The United States Military Intervention Essay

The push to overthrow Bashar began on social media by a group called, “Syrian Revolution 2011 against Bashar al-Assad” (Gelvin 2015). The group scheduled a peaceful protest in Damascus on March 11th to demand the release of political prisoners, which was not successful. A few days later, 10 school children were arrested in Daraa for making statements against the regime. When they were not released, a large group of protestors took it to the streets in protest. The regime opened fire and killed several. Protests spread from city to city across Syria, eventually reaching the largest cities of Damascus and Aleppo (Gelvin 2015). From this moment the situation has spiraled out of control, turning into a civil war and after international intervention, a proxy war.

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

(Michales) The Russian Defense Ministry said that a training camp and ammo depot were destroyed by bombings near the Islamic State’s defector capital in Syria, Raqqa. The countries of France, Turkey, the United States, Germany, Britain, Qutar, and Saudi Arabia; all say that Russia’s actions will “only fuel more radicalization and extremism.” (Michales) Russia’s airstrikes complicate U.S. efforts to build a moderate opposition in Syria, designed to counter the Islamic State there. (Michales) Pentagon efforts to train and deploy forces stalled before Russia’s airstrikes, but any future recruitment could be difficult if the Pentagon doesn’t provide U.S- backed rebels with guarantee of protection if they come under Russian attack. (Michales) Iraq is accepting help from both the United States and Russia is an ally to the Shiite- dominated government, Iraqi leaders will follow them, while the U.S has been trying to force the Iraqis to compromise with the Sunnis. Nonetheless, when the time comes, Iraq will pick Russia for help to fight

I am writing to you today as a student at the College of William and Mary. I am in an International Security class and recently we studied the events occurring in Syria. As you are well aware, the situation in Syria has been dramatically deteriorating in recent months with the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the recent entrance of Russia into the conflict. Syria, meanwhile, has been in the midst of a ravaging civil war since the early spring of 2011. Currently, the government of Syria is led by President Bashar al-Assad, a member of the Syrian Ba’ath Party, a branch of the same Ba’ath Party that Saddam Hussein was also a member of. This similarity may lead some to think that Syria will end up like Iraq, with a

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 the years leading up to and during the Iraq War, the United States pursued a neo-conservative agenda that aimed to dismantle Saddam Hussein’s regime, eliminate the threat of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), and install a democratic government in Iraq. To do so, U.S. policymakers deployed military forces and diplomatic ambassadors to intervene. This strategy, clearly seen during the early invasion in 2003 and the surge of 2007, produced mixed reactions. Indeed, more than a decade after the U.S. decision to mediate, the question remains: Can intervention actually work?

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.

The opposition forces, while not fighting each other or Assad's forces, are combating a tertiary group of radical islamists --who-- like the forces of the Comintern, are comprised of domestic and foreign radicals who are imposing their totalitarian will over the regions that they control. It must be noted that while ISIS, in contrast with the Comintern forces, is not a hard Leftist organization. The economic alignment of ISIS can be more accurately compared to that of Third Position politics, which share many socio-economic traits of Stalinist Leftism. SImilar to the Spanish Civil War, this political infighting has led to the weakening of the opposition forces. This has led to many experts alluding to a Assad victory. A victory that could be avoided if the opposition forces put aside their ideological differences in the quest for “democracy”.

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

Jamie Fly, the Former Director for Counterproliferation Strategy at the National Security Council, argues that the situation in Syria more convincingly warrants American intervention than the situation in Libya; however, government officials and the American public remain largely apprehensive to make a move in Syria like they did in Libya. Fly cites Syria’s possession of chemical weapons, their program to covertly secure supplies to nuclear weapons, and their harboring of radical groups that posed a threat to the United States as warrants for American involvement in the Syrian Civil War (Fly). Fly also argues that the U.S. and its allies should establish protected zones around threatened cities — although he neglects to describe what he means by that — and “seriously consider arming the opposition” (Fly). Similar to the previous argument made by Abdulhamid, Fly argues that the United States has an obligation to the Syrian people to intervene in the name of human

As we all know United States of America is one of the most powerful country in the world and it has a power to change the ruling party of other countries. People have different opinion on US going to war, even US citizen have opinion on this. I, strictly oppose US on their foreign policy. They work for their own interest and to make big businessman happy who support politician financially. Others, who are concerned about the threat of terrorist activity in this country and others, stick with the belief that the United States is right in their attempt to remove people dictating countries from power. We hear a lot of talk in the media about the US and allied forces bringing freedom and democracy to the people of Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan. Let us not be deceived by these grand words; they are lies.

Introduction: I think that everyone here can pretty much agree that the United States is known as the leader of the world. This title comes with responsibility, and one of those responsibilities is defending nations that cannot defend themselves. This is exactly what we are doing by attacking ISIS, and it is the right thing to do. This topic is incredibly relevant, as our airstrikes began a little more than a month ago and they are planned to continue for the next three years. After a great amount of research and studying, I can confidently say that America needs to continue the airstrikes in Syria in an effort to eradicate ISIS. I will convince you that these airstrikes need to continue

Syrian Sunni rebels have been trained by the U.S. military to attack northern Syria, and turned to U.S airstrikes. This is a semi alliance, and it is loose, so they do not actually work together; they just have a common goal. In this semi alliance, the US provides support, and trains Syrian rebels, to fight the war against northern Syria. This is a different kind of war than WWII. WWII was fought between countries and ended with a clear winner. In this scenario, Part of a country rebels against another part, but with another country aiding the rebels. Nadim Hassan, who is the leader of the 30th division, which is a not as extreme group of rebels, has been captured along with others. Syria became independent in 1946, and very shortly became and unstable nation with a lot of cases of rebellion and other things. In 2011, Syrians became inspired to rebel because of the Arab spring activists in Egypt and Tunisia. The Arab spring is a giant collection of protests, wars, and revolutions around the Middle East that started in December 17, 2010 in Tunisia. The consequences of the Syrian war also differ from the consequences of the nuclear bombs that were dropped and Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The consequences resulting from the war in Syria include the deaths of over 10,000 people, and Syria is currently a nation in crisis. The Islamic religion is split into two branches, which are called Sunni and Shiite. Syria is considered an Islamic country, and the government in Syria is dominated with Shiites. This Sunni versus Shiite conflict is another reason along with the Arab spring for the war in Syria. The Sunnis are rebelling against the Shiite government, and this is similar to a civil war. Civil war is similar to another topic, revolution. Revolution is defined as: “A fundamental change in political organization; especially the overthrow or renunciation of one government or ruler and the substitution of another by the governed.” The main

It makes no sense to just drop a bomb on Syria, or to simply start shooting every terrorist. Instead we should be careful in our response. We do not want to seem soft on terrorism and we should still continue to let the terrorists know that if you attack our homelands we will use military tactics back. However, what would be ideal would be to continue to develop co-operation and strategies to work with the countries where the terrorists live to help to bring an end to

One of the greatest challenges for the anti-Assad rebellion has been fighting a well-armed, well-supported Assad regime (Sorenson, pg. 13). The United States has provide arms and support to anti-regime fighters, but not nearly at the same pace as Russia and Iran have resupplied Assad. Also, rebels lack cohesion, as there are numerous anti-Assad factions that are attempting to overthrow the government, often times competing with each other. In order to bring the rebels together, and form a stronger rebellion against Assad, this course of action requires U.S. military presence on the ground. While I do not submit that the United States lead the attacks, we should instead embed ourselves with Syrian rebels, providing direct training and mentoring to the rebels, as well as providing support from aircraft and long-range artillery. Similar to operations in Libya, the U.S.-led air attacks can directly attack Assad himself, paving the way for a more successful rebellion. While we cannot possibly unite all of the rebel groups, we must show and provide a unified front for