Syria

When we talk about Syria, no doubt the word of WAR might appear in our mind. Syria is a smaller country with have almost the exact population as Australia (22.5 million to our 23 million) which borders Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, Israel and Lebanon (Sharwood.A , 2016).

    Civil war is the current crisis that happening in Syria. The war happen between the government and the public. Which began with anti-government protests before escalating into a full-scale civil war. Soldiers are fight for government sides who support Bashar al-Assad, the president of Syria, and the other side are a group of fighters who don’t want the president to be in power anymore. They known as Rebels, who fights against the government's army and also the President Assad (Mercy Cops, 2017).

According to BBC news (2017) state that more than six years the war in Syria has gone and there were reported 470,000 people has claimed lost their life. The crowded cities of Syria has been destroying by the bombings and horrific human rights violations are widespread. There are also basic necessities like food and medical care are sparse. 

All of us might curious about of how did it all start? What is the main causes and why it could be. Regarding to BBC news (2017) as it mention before it began with anti-government. There were 15 schoolchildren writing anti-government graffiti on a wall and reportedly tortured. The local people decide to protest the children and the trouble began in years 2011. 

The protests were just wanted for the release of the children, democracy and greater freedom for people in the country but on 18 March 2011, the government responded angrily and 4 of the protesters were opened fire by the army. The following day, they shot at mourners at the victims' funerals, killing another person. The public were shocked and angry at what had happened and soon the unrest spread to other parts of the country. It made the protesters extremely angry and in July 2012 the violence in Syria had become widespread and it was the state of the civil war (Manfreda.P, 2017).              (Loke Yi Ling)

Causes of the civil war in Syria is Uprising Turns Violent. Pro-democracy protests erupted in March 2011 in the southern city of Deraa after the arrest and torture of some teenagers who painted revolutionary slogans on a school wall. After security forces opened fire on demonstrators, killing several, more took to the streets. According to BBC news, the unrest triggered nationwide protests demanding President Assad's resignation. The government's use of force to crush the dissent merely hardened the protesters' resolve. By July 2011, hundreds of thousands were taking to the streets across the country. Opposition supporters eventually began to take up arms, first to defend themselves and later to expel security forces from their local areas.

Besides that, another causes of the civil war in Syria is Descent into the War. According to BBC news Violence escalated and the country descended into civil war as rebel brigades were formed to battle government forces for control of cities, towns and the countryside. Fighting reached the capital Damascus and second city of Aleppo in 2012. By June 2013, the UN said 90,000 people had been killed in the conflict. By August 2015, that figure had climbed to 250,000, according to activists and the UN. The conflict is now more than just a battle between those for or against Mr Assad. It has acquired sectarian overtones, pitching the country's Sunni majority against the president's Shia Alewife sect, and drawn in regional and world powers. The rise of the jihadist group Islamic State (IS) has added a further dimension.

Furthermore, Chemical Weapons is also one of the causes in Syria civil war. Hundreds of people were killed in August 2013 after rockets filled with the nerve agent sarin were fired at several suburbs of Damascus. According to BBC news, Western powers said it could only have been carried out by Syria's government, but the government blamed rebel forces. Facing the prospect of US military intervention, President Assad agreed to the complete removal and destruction of Syria's chemical weapons arsenal. The operation was completed the following year, but the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has continued to document the use of toxic chemicals in the conflict. Investigators found chlorine was used "systematically and repeatedly" in deadly attacks on rebel-held areas between April and July 2014. IS has also been accused of using homemade chemical weapons, including sulphur mustard. The OPCW said the blister agent was used in an attack on the northern town of Marea in August 2015 that killed a baby.      (Hew Yong Kang)

It is far easier to start a war than stop it. Especially conflict has lasted for years and years. But if the issue can happen, there is always a way to solve it. There is some history of conflict between government and rebels having civil war but had finalized a deal to end the war such as Columbia. For Syria civil war problem, we can try to imitate what had been done at Columbia to achieve “World Peace” ideology. How Columbia stop the 52 years of hostilities? They achieve some of these points:

Make peace to everyone when you can.

Son of former president of Columbia Simón Gaviria Muñoz said that Columbia was achieved peace “In bits and pieces”. Columbia had tried to making peace between multiple factions for more than 30 years only can form the Columbia today. Civil war can’t be end by one day, but it needs everybody work for it.

Same target.

The leader of the multiple factions must had the same objective, “Peace”. If one of the factions want the power and ignore the innocent life, it is hard to achieve peace. For example, the Columbia rebels founder, Manuel Marulanda. He led the rebel group to fight against the government until the days of his dead. He never want to achieve any peace in his whole life. After he dead, the Alfonse Cano took over the rebel group and he wish to have peace in his country, so that he make peace to the government in the rest of his life until he got bomb raid. The following leader follow his spirit, make peace with the government until the Columbia end the civil war.

Incentive.

Soon Syria will realize that they can’t hold this position for long term, the longer that they hold this tragedy event, the more Syria people will die. The rebel group and government should not accept the help from other country to harm their own country. The foreign country providing resource for the parties of Syria is because they can earn a lot of money if there is a war happen and they only care about their own benefit. Syria’s government and the rebel group should fight for their country not for the foreigner. In order to stop the war, the government can maybe giving out some incentive for rebel group and negotiate with them such as giving out some seats on Congress. This can make a win win situation (Sibylla Brodzinsky, 2016)

    For conclusion, I can’t comment that Islam is extreme on their thinking, the rebel group member maybe is just getting brainwashing by their leader and they already lost their mind, they believe all their action is allow by Allah but it actually not, they are just used by their leader and their leader just collusion with the other country to maximize their benefit. I wish peace can come to Syria as soon as possible, if not they will be more citizen getting killed, raped and kidnaped.  (Khoo Ding Yong)