Syrian Conflict Essays - Middle East, Politics Of Syria, Syria

Syrian Conflict Jessica Galati American Government Bergen Community College December 3, 2013 Abstract Currently the most urgent debate in foreign policy is the use of chemical weapons. The Syrian civil war has come into the spotlight of that debate due to the government's alleged use of chemical weaponry against its own citizens. After following this topic in newspaper articles, to understand the topic fluently, I have been able to form an understanding of the topic and form my own opinions This paper will focus on the following, the events that took place in Damascus and how the country was effected, the evidence of chemical weapon use by the Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, and taking a detailed look at how the American government responded to the attacks and how they should continue to act in response these attacks. I will also inform you of my opinions of the actions and events within the paper. For years now the United States conflicts with the Middle East has been getting more severe and expanding. With what started as a conflict within the Iraqi government has now expanded to more countries with higher stakes. The United States has begun trying to remove themselves from more conflict, however the civil war in Syria is hard to ignore. After violating many agreements and regulations, the Syrian governments alleged chemical attacks on their citizens has spurred many countries ready to pick up arms. Much debate is taking place about military involvement as opposed to diplomatic talks and agreements. Syria is relying on their allies to save them from military strikes. The president of Syria, Hafez al-Assad, took the country after a series of coups, and held the country in an iron hold of human rights violating law. His successor, and son, Bashar al-Assad, promoted change for the country but did very little to change the course of the country. Protests of the regime, wishing to have the president's reign ended, began in March 2011. The protests and uprisings began as peaceful representations of resentment and rebellion, however the Syrian army was sent to control such actions as to avoid a revolt. The deployed troops "controlled" the unarmed protestors by open firing. Months of firing squads taking on protests followed. This sparked the development of a full scale civil war expanding in the two years following. The civilian public was outraged and began taking on the Syrian military as volunteers in the form of militias with little coordination. After the order of many government strikes against protests, many of the Syrian nation's military officers defected to the rebel group, beginning the Free Syrian Army, an umbrella group of the rebel military power, and went on to later represent and control the opposition's army. Their goal is to remove Bashar al-Assad from power. The rebel group's armies, lacking much needed unity, sought help from turkey, and the Syrian National Council was brought to creation. This is now recognized as a legitimate representative party of Syria by dozens of countries. Since the beginning of the civil war, over one hundred thousand have been killed, over two million Syrian refugees have fled to surrounding countries, and tens of thousands of protestors have been imprisoned and tortured. These attacks from both the government and opposition escalated immensely. While we can all say definitively that the Damascus chemical strike was the most deadly Hundreds of men, women, and children, some still in diapers, are found dead or injured across the streets and filling the hospitals. This attack grabbed the worlds attention and brought many to their feet, ready to take action. This was the first definitive chemical strike in which the UN could collect incriminating evidence. There were a number of chemical weapon strikes reported throughout the year besides the one occurring in Damascus. According to American reports there were around 10 chemical attacks since 2012 and the number of casualties from these alone has reached over fifteen hundred men, women, and children. The UN has been attempting to gain access to highly concentrated areas. After the Damascus attack and potential threats coming in across the globe the UN pressed immediate access to the area to test for chemical weapons. They were refused access until weeks later when almost all of the evidence would have cleared, raising red flags about the governments involvement. The regime released several claims that rebel armies had taken the gas and released it. However, UN investigators had found enough residue and taken enough victims for testing to