An Analysis of International Perspectives on the Syrian Civil War

This essay provides an analysis of the Syrian civil war from various international perspectives, examining the involvement of countries like the United States, Russia, Iran, Israel, the United Kingdom, France, and Turkey. The essay explores the historical background of the conflict, including the role of the Arab Spring and the rise of ISIS. It delves into the motivations and strategic interests of each international actor, including political advantages, the fight against terrorism, and regional influence. The essay discusses the impact of foreign intervention, including airstrikes, support for different factions, and the refugee crisis. Furthermore, it assesses the role of key figures such as Bashar al-Assad and Vladimir Putin and explores the complexities of the conflict, highlighting the role of chemical weapons and the differing agendas of international powers. Finally, it evaluates the impact of the conflict on the region and the world.

Running head: POLITICAL SCIENCE
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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

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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).

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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

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time now. His primary target has always been oil that is produced in Middle Eastern countries
(Jenkins: 56). According to Putin, it was an all-or-nothing proposition to help the regime of
Bashar al-Assad. The officials of Russia gave threats that all missiles and fighter planes would be
shot down in the sky of Syria. Putin was quite sure that a strong confrontation was waiting for
him against the USA and their alliances.
Iran is the next international power that has involved itself in this conflict. They have
approached Syria as a buffering zone to expand their dominance over the Middle Eastern region.
The main concern in this scenario lied in the fact that Iran constituted of Shia Muslim
communities and the demise of the Assad regime would result in the rise of the Sunni regime
(Hokayem: 59).
Strategically, it would be a significant risk for them since Sunni and Shia Muslim
communities are not at reasonable terms. For Tehran and Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps
(IRGC), Syria has been a bridging gap between them and Hezbollah that is their clients of militia
in Lebanon. That group had contributed much in the heavy fighting in Syria. Iran and Israel have
not shared a good relationship between them in recent times.
The excellent bonding with Tehran will be an excellent option for them to threaten Israel
and make sure Israeli does not attack Iran or Syria. They do not want to indulge in any
confrontation with the United States until airstrikes are dome on destroying chemical weapons.
The fourth international power involved in the civil war of Syria is Israel. As Iran has
been able to establish its positive influence in Syria, it has been a significant loss for Israel. Israel
can gain an advantage in this situation only if they can disrupt the communication between Iran
and Syria. They also want to upset the supply between Iran and Hezbollah, so Iran controlled

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militias can stay back from the line of separation at Golan Heights, i.e. occupied by Israel
(Hokayem: 59).
Their first preference is on the United States and Russia that they can hold back the
movements of Iran. However, they are always ready to get into a confrontation with Iranians if
situations call for it. They still want the USA to be on their side so they can run their operations
of counter-terrorism in full swing (Salem: 109).
The fifth international power is the United States of America i.e. regarded as the most
influential power in this confrontation. They have always thought that the evils of terrorism in
Syria can only be countered by the Syrian Government (Lynch: 47). ISIS has come up to be a
growing menace in the entire world regarding terrorism.
Their troops have slaughtered millions of people and made them refugees who found no
other option than to escape. The activities of non-proliferation should be continued because
chemical weapons of rebels can only be destroyed with airstrikes. Critics have argued over the
issue that both USA and Russia are continuing their cold war in a sensitive issue like this. This is
obvious since the two most powerful countries in the world currently are Russia and the United
States.
After Donald Trump was elected as the President of the USA, he has rejected the policy
of Barrack Obama that backing up rebel groups is a moderate action (Lynch: 47). USA should
always stay firm to the fact that they should stand against terrorism and hit hard terrorist groups
like ISIS. The airstrikes should be carried out so that this fighting can be stopped.
United Kingdom is another country that has been associated in this civil fight indirectly.
The responsibility of the United Kingdom in this scenario is to carry out anti-ISIS campaigns and

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curb down terrorist acts adequately. They are one of the most significant countries who has
participated in attacks against terrorism. It is their utmost responsibility to be in the non-
proliferation campaigns.
Critics have appreciated their role as it is not entirely related to gaining political
advantage. It is one of their leading roles as they are a permanent member of the United Nations
Security Council (Inci: 7). The central administration of England has acknowledged this fact that
their relationship with the United States has deteriorated since they refused to participate in
airstrikes in the year 2013. These airstrikes took place after chemical weapons attacks by ISIS
(Byman and Williams: 10).
France is also a very active member in this scenario since they are also a permanent
member of the United Nations Security Council. They do not have a political issue to participate
in this war since they only like to punish the parties who use chemical weapons (Inci: 7). They
had no wish of policing in non-proliferation norms. France has also looked to gain the upper
hand in punishing ISIS terrorists for their activities since Paris has been one of the primary
targets. According to critics, the position of French administration has been to eradicate terrorist
activities from the world (Bhardwaj: 76).
Next comes Turkey that has also been involved in this turmoil for a long time. The
President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been supporting the change of regime in
Damascus for a long time now (Hokayem: 56). The Olive Branch incursion of Erdogan has been
proven to be a great matter of risk since they could have to confront with Americans if this is
done.

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Along the international borderline between Turkey and Syria, there has been a
stronghold of ISIS (Hokayem: 7). The Kurdish people are seen as the most effective and
significant partners for Turkish people to fight against ISIS. In this juncture, it will only be useful
for international players to intervene in this matter and claim their advantages from both political
and military aspects (Mullins: 38).
The next argument will be done on operational support from external forces for
Government of Syria. As the Ba’athist Government of Syria is supported by Iran and Russia,
other external forces like USA and Israel should be joining each other to erase militant forces
(Bhardwaj: 76). It is a matter of doubt if Syria could utilize this operational support for the
betterment of the condition.
The matter is of great argument since the domestic peace of Syria has been completely
violated over the times (Alpak: 45). The Syrian opposition has been the Syrian National
Coalition that has received some operational supports like political, financial, logistical and other
factors. These supports have catered to some assistance for their society. Countries like the USA,
France, Canada and the UK have provided air support to Kurdish people and providing them
food as well (Robinson: 331).
According to some critics, the Syrian war has never been that much criticism from the
aspects of international participation (Alpak: 45). Several foreign powers had participated in this
conflict because two things were at primary concern. The first thing was the spread of terrorism
through global terrorists ISIS and gaining a proper political advantage over the condition. The
defeat of the rebel forces in the hands of allied international powers signified the rise of the
Assad regime in the country once again (Abdenur: 109).

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Perhaps this defeat of rebel forces would bring an end to the seven-year conflict there. It
would be a massive success for international allies like France, Israel, Turkey and others. This
has been one of the best achievements for them since Syrian land was in a significant threat
because of long going internal conflicts. It had impacted on their growth of the economy as well
(Berti: 41). In these seven years, their economy was utterly destroyed, and this required urgent
attention. Their international allies backed them up in no time and sent foreign aid to save them
from further deaths.
On the other hand, political perspectives have been much clear in this scenario since the
United States and Russia had their motives to dominate this region (Heydemann: 59). In January
last year, Turkey got offensive when they launched a military attack in the northwestern part of
Syria on the Kurdish fighters as they opined that these Kurdish fighters are generally terrorists.
Turkey, in this case, was backed by Russia (Robinson: 331).
On the other hand, the United States got furious since they viewed these Kurdish fighters
as operators of counter-terrorism (Berti: 41). The United States also had killed numerous
Russians as they were trying to advance to US-Kurdish base near the eastern side of Syria.
These incidents prove the fact that conflicts were no more constrained within the Assad
regime and rebel groups anymore (Abdenur: 109). This is why it has been regarded as complete
international violence and rights of ordinary people had been judged as a worldwide issue
(Sirkeci: 127). Syria has been suffering from this domestic conflict for almost six years, and this
has proved the dominance of several foreign powers who wanted to reign supreme on their
territory (Stent: 106).

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The argument to be focused on this section will be based on the international conflicts
between the USA and Russia and their attempts to gain an advantage over this land. The Islamic
State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has been the most challenging body that had the intention to make
the erase international borders of Syria to establish their territory so they could reign supreme
there (Sirkeci: 127).
The enemies of the ISIS forces were Kurdish militants who aimed to set up their
autonomous homeland in the northeastern part of the country. In this scenario, the stance of
Russia has to be acknowledged as they have backed continuously up the Assad regime to gain
their power back in this region.
Therefore, they have viewed the Kurdish militants as their opponents and as a body
encouraging terrorism (Jenkins: 70). Most of these combatants and terrorists had been killed in
these fights since thousands of soldiers got involved in this battle.
The support provided through air force by Russia and the United States to different
effects had been considered as elemental in killing down their enemies (Achcar and
Warschawski: 78). The domestic violence in this region had gone entirely away leading to the
killing of ISIS jihadi forces. In the current times, the scenario described here has been calmed to
some extent.
The armed forces and security services of Syria known as ‘mukhabarat’ used to provide
overall national security and protection of the Assad regime. In this conflict with Kurdish
militants and militants of ISIS forces, thousands of security services personnel had lost their
lives. This led to the situation that they had to depend on militants of foreign militants and

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locally irregular people (Achcar and Warschawski: 78). The air force of Russia began to
bombard the territories held by opposition forces so they could restore the control.
Geographically, it was much easier for Russia to be involved in this conflict and achieve
their advantage over their enemies (Jenkins: 70). The United States were far away from Syria,
and this worked as a barrier for them to take their control.
In December of the year 2016, the region of east Aleppo fell and this led the Assad
regime to restore their power in five most important cities of the country. Thus foreign
involvements in Syrian civil war changed the entire complexion of the particular territory and
political affairs in Middle East had changed as well (Hill: 90).
On a concluding note, it can be said that the Syrian civil war changed the overall
complexion of world politics and scenario regarding terrorism. Syria was, and this was the very
reason all other foreign countries tried to take the overall political advantage. Powerful countries
like the United States and Russia have utilized their military powers in Syria and they tried to
capture the hold of the state by influencing Assad regime.
The powerful allies of both the United States and Russia have tried to prove their strength
by robust airstrikes. Apart from that, the rise of terrorism in this region led by the Islamic State
of Iraq and Syria has been made much intense indeed. All these issues have been taken together
to find out how to make the situation worse.
Thus an intense case arose, and ordinary people were deprived of all their rights. In this
context, it was essential for international players like the United Nations to interfere so civilians
of Syria could at least be provided with their universal fundamental rights of shelter, food and
medicine.

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