Revised Syria Assignment

8/10/2019 Revised Syria Assignment

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Table of Contents

Sr No Contents Pg No

1. Introduction 2

2. Syria: Key notes 3

3. Syria conflicts:

Background & Current situation

4

4. 10 simple points to understand Syria conflict 9

5. Syria chemical weapon attack 15

6. Effects on Syrians 18

7. Timeline of Situations 19

8. International Isolation 23

9. Conclusion 24


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INTRODUCTION

Once the centre of the Islamic Empire, Syria covers an area that has seen

invasions and occupations over the ages, from Romans and Mongols to

Crusaders and Turks. A country of fertile plains, high mountains and deserts, it

is home to diverse ethnic and religious groups, including Kurds, Armenians,

Assyrians, Christians, Druze, Alawite Shia and Arab Sunnis, the last of who

make up a majority of the Muslim population.

Modern Syria gained its independence from France in 1946, but has lived

through periods of political instability driven by the conflicting interests of

these various groups. From 1958-61 it united with Nasser's Egypt, but an army

coup restored independence before the pan-Arab nationalist Baath

(Renaissance) party took control in 1963.

The Baath government has seen authoritarian rule at home and a strong

anti-Western policy abroad, particularly under President Hafez al-Assad from

1970 to 2000. In 1967 Syria lost the Golan Heights to Israel after the Arab

defeat in the Six Day War. Civil war in neighbouring Lebanon in the 1970s

allowed it to extend its political and military influence in that country. Syria

pulled its forces out of Lebanon in 2005, having come under intense

international pressure to do so after the assassination of Lebanese former Prime

Minister Rafik Hariri. A UN report implicated Syrian and pro-Syria Lebaneseofficials in the killing, although Damascus still denies any involvement.

The government deals harshly with domestic opposition. Tens of

thousands are estimated to have been killed in the suppression of the 1982

uprising of the Muslim Brotherhood in Hama. Following the death of Hafez al-

Assad in 2000 Syria underwent a brief period of relaxation. Hundreds of

political prisoners were released, but real political freedoms and a shake-up of

the state-dominated economy never materialised.

In 2011-12 security forces used tanks, gunfire and mass arrests to try tocrush anti-government street protests inspired by the Arab Spring in Tunisia,

Egypt and Libya. These protests rapidly took on a more formal nature when the

opposition began to organise political and military wings for a long uprising

against the Baath government. As 2012 wore on, the stand-off escalated into

civil war, with defections from the governing elite signalling the steady collapse

of central authority.


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Syria: Key notes

Population 22,457,336 (July 2013 estimate)

Religion74% Sunni Muslim, 16% other

Muslim (includes Alawite and

Druze), 10% Christian

Age22.7 median age. One-third of the

population is under 15, while 3.9%

is over 65.


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Syria conflict: The background and current situation

The conflict in Syria appears on the surface to be a battle between those

loyal to President Bashar Al-Assad and those who oppose him. However,reducing the situation to a fight between the good masses struggling for

freedom against an evil government is both simplistic and inaccurate. Al-

Assad has been in power since 2000, when he succeeded his father, who had

ruled the country for 30 years. The uprising against him began in March 2011 in

Deraa, when several demonstrators were killed by security forces while

protesting against the arrest of some teenagers who had painted revolutionary

slogans on a school wall. This spread to nationwide protests in May, demanding

the Presidents resignation.

Fighting intensified and the government used military force to crush any

opposition. In February 2012 this approach saw tanks sent into Deraa and the

city of Homs hit with rockets and mortars, killing 700 people. Also in 2012 the

conflict reached the capital of Damascus and the second city of Aleppo. There

were numerous bombings, and while officials blame terrorists linked to al-

Qaeda, the opposition claim security forces planted the bombs to discredit both

rebels and peaceful protesters.According to the UN, 80,000 people have died so far in the conflict. 1.6

million Syrian refugees are receiving aid in the neighbouring countries of

Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey, but some 4.25 million people have been

displaced in total. The UN recently launched an emergency appeal for $5bn as it

warns half the population will require humanitarian aid by the end of the year.

There have been a number of massacres since the conflict began, including one

in Houla in May 2012 in which 49 children died. The UN has accused forces

loyal to the government of violating international law by targeting civilians.


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What's happening in Syria and will the violence end?

Date: 20thSep 2013

The violence in Syria began in March 2011. The Middle Eastern country

has been crippled by a brutal civil war. Since then, the United Nations estimatesmore than 100,000 people have died in the clashes between President Bashar al-

Assad's government and rebel forces who want him out. TheUN also says more

than two million people have fled Syria to neighbouring countries,andover half

of those refugees are children.In July 2012, the International Red Cross said the

violence in Syria had become so widespread that it was in a state of civil war.

But what are the reasons behind the violence? And what is being done to

stop it getting any worse?

How did it all start?

The trouble began in 2011 in the Syrian city of Deraa. Locals took to the

streets to protest after 15 schoolchildren had been arrested - and reportedly

tortured - for writing anti-government graffiti on a wall. The protests were

peaceful to begin with, calling for the kids' release, democracy and greater

freedom for people in the country. The government responded angrily, and on

18 March 2011, the army opened fire on protesters, killing four people. The

following day, they shot at mourners at the victims' funerals, killing anotherperson. People were shocked and angry at what had happened and soon the

unrest had spread to other parts of the country.

What do the protesters want and what have they got?

At first the protesters just wanted democracy and greater freedom. But

once government forces opened fire on peaceful demonstrations, people

demanded that the President, Bashar al-Assad, resign. President Assad refused

to step down.

As the violence worsened he offered to change some things about the way

the country is run, but the protesters didn't believe him. President Assad also has

quite a lot of people in Syria that still support him and his government.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/23940892http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/23940892http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/23807229http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/23807229http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/23807229http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/23807229http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/23940892http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/23940892


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Who are the rebel fighters?

There isn't a clear single group of rebels, united against President Assad.

The opposition, who all want the president to step down, is split between

groups of rebel fighters, political parties and people living in exile, who cannotreturn to the country.

The Free Syrian Army is the largest group fighting military battles

against the government. It's far smaller than the government's army; it's poorly

equipped and most of its fighters have only had basic training.

There are many smaller military groups all fighting against the

government, but they are not under the control of the Free Syrian Army and

some of them hold extreme views against western countries.

Other opposition groups try to distance themselves from the violence.Instead they claim to offer an alternative to the current government and propose

a peaceful political solution to the crisis.

Chemical Weapons

There has been increasing pressure on the international community to act

after it emerged that chemical weapons are being used in the war.

But in August 2013, a chemical attack just outside the Syrian capital,

Damascus, caused a strong reaction from the likes of America, Britain and

France.

Now, those countries are debating how best to react to the deepening crisis.

In September 2013, United Nations inspectors confirmed thatchemical

weapons had been used in Syria,but the report did not say who was responsible.

Syria, however, denies using chemical weapons,which are banned under

international law because the effects of their use are so horrific.

The government said: "there is no country in the world that uses aweapon of ultimate destruction against its own people." It blamed the rebel

forces for the chemical attack.


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What have other countries decided to do?

The chemical attack caused international outrage and many leaders

argued it demanded a strong response. But MPs in Westminster voted against

Britain being involved in military action in Syria. The American and French

governments discussed limited missile strikes against military targets in Syria.

But Russia has strong ties with President Assad's Syrian government and has

helped Syria in the past by supplying weapons.

The refugee crisis

Many ordinary Syrian people have been caught up in the violence of the

war and have been forced to leave their homes to escape to other countries.

Every day refugees stream across the borders of Syria into the neighbouring

nations of Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq. In August 2013 the UnitedNations said that the number of Syrian children who'd been forced to flee the

country had reached one million. Millions more have been displaced within

Syria and are in desperate need of help. But aid agencies say that getting aid to

people inside Syria is too difficult and dangerous.

What happens next?

It doesn't look like the fighting is going to end any time soon.

Neither the Free Syrian Army nor the government forces have been able

to defeat the other. It seems unlikely that Syrian government troops will ever beable to regain full control of the country.

For now, discussions continue between powerful nations like the US,

Russia, Britain and France, to try to work out if there's a way to help Syria

achieve peace. Some countries like Britain and France have argued in favour of

sending weapons to the rebels, saying this would encourage the Syrian

government towards coming up with a solution to the conflict.

But there's a big debate about whether sending weapons is the right way

to end the war. There's no way of telling who might get hold of the weapons and

it could make things even worse.


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10 simple points to help you understand the Syria conflict

THIS is a complicated war. This is a messy, cruel war where neither side has

much regard for civilian casualties. This war is not black-and-white. You mightthink it's the brave rebels versus the evil dictatorial regime, and that's part of the

story. But it's not all of it. Not by a long way.

Confused about Syria? Us too. But this quick 10-point explainer will help. To

help us navigate this tragic conflict, we spoke to two Australians with a unique

view on the troubled nation.

1. Syria

A country smaller than the state of Victoria with almost the exact same

population as Australia (22.5 million to our 23 million) which borders Turkey,Iraq, Jordan, Israel and Lebanon. Syria has both deserts and fertile areas and is

steeped in history dating back to biblical times.

2. The Syrian regime

Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.AFP PHOTO/SANA Source:AFP

The Syrian Civil war is a conflict between its long-serving government

and those seeking to boot it out of office. The Assad family has held power in

Syria since 1971. First it was Hafez al-Assad, then Bashar al-Assad.Unlike many regime leaders in the Middle East middle, The Assad family

is not religiously extreme. They are Alawite - a relatively obscure branch of

Islam which is not particularly hard-line. So the people have not been protesting

against hard-line Islamists, as happened in other countries which participated in

the Arab Spring uprisings. But people are still angry at their government. What

they're angry about is the failure of long-promised economic and political

reforms.


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3. The Civil War begins

The catalyst was the jailing on March 6, 2011, of some children who

painted anti-regime graffiti. Some were killed in detention, and this led to public

protests which spread around the country - fuelled by the failure of the

government to punish the perpetrators.

Another theory says the war started with demonstrations which mirrored

those in neighbouring countries, and which soon led to a security crackdown. In

April 2011, the Syrian Army fired on demonstrators and the protests became a

full-scale armed rebellion.

Window on the world, Syria style. AFP PHOTO/STR Source:AFP

4. The rebellion grows

By July 2011, the Free Syrian Army (FSA) had formed. As Dr Shanahan

explains, the FSA never existed before that. "Local areas formed their own

militias with the aim of toppling the government without any co-ordination or

centralised command or control," he says.

"The militias were a combination of local area tribal groups, deserters

from the military [who had been conscripted despite holding anti-government

beliefs] and disaffected locals."

Then a combination of Jihadists, some from Syria and some fromelsewhere, joined the FSA. Some even came from the faraway Caucasus region

- where accused Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev originally hailed from.

So in other words, you had genuine Syrian freedom fighters joined by

people with their own Islamist agendas. But because the FSA was under armed

and undermanned, they had little choice but to form a loose coalition with these

volatile new kids on the revolutionary block.


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5. And pretty soon, bad guys on both sides are killing civilians

There are good and bad people on both sides. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network,

SNN) Source:AP

As Father Dave Smith says, "the way it's been depicted the last couple ofyears, you get the impression the rebels are Robin Hood and his band of merry

men, and that all they want is freedom and justice for all. But that couldn't be

further from the truth."

"The situation is very bad now in Latakia province. 7 Alawite villages

were massacred. We know about the killing of 136 villagers all killed on

sectarian bases. A friend of mind lost 21 members of his relatives.

"All of my friends who were documenting the name and the events of

massacres in Latakia against Alawites are now being threatened to be killed by

FSA and Al Nusra terrorists On TV we are shown something different. It is

only propaganda. They're trying to say that Alawites are not being killed or

displaced. The truth is being hidden by mass media. .. This is sick My sister

now is very ill I guess a part of her illness is caused by sadness we are

afraid."Ghinwa, Resident of Syria

A quick recap. Alawites are the ethnicity of the ruling family. The fact

they were allegedly being killed by rebel groups suggests the rebels are not all

angels.


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6. Civilian casualties

Her bedroom was ruined, but this woman was one of the lucky ones. Source:

AP

"There are accusations of atrocities on both sides," Rodger Shanahan

confirms. We should believe some of them, absolutely. There's no accurateconfirmation, but it's a nasty horrible civil war with people on both sides getting

killed.

Dr Shanahan says there is evidence that opposition car bombs have killed

countless civilians in the name of taking out a government target. But there are

equally distressing reports that government soldiers executed civilians. Others,

shockingly, were executed for taking a moral stance and failing to follow orders

to execute civilians.

Like we said, it's a bloody mess. Literally. The death toll in the war isnow said to be well over 100,000.

7. The president's wife

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma al-Assad. AFP PHOTO /

Gerard Cerles Source:Supplied

Allow us to break up this tale with a story of the president's wife. Her

name is Asma al-Assad and she was raised in Britain by Syrian parents. She's

smart, glamorous and she worked as an investment banker before meeting her

future husband in Britain in 2000 - just months before he became president.


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In March 2011, the American version of Vogue magazine ran a long,

glowing profile of Asma al-Assad. Talk about bad timing. The story was soon

removed from Vogue's website and the journalist who wrote it tried to cover her

tracks by penning a separate story elsewhere entitled "First Lady of Hell".

Even as the Civil war rages, the Assad family remains popular with many

middle class Syrians, especially urbanised Sunni Muslims, says Dr Rodger

Shanahan. "They still prefer him to the opposition," he says.

8. Refugee hell

No queue-jumping here. AP Photo/Hadi Mizban Source:AP

The United Nations estimates that more than 1.5 million refugees have

now fled Syria. Father David Smith visited several camps across the border in

Lebanon - a country whose population of 4.3 million is bulging with the influx

of a total of nearly 2 million Palestinian and Syrian refugees.

"The camps I saw were deeply impressive," Father Dave says. "Every

Palestinian family took in two, maybe three Syrian families. These included

polygamous families which presented a whole new problem. The wives often

lived in separate houses in Syria but now they were not just under the same roof

but sleeping on the same floor. The domestic violence and rape problems are

enormous. I was deeply impressed with camp and people running it."


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9. Chemical weapons

Just who unleashed the chemical weapons attack which killed hundreds

of children and other civilians last week - and why? UN weapons inspectors

arrived yesterday with a mandate to find that out. And when they do, it will

affect what the world does next.

"They have a mandate to say whether a chemical attack occurred but not

to apportion blame," Dr Shanahan cautions. "First, they have to establish

whether an incident occurred [it is still disputed by some] and at what level the

action was authorised. It is plausible that Assad didn't authorise it but a local

commander did."

10. What happens next?The world waits. "You would think the way diplomatic manoeuvrings are

going that if there is some kind of military strike it would be quite limited," Dr

Shanahan says. "It would be punitive, not designed to tip the military balance."

In other words, no Iraq-style invasion or prolonged Western intervention.

And Father Dave's opinion of what comes next? He doesn't know. But

he's praying. He speaks of a man he met in Syria who said he's gone "from

unemployment to slavery". That's his way of saying the revolution has so far

achieved a whole bunch of nothing except bloodshed and dislocation.


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The Syria Chemical Weapons Attack: Human Rights Watch is

manipulating the Facts

On 21 August 2013 a series of chemical attacks were perpetrated in the Ghouta

suburbs of eastern Damascus. Sources say that between 281 and 1,729 civilianswere killed, while Medecins Sans Frontiers reported around 3,600 were injured

in the attacks. On the same day UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon instructed

the UN Mission already in Syria to investigate allegations of chemical weapons

use in Khan al-Asal, Sheik Maqsoos and Saraqueb to focus their efforts on the

Ghouta allegations.

Before the UN Mission had reported its preliminary findings, Human

Rights Watch (HRW) jumped the gun on 10 September with its own report

written by Peter Bouckaert, the organisations Emergencies Director.

The report admits that HRW did not have physical access to the site and had

based its study on Skype interviews with More than 10 witnesses and

survivors made over a period of two weeks between 22 August and 6

September. These were supplemented by video and photo footage and other

data from an unnamed source or sources.


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It is unclear then, exactly how many exposed survivors were interviewed

by HRW or who the other witnesses were.

In compiling the report HRW had also drawn on the technical services of Keith

B. Ward Ph.D., an expert on the detection and effects of chemical warfare

agents. However the organisation did not disclose that Dr Ward is employed by

Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency of the United States

government. The HRW investigation was also assisted by arms experts

including Nic Jenzen-Jones as well as Eliot Higgins [] who collected and

analysed photos and videos from the attacks.

On 11 September, a day after the HRW report was published, the

International Support Team for Mussalaha in Syria published its unique and

important analysis of documentation nominated by US intelligence. Havingcarefully and thoughtfully analysed the data, including a number of images also

published in the Bouckaert report, the study discovered not only widespread

manipulation of evidence, but in the tradition of BBC reporting in Syria, they

also discovered that photographs of victims in Cairo had been described as

victims of a chemical attack in Syria. This preliminary study concludes that

there has been gross media manipulation and calls for an independent and

unbiased International Commission to identify the children who were killed and

try to find the truth of the case. This writer has not seen any HRW documentwhich refers to the ISTEAMS study.

The UN Mission report was published six days after the Bouckaert report

on 16 September. This disclosed that the Mission had been allowed a total of

only seven-and-a-half hours on-site in the two suburbs which are both located in

opposition-controlled areas. During that period they had experienced repeated

threats of harm and one actual attack by an unidentified sniper on 26 August.

Nevertheless they had collected samples and a considerable amount of

information along with primary statements from more than fifty exposedsurvivors including patients, health workers and first-responders. In fact the

statements had been taken in interviews with nine nurses, seven doctors and 36

survivors. The Mission concluded that there was definitive evidence of

exposure to Sarin by a large proportion of the survivors assessedand it stated

that it had been informed that victims began suffering effects following an

artillery barrage on 21 August 2013. All interviews, sampling and

documentation followed procedures developed by the Organisation for the

Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the World Health Organisation.


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The report states that several surface to surface rockets capable of

delivering significant chemical payloads were identified and recorded at the

investigated sites but only five impact sites in total were investigated by the

Mission (presumably because of the time constraints imposed on them by those

who controlled the areas).

The UN report is not without its contradictions. In a summary in their

Letter of Transmittal the authors wrote In particular, the environmental,

chemical and medical samples, we have collected, provide clear and convincing

evidence that surface-to-surface rockets containing the nerve agent sarin were

used in Ein Tarma, Moadamiyah and Zamalka.

And yet none of the 13 environmental samples taken from Moadamiyah were

found to have any traces of sarin, although one of the two laboratories

conducting the analyses found degradation products of sarin in four of the

thirteen samples while a further sample was found to contain degradation

products by the other lab. Although two of the samples were unspecified metal

fragments, none of the samples was specifically described as being part of a

rocket. Does the discovery of degradation products in 38 per cent of the samples

(and only 23 per cent of the tests) along with a complete absence of the

chemical agent itself constitute clear and convincing evidence that

Moadamiyah was attacked by surface-to-surface rockets containing sarin?


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Effects on Syrians

Human Toll in conflict

100,000+ have been killed

This is aUnited Nations estimate.The UN believes the actual toll may be muchhigher as many deaths are not reported.

2 million have fled Syria

These are the 1.93 million refugees who have registeredand another 174,000

who are waiting to registerwith the office of theUN High Commissioner on

Refugees.The actual number is feared to be much higher.

3/4 of refugees are women and children

Almost half of the refugees are girls and women, while another quarter are boys

under 18.Another 4 million+ are displaced inside Syria:

Aid agencies continue to increase their estimates of internally displaced people

as the fighting rages through the country.
http://www.cbc.ca/news2/world/story/2013/07/25/syria-death-toll-crosses-100000.htmlhttp://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/regional.phphttp://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/regional.phphttp://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/regional.phphttp://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/regional.phphttp://www.cbc.ca/news2/world/story/2013/07/25/syria-death-toll-crosses-100000.html


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Time line of Situations in Syria

February 22, 2011

Inspired by the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, 15 teenagers write anti-

regime graffiti on the walls of Dara, a small town in southern Syria. They are

arrested and thrown into prison.

March 25, 2011

Syrian troops fire into a reportedly peaceful demonstration over the teens'

February arrests. Several people are killed.

May 18, 2011

The United States imposes sanctions on Syria after a month of violent

crackdowns by the Assad regime against protesters. Activists say at least 700

people have been killed.


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July 31, 2011

Tanks roll into the central city of Hama, launching an attack before the

first day of Ramadan that activists say kills 80 people, bringing back memories

of the 1982 massacre of 20,000 people in the same city by Assad's father.

August 18, 2011

"For the sake of the Syrian people, the time has come for President Assad

to step aside," says President Barack Obama. The leaders of Britain, France, and

Germany join the United States in calling for Assad to resign.

November 12, 2011

The Arab League, which includes Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and 20 othercountries, votes to suspend Syria's membership and threatens to impose

economic and political sanctions if it doesn't stop the ongoing attacks against

protesters.

February 4, 2012

International officials condemn the "massacre" in the city of Homs after

an estimated 300 people are killed by a barrage of artillery fire from Syriangovernment forces. Shortly thereafter, China and Russia veto a resolution by the

U.N. Security Council backing an Arab League peace plan for Syria.

August 21, 2012

President Barack Obama says Assad using chemical weapons would be a

"red line" that would "change his equation" on Syria. Opposition activists put

the death toll in the conflict at 20,000.

March 19, 2013

Rebels and the Assad regime accuse each other of using chemical

weapons to kill 25 people in the Khan al-Assal region north of Aleppo. The

White House announces there will be "consequences" if the Syrian government

is guilty of the attack. More than 6,000 people are killed in March alone,

activists say, making it the bloodiest month since the conflict began.


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August 5, 2013

Another chemical attack by the Syrian army was reported by the

opposition, who documented the injured with video footage. The activists claim

up to 400 people were affected by the attack in Adra and Houma of the

Damascus suburbs. The content of the chemicals used has not been identified

yet.

On 21 August, Syrian activists reported that Assad regime forces struck

Jobar, Zamalka, 'Ain Tirma, and Hazzah in the Eastern Ghouta region with

chemical weapons. At least 635 people were killed in a nerve gas attack. The

Ghouta chemical attacks were confirmed after a three week investigation

conducted by the UN, who also confirmed the main agent used in the chemical

attacks was sarin gas. The Mission collected clear and convincing evidence

that surface-to-surface rockets containing the nerve agent sarin were used in the

Ein Tarma, Moadamiyah and Zalmalka in the Ghouta area of Damascus. Third

party analysis of the evidence reported by the UN showed that the sarin gas was

military grade, and the rockets that delivered the sarin were likely launched

from Syrian army controlled territory.

August 21, 2013

Opposition forces claim that hundreds of people are killed in a chemicalweapons attack in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta, putting pressure on Obama

to act on his "red line" comment. The Syrian government denies using chemical

weapons.

August 26, 2013

Secretary of State John Kerry says there is enough evidence to "strongly

indicate" that the Syrian government had used chemical weapons in Ghouta,

calling the attack a "moral obscenity."

September 9, 2013Russia urged Syria to put its' chemical weapons stockpile under

international control. The initiative was expressed in the wake of American

threat of attacking Syria after the chemical attack of August 21. On September

14, U.S. and Russia announced in Geneva that they reached a deal on how

Assad should give up his chemical weapons.


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International Isolation

On the world stage Syria became increasingly isolated in recent years,

coming under fire for its support for insurgents in Iraq and over its role in

Lebanon. That isolation showed brief signs of easing after efforts by France to

bring Syria back into the international fold in 2008, but Syria's violation of a

UN ban on arming the Lebanese Hezbollah militia led to the extension of US

sanctions in May 2010. Further international sanctions were imposed amid the

bloody repression of protests in the descent into civil war. By December 2012

the US, Turkey, Gulf states, France and Britain had recognised the main

opposition National Coalition of the Syrian Revolution as the "sole legitimate

representative of the Syrian people", signalling their belief that the Assad

government is beyond redemption.

The rise of the Al-Nusra front, a radical Islamist militia allied to al-

Qaeda, in rebel ranks led to a marked cooling of international and regional

support for the opposition in mid-2013, and allowed the government and its

Hezbollah allies to launch a counter-offensive. The Assad governments have

been among the most intransigent opponents of peace with Israel, and have

supported several anti-Israel armed groups - most notably Hezbollah and the

Gaza-based Palestinian group Hamas. Hopes for reconciliation have repeatedly

foundered over Syria's support for these groups and the vexed question of the

Golan Heights.


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Conclusion

The Syrian conflict has drop the jaw of the U N & the world citizen is

finding hard to digest the news of a president attacking its own citizens.

Different nations of the world should upfrontly intervene the politics of

Syria & stop the massacre caused by the Syrian army. The prolonged crisis will

have adverse effects on the citizens of Syria & the refugees who fled to other

countries.

The world is experiencing the rage of world war III after such kind of

things hampering the world peace.

Revised Syria Assignment

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