Causes Of The Syrian Civil War

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Middle Eastern Arab states are currently engulfed in complete chaos and violence. Political turmoil and sectarian violence swept the Arab world after the Arab Spring in 2011. There are civil wars, riots and protest, religious conflict and the ongoing genocide in Arab countries. Many people who follow current events are aware of the civil wars in Syria and Yemen or have a general idea of what’s going on, as it is all over TV and internet. When people grew tired of their failing dictators they began protest. Peaceful protesting soon became violent when government officials attempted to suppress it. This eventually led to a full scale civil war. Two years into the war, it became an international issue when countries such as the U.S. and Russia began taking sides in the Syrian conflict, while Saudi Arabia led military intervention in the civil war of Yemen. The civil wars are causing a massive refugee crisis in the Middle East. The displacement of these refugees is the biggest humanitarian crisis in modern history because a mass dislocation on this scale has not been seen since WWII.
The biggest humanitarian catastrophe of the 21st century is the Syrian Civil War (O’Rourke 711). In the journal, Education for Syrian Refugees, O’Rourke describes the horrific event that took place on August 21, 2013 where government officials launched a chemical attack on protestors. The incident resulted in the death and injury of thousands, including well over 400 children. The non-violent protestors were met with military force in order to suppress and discourage this movement, however this only fueled their passion. Protesters now, met violence with violence. As a result of the conflict many Syrians continued to lose their jobs, homes, access to health care and education. Schools and hospitals especially have been a target of the Assad regime. Half of all hospitals in Syria have been destroyed and thousands of doctors where given the choice of fleeing or choosing between the pro-government side and the Syrian rebels. The city of Aleppo, with a population of 2.5 million people, once had 6,000 doctors, now only 250 remain. Many parts of Syria go without adequate food, water, electricity and sanitation. Internally displaced Syrians are constantly seeking shelter from violence. However, there is virtually no safe haven in Syria. It would be billions of dollars to provide the minimal amount of shelter and medical aids for these refugees. The Mercury Corps writes that, “according to the U.N., it will take $7.7 billion to meet the urgent needs of the most vulnerable Syrians in 2016.” However, even if that demanded level of aid is met, in order for Syrians to sustain their livelihood, they must find a way to generate income, which on its own is problematic enough. On the rare occasion when work is available refugees take on casual, irregular and predominantly unskilled work (Zetter, Ruaudel 6). These odd jobs that are picked up have terrible working conditions and low wages. There are some who were lucky enough to escape Syria and move to safer locations. In 2014, it’s estimated that 3,300 refugees a day arrived to neighboring countries around Syria, such as Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt and Turkey. As of May 2014, Jordan reportedly hosts 600,000 refugees, the equivalent of ten percent of its own population (O’Rourke). Many of these refugees are children within school age. Now this presents another issue. Refugee children who wish to continue their education will have a hard time finding a school that will accept them since schools with
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Two factions, along with their allies and supporters, are warring for the cause of creating a new government. There are groups such as the Human Right Watch that are documenting violations of humanitarian and human rights, including war crimes by both warring parties (Your Middle East). Organizations such as this one are pressuring for international legal consequences. The article titled, Amnesty Urges Arms Embargo in Yemen claims that both sides of the conflict will receive serious repercussions. It also says that, “Amnesty international is urging all states to ensure that no party to the conflict in Yemen is supplied -- either directly or indirectly […] with equipment or technology that would be used in the

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