Civil War in Syria

        Tension between the Syrian government and a coalition rebel forces has drawn much international attention these past few weeks.  While this is an ongoing conflict of around two years now, recent developments on the issue have created a great amount of political turmoil worldwide.  

        As I said before, this conflict is nothing new.  In early 2011 Syrian citizens mimicked the peaceful protests that had taken place in Egypt and Tunisia in order to show their growing disdain with the government and President Assad’s leadership.  The Syrian government responded to these protests violently.  When the demonstrations initially began security forces were sent to quietly kill those involved in the hopes of silencing activists without drawing too much international attention to the issue.  Security forces also used torture and rape as means to punish activists.  As protests continued the government increased the intensity of their responses, which soon escalated to open-fire on protesters.  

        The consistent violence displayed by the government led rebel groups to counter with violent actions as well, leading to the outbreak of a civil war.  The opposition forces began organizing themselves, and in July of 2011 opposition activists met in Istanbul to form a unified union, known as the Free Syrian Army (FSA).  Outbreaks of violence continue to take place within the nation’s borders and many political powers worldwide do not think peace will come any time soon.  

        As I stated earlier, recent developments on this conflict have created much political turmoil worldwide within the past few weeks.  It is speculated that the Syrian government carried out an attack on civilians using chemical weapons, which many international leaders believe goes against the agreement that chemical weapons are immoral and should not be used against civilians.   The use of these weapons has raised many questions regarding whether or not other international powers should become involved with the issue.  In the past week president Obama has requested congressional approval to perform a tactical strike on Syria in order to prevent any further use of chemical weaponry.  The possibility of US intervention has caused a lot of debate with the United States' own borders, and has increased tensions between the United States and other international powers such as Russia and China.

Authors:

Angela Markwith

David Galdamez

Wes Campagna 

Hao Le

Luke Manuel

Jasmin Rezaie-Tirabadi

Kelsey Turner

Work Cited

Fisher, M. (2013, August 29). 9 Questions About Syria You Were Too Embarrassed to Ask.  The Washington Post. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/08/29/9-questions-about-syria-you-were-too-embarrassed-to-ask/

(2013, September 4). Syria Profile. BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14703856

Acosta, J. (2013, August 31). Obama’s last minute decision to seek congressional approval for Syria strike. CNN U.S. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/31/us/obama-last-minute-decision/index.html?iref=allsearch