Development & Security in the Middle East: the impact of the Syrian civil war on Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan's security

Protocol template
Protocol Template: Systematic Review
Review title: Development & Security in the Middle East: the impact of the Syrian civil war on
Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan's security, economic growth, and development sustainability
1. Background
I. Important characteristics
What are the important population and/or disease characteristics (diagnostic criteria,
epidemiology, aetiology, prognosis)?
The civil war in Syria left a great deal of impact over the development and security of the
neighbouring countries like Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. Due to the civil war in Syria,
influx of refugees started entering into the neighbouring regions and endangered the stability
of both the government and the social equations. From the research of Abadi (2014) it can be
argued that the impact of the Syrian civil war led to jeopardize the delicate balance of
Jordan. As a matter of fact, the article of Hawamdeh and Al-Qteishat (2018) pointed out that
the refugee crisis in the Middle East and beyond was ignited due to the civil war in Syria. As
a result of that a demographic crisis had been arose associated with the social and
government system. For instance, National Post (2013) revealed the scenario of Jordanian
refugee camps especially in the Zaatari refugee camp where the refugees were suffered with
serious health related issues and mutilation. The violence and severity of the Syrian civil war
was clearly portrayed and it transcended the risk in the Jordanian society and the medical
facilities inside the country. Furthermore, there were also serious issues regarding the
security and safety of Jordan in the wake of the Syrian Civil war. The report of the UN
Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon revealed that the Syrian regime stockpiled chemical
weapons and WMDs that could be a threat for the neighbouring countries. As a matter of
fact, the report of Mroue (2012) also suggested that the Syrian civil war would create
political strife and economic decadence in the neighbouring countries like Lebanon. The
country was highly devastated due to immense influence of the civil war of Syria. The UN
report revealed that deadly clashes between the pro and anti-Assad Lebanese groups was
escalated at a rapid pace where in a particular event 17 Lebanese Sunni fighters were killed
in Syria and hampered the civilian life in the country deeply. Moreover, Turkey was under
the threat of severe backlash of Syrian civil war where the Syrian jet bombed the rebel held
1

Protocol template
Tal Abyad town. This town was very close to the Turkish border and fatal destruction was
caused in the borders of Turkey (Parlar Dal, 2016). The loss was huge that affected both the
economic and social cohesion in Turkey.
II. Relevance
Does the review topic have important implications for health (individual and/or public),
as well as health care, policy and research?
The importance of the impact of Syrian civil war on Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon created
huge implication over the question of integrity and influence in the context of Middle East. It
is important to note that the impact is not only fracture the political situation in the listed
countries but also created a discussion where sustainability, growth and security over the
countries can be analysed. In respect to this, the article of Lawson (2014) stated that the
emergence of ISIS and threat to the sovereignty of the neighbouring countries was
considered to be of great threat for the neighbouring countries. For instance, from the point
of view of economic growth there was not so change in the process during the outbreak of
Syrian crisis in 2011. However the sustainability of the country was torn apart into two
factions in terms of pro-Assad and anti-Assad. The Turkish government continuously
supported the opposition forces in Syria including the jihadist groups and other sectarian
people. Therefore, a negative impact was created within the national context where
sustainability and security of Turkey was under threat. In addition to this, there is also some
economic impact that the Syrian crisis had provided to different countries. According to the
Russian State, it can be stated that the Syrian crisis had a deep rooted impact over Lebanon.
The senior officials in Russia were intrigued to find out any threat that could be arose by the
Syrian civil war and damaged the economic growth extensively. Over 30 years there are
serious growth in the Lebanese economy and the country touched the apex of prosperity due
to its blooming tourism industry (BBC Monitoring Former Soviet Union, 2012). However,
the insurgency in Syria started poisoning the Muslim factions of Shia and Sunnis. The
government successfully maintained an integrity and harmony between the two factions but
things were out of control after the Syrian crisis as the Lebanese people were divided into
two rival groups based on the religious lines. Henceforth, the exposure and growth that the
country was witnessing became shattered and totally destroyed. It cost huge negative
consequences for Lebanon to continue its growth in economy. On the other hand, problem
was also emerged in course of development sustainability within the nation. The refugee
2

Protocol template
crisis over Jordan and its intense impact over the Jordanian society provided a blow to the
social integration and dynamics. As per the research of Abadi (2014) it can be stated that
regional tension was prevalent in Jordan long before the emergence of Syrian civil war. In
fact, there was also some refugee problems that the country had went through. Prolonged
atrocities between Jordan and Syria were at the epitome during the Syrian civil war. The
threat of terrorist activities and the growing power of the militant jihadists in Syrian
threatened the sustainability of the country to a great extent. Damage in the social cohesion
and lack of ability of the government led to the fall of social structure and generated negative
backlash for the sustainability of the country. From that point of view, it can be stated that
the research is trying to find out different impacts that was caused by the Syrian civil war on
different neighbouring countries like Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey.
III. Rationale
Does the evidence (including existing systematic reviews) fail to answer the review
question, and why?
The evidences are trying to facilitate in-depth analysis over the impact of Syrian crisis over
the neighbouring countries like Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. There are some extensive
research and interesting facts that the articles are successfully found out but not a single
evidence highlighted any significant trend in the security, economic growth and development
sustainability. It is important for the research to figure out a trend of damage that the
neighbouring countries had found irrespective of security, economic growth and development
sustainability aspects. Therefore, it is very crucial for the research to discover such a trend
and define it so that a common ground of understanding the impact can be made. Moreover,
there was limited intervention into the historical facts of the root of atrocities that urges to
initiative further research into the same topic. From that point of view, it can be argued that
the research evidences are partially provided justification for the research topic of
development and sustainability and intrigues the research to get into more details on the
impact of Syrian Civil War over the sustainability, economic growth and security of Jordan,
Lebanon and Turkey.
IV. Justification
Is the need for the review justified in the light of the potential health implications and
current limitations of the evidence base?
3

Protocol template
The Syrian crisis was a complex event and contained a number of layers that needs to be
revealed. There is substantial impact of the Syrian crisis over the security, economy and
sustainability of the neighbouring countries. Therefore, the research intends to create an
extensive finding of articles and empirical studies that showed significant changes to the
neighbouring situation. It is obvious that the impact of Syrian civil war did not leave the
similar outcome in all the mentioned neighbouring countries. Rather each of the countries
suffered from different symptoms. For instance, Jordan experienced a decline in the social
cohesion between the Shias and Sunnis that ruptured the sustainability of the country. On the
other hand, in Lebanon a continuous degradation in the economy can be seen that resulted
due to backlash of Syrian crisis. Moreover, in case of Turkey threat to the security was an
acute symptom and the country still suffers with the same issue. Therefore, it can be argued
that the evidences provided various scenarios in different countries that culminated a gradual
downfall of Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey in time.
V. Specification
What are the PICO components of the review question / objective?
Problem- During the Syrian civil war
Intervention- was security, economy and sustainability
Control- witnessed any growth
Outcome- for development and sustainability in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.
2. Methods
I. Search strategy
Which electronic databases will you search?
The university library database is used generally for choosing the potentially relevant
empirical accounts. The focus of the research was set on the theme of the research and the
topic that will provide a guideline to search the required articles and journals. The online
access of the library database helped to redirect to a number of specific electronic databases
like Proquest, Elsevier and so on. As a result of that it became easier for the researcher to
download the files and get a clear insight into the topic. Many of the journals were found in
the university library database as well that can lead to get the right articles relevant with the
theme of the research.
What are your key search terms?
4