The Rise Of The Arab Spring - 1555 Words

With the spread of the Arab Spring, the revolutionary wave of demonstrations, riots, and civil wars in the Middle East that began on 18 December 2010, pro-democracy Syrians rose in rebellion to the existing regime of Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s president. Assad’s regime brutally fought back and with the escalation in violence, Syria descended into a civil war, with each side scrambling for control over towns and cities (Rodgers). The Syrian government has committed several war crimes such as torture, rape, murder and the use of chemical weapons, which led to the death of thousands, in an attempt to crush the opposition movement and regain control over Syria. Additionally, the civil war, has aided the rise of ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and†¦show more content†¦Despite the fact that direct intervention in Syria could put USA’s relationships with Russia and Iran on the line, inaction would lead to a Syrian genocide and increasing war complexities. Any US mili tary intervention would have to take into account the impact it could have on the actions and desires of myriad other actors: jihadist fighters, Islamist political players such as the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, and most prominently Assad’s allies in Iran and Russia. (Lowy Institute). These two nations have been very important players in the Syrian civil war as the Syrian government’s war arsenal is backed up with checks from these two countries. Assad’s government has spent these checks on arms and chemical weapons. The chemical weapons, however more prominent, have been used against the rebels, killing thousands of people in addition to those killed by torture and systematic murder (Pearlman). Assad has been claiming that the main reason he has started this full-fledged war is to suppress ISIS, which blossomed with the increasing complexity of the civil war. However, multitudes of innocents have been killed on the sidelines, and Iran and Russia have been import ant benefactors of this movement. U.S. intervention for humanitarian reasons could indeed possibly provoke stronger involvement by Russia and Iran. However, the direct involvement of these two countries in Syria