearances and deliberate arrests against the opponent forces, also so the called “rebels”. Opposition supporters eventually began to take up arms, first, to defend themselves, and later, to expel security forces from their local areas. Basically, the conflict was developed between civilians and governmental forces. Rebel brigades were formed to battle governmental forces for control of cities and towns. However, meanwhile rebel forces were developed, extremists groups as the Islamic State were developed as a demonstration of sectionalism in Syria. The international community has tried to intervene on Syria crisis, specifically on the fight against terrorism. Representing the intervention and attacks of countries as Russia and the United States on Syrian territories, the United Nations Security Council has demanded parties to stop the indiscriminate use of weapons in populated areas. Nowadays, the Syrian crisis has represented one of the worst humanitarian crises. More than 250.000 Syrians have lost their lives in the first four and a half years of conflict; 4.5 million people have fled Syria since the start of the conflict, most of them are women and children. 6.5 million People were internally

The Kurds have colonized the area of rugged mountains and tall plains at the headwaters of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers for more than two thousand years. They are said to descend from Medes who conquered the Nineveh in 612 B. C. Their traditional form of life is pastoralism and agriculture (Barth 1993). The unsanctioned country of Kurdistan inhabited an area steeped in history; a history, specifically, the bloody chaos, occupation and assimilation. When the Medes (descended from the Aryans) earliest appeared in the area around 1000 B.C. the stage was set for prolonged and strenuous fights for superiority against the bordering Assyrians and Persians. For centuries, the Medes fights against their would-be dwellers until, around 600 B.C (Hansen 2000)., having beaten the Persians; they overcome the Assyrians and established the Median Empire. That Empire covered everyone of what we call at present as Kurdistan. Different tribes existing in the region were not enforced to give up their cultures and obey the rules to their new hosts'. Instead their cultures were taken on and national values were established. In 550 B.C however, the Persians re-emerged as the leading force and from that period onward the area was seldom without divergence (Hansen 2000). Persians, Greeks, Arabs, Armenians, Romans and Byzantines have all the net battles in the area, and the local nation found them driven into the mountains just to give themselves a better option of living. Tribalism became

The most interesting aspect of the BBC Global News Podcast’s discussion on the conflict stirring near the Turkish-Syrian border was that of Turkey’s use of proxy forces in the province of Idlib. This was interesting because the proxy forces being used were that of the anti-Assad rebels, who had been fighting the Syrian and Russian governments for the past few years. This type of news coming out of an already volatile situation could only make matters worse, since the Russian military is definite on their airstrikes on the region. This type of story in global news today could become problematic, and lead to the Russian and Syrian governments deciding to close the de-escalation zones, which would put thousands of lives at risk. This story is even major in the global community, since it has the possibility of displacing more Syrians from the region.

In this paper, I will explain South Africa’s foreign policy and national security concerns over the ongoing conflict in Syria. In order to understand how Syria developed into its current state, I will then provide an overview of the history of the country. The history will begin at the end of World War I after the fall of the Ottoman Empire and will then continue through French control and the subsequent uprising. It will then proceed on to World War II, the founding of the Baath Party, and the joining of the United Arab Republic. As the overview approaches the 21st century, I will briefly cover the rise of Assad, the war with Israel, and the uprising in Hama. Lastly, I will cover the Assad succession, tensions with the United States, and on through the nationwide uprising of 2011. In the next section of this paper, I will cover South Africa’s foreign policy concerns with Syria including statements they have made and their general feelings and opinions of the ongoing situation. Next, I will elaborate on South Africa’s foreign policies regarding Syria. This section will include what intervention they advocate, their policies on refugees, and their overall belief of what should be done about the conflict. Finally, the paper will draw to a close with a conclusion concerning what should be done about the conflict in Syria.