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Syrian War Research Paper

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The Syrian War is a pressing issue that has been going on for over five years. This war, which started as peaceful protests against the Assad Government, has turned into a struggle for power within Syria which has resulted in a massive humanitarian crisis. There have been eleven million Syrian refugees and over two hundred fifty thousand people that have been killed, half of those people being civilians. To make matters worse, ISIS is on the rise in Syria. This war is not only an internal conflict. It involves many international powers, including Russia, China, and the United States, that have picked sides between backing the Assad Government or the rebels. These two sides cannot agree on a solution to end this war, determine leadership in …show more content…

The United Nations’ Security Council is unable to help in this matter because, China and Russia, two of the five permanent members, are able to veto resolutions that would expose the Assad Government for their crimes in Syria. This is significant because even if the majority of the fifteen member security council support a resolution, any one of the five permanent members have the ability to stop it from being passed. For example, a proposed UN resolution which would refer the crisis in Syria to the International Criminal Court was not passed because, despite the fact that thirteen of fifteen security council members voted in favor, both Russia and China used their veto powers. Britain's Foreign Secretary, William Hague, commented on this saying, "This was an opportunity for the world to stand up for justice for the Syrian people. Russia and China's actions in preventing this are indefensible." Russia and China have vetoed multiple resolutions in order to protect the Assad Government, which has been a large reason the Syrian war has not come to an …show more content…

Assad and its backers do not care if civilians are injured in this war. They have gone as far as to target hospitals in their bombings of rebel cities. Not only have they bombed hospitals, but they have carried out some of these bombings when a ceasefire was supposed to be in place. Assad and its backers have proven that they are willing to commit war crimes in order to stay in power. Again, a solution to this brutality is difficult because if the Security Council tries to deal with this issue, Russia and China can use their veto powers to protect Assad and themselves. This is a vicious cycle because Assad and its backers can commit war crimes and then Russia and China can go to the Security Council and veto anything they do not agree

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