The Syrian Civil War

The Syrian Civil war started in 2011, after a series of protests against the government. Since then, an estimated 500,000 to 600,000 people have been killed, making it the second-deadliest conflict of the 21st century. But how did this all begin?

In March of 2011, the Arab Spring came to Syria. People all across the middle east were protesting against their governments. For example, when the Arab Spring came to Egypt, the president at the time, Hosni Mubarak resigned after 18 days of massive protests.

The Arab Spring began in Tunisia, in response to political corruption and lack of growth in the economy.

When the Arab Spring came to Syria, the country was ruled by Bashar-Al Assad. For over 50 years, he and his father, Hafez ruled a powerful dictatorship. Anyone who disagreed with the government could be jailed.

When people decided that they had enough of Assad’s dictatorship, all kinds of people started protesting. In an effort to put an end to the protesting, the Assad regime used violence against their own people. Assad is now accused of crimes against humanity by the UN.

The civil war erupted into a full-scale war, with the Syrian rebels against the Assad regime. Different countries supported different sides. For example, Russia and Iran supported Assad, and the U.S supported the Kurdish lead Syrian Democratic Forces, a rebel group. There are also many other rebel groups, such as Turkish forces and Kurdish extremists. Even the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have invaded Syria and crossed the UN established buffer zone. Another rebel group in Syria is the terrorist group ISIS. ISIS took advantage of the instability in Syria to gain more power and land.

Many Syrians chose to flee the country. There are around 1.5 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon, and 3 million refugees in Turkey. Canada alone has accepted over 25 thousand refugees. In total, there are more than 6.3 million Syrian refugees around the world. For 13 years, Syria has been bombed and destroyed.

On December 8th 2024, the Assad Regime collapsed, and the rebels took Damascus, the capital where Assad lives. We now know that Assad fled to Russia, an ally of his dictatorship. The question that everyone is asking now is “ what will happen next?” Will the rebels peacefully coexist together? Or, will the civil war carry on because of different political views? We don’t know the answer to this question quite yet, but many Syrians around the world are celebrating.

To conclude, the Syrian Civil war was a deadly conflict that killed and continues to kill many innocent lives. I hope that all wars, including the one in Israel, come to an end.