The Syrian Crisis Essay

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

65). Syrian’s that are stuck in refugee camps or still living in Syria are fighting for the freedom from authority that they did not agree to, the war has killed over 220,000 people and displaced half of the country’s population (GIlsinan, 2015). The states thus far have responded to the many facets of this crisis with very realist approaches via military action. Realists will tend to prioritize power and place it above and separate from morality and ideology, basing their arguments on tradition and focusing on the power to be gained or lost in the situation (Goldstien, 56). Are force and fraud the most reasonable types of action (Suth, Elias 2007), where is the morality; “More than a third of Americans want to ban Muslims from entering the United states” (Hayoun 2015, The independent). It appears that realism is winning the war against idealism in the US - realism is pessimistic and cynical towards life and human nature, thus there is no hope for a good end of human kind (Najob, Hamed, Gandomikal 2015). One possible motivation of the American people to adopt this very pessimistic and realist way of looking at the crisis and the Muslim population as a whole, is they might assume that liberalist approaches, with its theories in moral reasoning, may

"Healing Invisible Wounds of the Syrian Conflict." Bulletin of the World Health Organization, vol. 94, no. 1, Jan. 2016, pp. 6-7.

Currently, the world is in disagreement over tensions in the Middle East. A divided country of the Syrian government and rebels has caused horrific acts. Acts that the president of the United States deemed necessary for military retaliation. That has sparked the debate on if it was not only justified but ethical to launch tomahawk missiles into war-torn parts of Syria. In an article on the Huffington Post, Dr. Helen Ouyang argues that it was justified and that military intervention is needed. She uses different forms of arguments to draw comparisons of Syria to other countries around the world, dissociate the scenario with the past military struggles and offers many reasons why the benefit will outweigh the cost.

Syria has been in war for four years. The rebels versus the president, Bashar al-Assad, and his loyal troops. But in 2016, the war has worsened. One of Syria’s major cities, Aleppo, has been getting bombed relentlessly by Russia. Innocent people die everyday. Children are left hurt and parentless. People that survive unscathed try to flee the city, only to find they cannot. They are prisoners in the city they once loved.

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

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

The rebel groups that are fighting the government in Syria have also displayed savage behavior in their fight with the Syrian regime and the Islamic State. While the rebels are in theory fighting an oppressive government in order to free the Syrian people, the “rebels have also shelled civilian areas” (Goldman). The rebels, like the Syrian government, have stopped fighting for the common Syrian person and are instead fighting for power no matter the cost. Without any effective government holding them accountable the Syrian rebels entered into the state of nature and slowly became savage and began causing almost as much harm to the Syrian hoi polloi as the government. Without an effective government enforcing laws and guiding the Syrian people they have fallen victim to the state of nature theory and are proving the belief of Thomas Hobbes that “during the time men live without a common power to keep them in awe, they are in a condition called war” (Pojman 5). Even rebel groups once supported by the United States “have committed atrocities ranging from abductions and torture to summary killings” (Blake). What originally started as a fight for freedom has quickly became a primitive and violent clash for dominance between rebel groups and the Syrian regime. The rebels actions have shown

Syrian jets bombed a marketplace in Douma, Syria, killing more than 100 people in August of 2015 (Robins-Early 5). This was an attack that occurred in the midst of the Syrian civil war, a war between the government (President Bashar al-Assad), and rebel civilians. The current civil war revolves around a conflict regarding the balance of power within the country, while an immense number of innocent civilians are being caught in the center of the violence and instability that the brutal war is causing. Over 4 million people have left the country as refugees, while some are unable to escape to horrific violence (Robins-Early 1). Amongst those who are stuck within the country, children are quitting school to make money to support their families, as their parents die in the midst of the war. Innocent people- citizens of the region- are being infected by diseases that have been eradicated for a decade and a half. The Syrian civil war has caused much violence and instability to increase amongst the citizens of the war-torn country, as seen through the loss of education and childhood that the children must face, along with the disease epidemics that the entire population must face.

Another result of the war in the Middle East has been the lack of basic supplies and services for many citizens. Many refugees live in “makeshift dwellings” (“Afghanistan: Bleak Living”) and whole regions have been turned into slums. Many living in the slums are in need of food, clean water and warm clothing. In 2006, it was reported that “millions of Iraqis had little or no access to clean water, sanitation and healthcare” (BBC News). The BBC also reports that some families spend up to a third of their monthly wage of $150 USD just on clean drinking water. Not only is it shocking that the average monthly wage in Iraq is similar to the allowance of some American teens, it’s terrible that families need to pay such ridiculous amounts of money for a basic necessity that many people take for granted. Aside from food and water, it is also difficult for civilians to access other basic services like medical care and education. A UN spokesman commented on this matter saying “‘access to basic services, such as health and education’” was negatively affected by the ongoing war (“Why is it Getting Worse?”). This is particularly troublesome when UN forces carry out military operations because during the operations the number of civilian casualties is significantly higher, and injured civilians more often than not can’t afford medical attention. It’s also depressing to see that the next generation of

Sadat believes that pursuing justice through international courts may be a viable means of striping the perpetrators of many Syrian atrocities of their legal status, giving legal grounds for other countries to take action against them. Sadat writes, “International law imposes limits on the behavior of the States directly affected by the civil war in Syria. Even without specific treaty obligations imposed upon it, the Syrian government and other States in the region are bound to respect customary international law, including the customary international law of war, international criminal law and international human rights law. This includes, at a minimum, the prohibition against torture, the requirements of proportionality and distinction in war, and, as we have seen, the prohibition against the use of chemical weapons. As one of the founding members of the United Nations, Syria is also bound to respect its Charter obligations, in particular any obligations imposed on it by the Security Council acting under Chapter VII. The Security Council reminded the parties to the conflict of this obligation in its most recent Resolution, as well as recalled their obligation of compliance under Article 25 of the Charter.”(Sadat, 6) The logical appeal that Sadat uses is an attempt to remind the readers that the Syrian government cannot ignore their legal obligation to uphold various treaties that condemn and outlaw human right abuses. Sadat uses this notion of obligation to suggest to the readers of her paper, that this method of justice is

"The violence suffered by civilians in Iraq remains staggering. The so-called 'Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant' continues to commit systematic and widespread violence and abuses of international human rights law and humanitarian law."

The Syrian situation has been viewed using the just war theory lens by different scholars who have offered contrasting analysis. In what started as pro-democracy protests following the Arab spring uprisings in 2011, the ensuing unrest escalated to a civil war between government forces and rebel forces with the UN reporting that 90000 had been killed as of June 2013 and 250000 as of 2015 (Rodgers, 2016). The question raised is whether the intended United States military intervention is justified or not from a just war theory perspective. According to William Galston, a senior fellow at Brookings institution, the enormity of the massacre in Syria justifies an external intervention failure to which he thinks the war will continue indefinitely. Based on the principle of just war, Galston observes that the proposed intervention would be protecting further killings of innocent human life pointing out it might be the last resort (Shimron, 2013). Another scholar, Rabbi Broyde, a professor of law, concurs with Galston’s observations that an

The promise of combatants to treat others with the code of dignity was to deter such barbaric treatment but also to deny “the protections of that code if they broke the laws of war and abused civilians themselves” (Krauthammer 2005). Therefore, the members of ISIS are not entitled to the same rights as an ordinary citizen, which makes their dissolution morally acceptable. On another hand, Assad was another wicked power that has violated human rights, including the torture and killings of thousands of Assad dissidents. Hence, the toppling of the Assad regime goes back to the same ethical justification of America’s responsibility to protect other individuals from crimes against humanity. Moreover, the replacement of this dictatorship will bring more good than harm. Although, the country may not have the political infrastructure to properly support a new democracy, Syria will be unbounded from autocratic rule and have the right to govern themselves – without the intervention of Assad nor any terrorists being harbored

Syrian civil war started in 2011 was the outcome of the opposition against the President Bashar al-Assad regime. The uprising emerged as a response to the Arab spring movement that lead to regime change in Tunisia and subsequently turned into mass unrest rooted into the discontent with long-term dictatorship and poor economic situation in the country (Manfreda, n.d.). The number of Syrian citizens killed in the civil war reached 140000 since March 2011 (SBS 2014). The European Commission (2014, 2) reports approximately 9.3 million civilians “in need for humanitarian assistance”. The scale of armed rebellion between government and opposition that lead to an increasing number of casualties among civilians did not remain unnoticed by the