Syrian Civil War

Last summer, while on a trip with the Eisenhower Institute’s Inside the Middle East program. I stood at the Israeli edge of the Golan Heights and heard a bomb explode across the border in Syria. We had spent the day within several miles of the war-ravaged nation with all remaining quiet until that moment, and while none of us wanted to admit it, we had the smallest hope that we might catch a glimpse of the conflict. However, when the sound of the detonation roared across the hills, excitement was replaced by a sense of fear and grief. I had lived a year in Gettysburg, yet I had never felt so close to a battlefield.

— Annika Jensen (age 18)

Currently in the world, Syria has been fighting a civil war for about six years now. Syria currently has a population of 17.8 million (estimated). Syria was once one of the world’s leading tourist destinations in the Middle East with its culture and history such as it's Ancient City of Aleppo, Dead Cities, and its old cities of Damascus and Bosra. Due to the civil war happening right now, tourist numbers fell by a shocking number of 98%. With that amount of tourist decline, it has brought a tremendous amount of decline with money with about $6 billion in losses.

The Syrian Civil War started as a peaceful protest that civilians acted on demanding the Syrian Government to meet their demands such as lack of freedom and economical issues.

After 15 boys were arrested and tortured for writing graffiti supporting the “Arab Spring” (series of anti-government protests, demonstrations, and armed rebellions that occurred across the Middle East). One of the boys was brutally tortured and died from his punishments. After this event occurred, The Syrian Government and President Bashar al-Assad acted on the protests by killing hundreds of demonstrators and arresting and prisoning more. This brought defectors/traitors from the military to form the rebel group “Free Syrian Army” with the goal of overthrowing the  government. From this point, Syria has just began its civil war. The civil war brought many rebel groups to help overthrow the government such as ISIL/ISIS.

 As the war continues to grow, territory is being changed. As of August 2016, The government of Syria only holds 35% of Syria (66% of population) while ISIS controls 35% of Syria as well. 12% is controlled by other rebel groups and 18% is held by the Kurds (Islamic people living in parts of Eastern Turkey, Northern Iraq, Western Iran, and Eastern Syria.

The results of the Civil War has brought 450,000 deaths with 50,000 being children and 4.81 million Syrians fleeing the country and 6.3 million people are displaced internally (someone who is forced to flee his or her home but who remains within his or her country’s borders. They are often referred as refugees, although they do not fall within the current legal definition of a refugee).

At this rate, the war should end with a peace treaty between the Syrian Government and the rebel forces. The amount of casualties and people fleeing has created more problems for other countries as they could or could not have the refugees stay there. Therefore, a diplomatic peace treaty would be the right way to end this civil war as we once did in the United States (The Civil War between the North and South) and rebuild the country.

As of December 22, 2016 - Syria’s state-run media has announced government forces has taken full control of Aleppo, ending more than four years of rebel rule there.