International Perspectives on the Civil War of Syria

Running head: POLITICAL SCIENCE
Political Science
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1POLITICAL SCIENCE
The following essay aims to discuss several international perspectives of the civil war of
Syria. It has been a long-running problem for people in the Middle East regarding this problem.
Civil war is generally domestic violence that is fought between different domestic and foreign
allies. The intrusion of probably the most significant terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and
Syria (ISIS) also made the condition of the country worse. These things led to the mass killing,
kidnapping of ordinary people and slaughtering them to the utmost cruelty (Sharara and Souha).
The domestic violence and civil war was mainly an outcome of the more extensive Arab Spring
protests, and things turned worse to worst with the passing days. The background and history
should be discussed in this essay to find out what the primary cause for this civil unrest was.
Arguments will be presented on the need for foreign discussion.
Different Western countries like USA, Russia, France and others included themselves in
this scenario. Their interests were very much complicated. Many political issues and agendas are
associated with this matter. The arguments will be presented on the basis of foreign affairs in this
regard. Many rebel groups were also included in this context since people from different regions
of the country were deprived of their facilities and opportunities. Violent activities of Free Syrian
Army were also harming them. The civil unrest began with civil unrest in Aleppo and Damascus
on 15th March of 2011. Thus, the flame of violence spread throughout Middle Eastern region
killing thousands of civilian people.
The foreign powers involved themselves in the Syrian unrest not to stop it but to gain political
advantage through it.
The first argument will be done on the relevance of foreign interference this civil war in a
small country like Syria. The neighbouring countries of Syria are Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq, Jordan

2POLITICAL SCIENCE
and Israel. The Mediterranean Sea guards this country by west. Apart from Syria, Turkey has
also been a victim of civil war in recent times. The President of the country is Bashar al-Assad.
The refugee crisis in Syria has also been very much evident in this country. This multi-sides
armed conflict in Syria has been a disturbing element for other people advocating for peace.
Critics like (Sharara and Souha) have opined that Syrian civil war is not at all welcome but they
also said that this civil war should have been mitigated by the involvement of common people of
the country and their immediate neighbors.
On the other hand, this view can be countered by saying that it became almost inevitable
that the Syrian Government had no other options to mitigate this issue. The principal belligerents
of this civil war were Syrian Armed Forces, Democratic Federation of Northern Syria (SDF),
rebel groups, some forces from Turkey and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
Thus the entire situation went out of their hands and foreign powers needed to intervene
in this matter. Mainly United Nations spoke into this matter and asked its members of Security
Council to take positive actions to deal with this matter. Almost all international organizations
criticized the Ba’athist Government of Syria led by President Bashar al-Assad. Human rights had
been violated severely, and civilians of Syria became homeless. They needed food, shelter and
other things necessary for saving their lives (Erlich and Chomsky: 46).
Fighting between these sides has continued over time despite interference from the
United Nations. Millions of refugees fled from Syria and took shelter in several European
countries like Greece, Germany and others. The majority population of Syria is based on Arabian
people. Kurds are minorities in Syria and they had been affected by this civil war. Thus, it is very
clear that interference from foreign forces became almost elemental (Carpenter: 4).

3POLITICAL SCIENCE
The second argument will look to find its importance of involvement of Russia in this
civil war. Many foreign countries participated in this conflict, and they did this eyeing for
gaining some political advantages from this conflict. The battle is regarded as a murderous one
and Syria has now become a region for numerous disputes. The agendas of different domestic
and international powers are different (Carpenter: 4). The airstrikes by Russian forces have
fueled the rivalry between the sides. Some of the crucial and critical players in this scenario are:-
Assad regime is considered as a critical side in this conflict. The President of Syria
Bashar al-Assad was very much confident about the fact that he would be surely able to hold to
his office. He knew that his condition was under threat politically after this civil war in the
country.
Many countries opposed to his remaining as the President of the country. This is why he
got some back up from Russia and Iran. In this condition, he wanted to solidify his position in
the western part of the country. He wanted to erase all attempts of resistance by all parties and
establish his command in those parts (Jenkins: 56). After that, he tried to spread his hold in the
eastern section of Syria.
He used chemical weapons that depicts that he was very much desperate to achieve his
aim. The only way to do this was to spread the terror among all the people of the country. He
thought that regular airstrikes would not be able to curb his indomitable spirit. He was also very
sure that this would not loosen his hold over the country.
For Russia and its President, Mr Vladimir Putin it was a complete game of politics. He
merely wanted to restore Russia as a global superpower and make his rule stable again. Vladimir
Putin has been interested in expanding his hold in the countries of the Middle East for a long