Raña, Jessamine T.
IS1243
A Critique on the Syrian Crisis
This crisis has been going on for years and massive military and humanitarian actions
have been recorded following the arrest and torture of some Syrian teenagers who were
vandalizing a school wall. It had culminated a demonstration from the citizens wherein the
military opened fire on the unknowing protesters, as to which had called forth more people on
the streets. The government of President Bashar al-Assad used force to subjugate these
protesters, but it did not dampen their determination.
It gradually turned into a civil war against al-Assad's regime vs the Syrian population.
Along the lines of the chaos, several rebel groups emerged such as the ISIS and other
independent or pro-Syria forces that are either backed by the United States and its allies and
Russia. Claims of attacking each other have surfaced the other parties pointing fingers who
attacked who and the terror being unleashed by ISIS - not just in Syria, but in the whole world. It
is not anymore just a simple civil war, major powers are now involved and it looks not so far
from the clutches of another world war.
The current administration of Bashar al-Assad is predominantly Shia and being the
legitimate leader that had the consent of many of the population and has since then reprised his
term in 2014 amidst the huge rebels opposing him. With that said, he is the leader of a
government, if he steps down, his very administration will go down along with him and that is
something Syria cannot afford as of the moment as chaos ensues inside the very country. In
addition with this, others may take advantage of the situation and without any precedence from
the United Nations to oversee the change in administration, the change may not be for the better
of Syria - especially since Syria has Shia and Sunni muslims; a greater conflict may erupt if a
misstep is done in the process.
This case with the Sunni and Shia muslims has long been a deep rooted conflict between
each other. Assad, supporting the Shia has been inflicting civilian casualties in Sunni-majority
areas in Syria which fuels the hate of these Sunnis muslims that also helps ISIS grow in power.
The involvement of US and Russia in this crisis has been mirroring the proxy wars of the
Cold War by having bets on the war field and making sure their bet would win. However, US
claims that its opposition on Assad’s regime root from several humanitarian violations and
Russia’s reasoning was due to the fact that Assad’s regime was asking for ‘military assistance’
from Russia. It may or may not have hidden agendas, but one thing’s for sure, neither powers are
in friendly relations with each other when it comes to the Syrian crisis as once again, they are in
opposing sides.
The sudden influx of Syrian refugees in the European continent was a shock to everyone.
Especially the numbers of refugees that had come to seek asylum in Europe which had raised
into more than a hundred thousand. Europe, being the largest donor of humanitarian aid and the
leading refuge for those who wants to seek sanctuary, these European countries were welcoming
into letting these refugees into their nation. UK, France, Germany and other states had open their
borders to let them in while others were still hesitant or was firm in not letting anyone in.
Although their policy is a good one to aid those in need with the Syrian war still going on, but it
still has risks - especially to the local citizens of these countries. What had happened in Paris was
considered as an example and suspicions grew over the fact that people who were refugees may
be actually ISIS members and waltzed their way into major European countries by fronting as
refugees. Discrimination is also very likely as although the government did open their doors for
these foreign people, most of the local population are skeptic and are not so happy with the
policy. This is where racial discrimination may occur and probably civil unrest as per the recent
terrorist attacks in Paris - trust in those foreign refugees deem to go low.
With the way things are, it’s hardly predictable how Syria will turn out to be in the near
future. With rebel groups here and there and even an extremist group that could wreak havoc
anywhere they want to, it’s vaguely early to tell how Syria will fare on 10 years from now. But
considering the presidential term of Assad, he will only be limited to another 7 years in power. If
he is gone, these rebel groups will slowly vanish as their goal to have Assad go down from office
has finally came. However, the next president should have a more flexible policy to address the
crisis that had been going on prior to his ascendance to the office. He should be prepared to
adjust and fix whatever problems that had been left by the previous administration and address
the international problem concerning ISIS and be a model of peace all throughout Syria. But like
I said, with major factors constantly changing - a critical juncture might I say - the trajectory of
the events in this crisis will play a major role in the future. We can’t tell as of now, but a bigger
change may be coming in the near future.
