After four years of the conflict, the Middle East remains divided between four different sides, and the Syrian people are at the center of it. To be able to understand it accurately, we must go back to March of 2011 when the Arab Spring demonstrators peacefully protested on the streets of Syria for their dictator to resign.
The first shots that were fired were by Syrian dictator, Bashar al-Assad. Subsequent to his retaliatory attacks, violent rebels in Syria joined together to create the Free Syrian Army, turning the uprising into a civil war. In order to make it more difficult for nation states to back the rebels, Assad aided the Free Syrian Army in joining the rebels which created a new branch of Al-Qaeda in Syria. During the same time as Al-Qaeda formed, the Kurds took up arms against Assad in Northern Syria. Assad’s most vital ally, Iran, intervened on his behalf by sending troops and military personnel to take the fight to the rebel groups. Other Middle Eastern countries began sending resources in the form of money and weapons to the rebels through Turkey and Jordan. As a response, Iran sent Hezbollah, a Lebanese Shia group, to fight alongside Assad, who later used chemical weapons on civilians resulting in over seventeen-thousand casualties.
By 2013, the Middle-East was divided between Sunni powers aiding the rebels, and Shia powers allied with Assad. In an effort to ease the conflict, the United States attempted to negotiate with Arab Gulf states to stop funding and equipping extremist rebel groups. When the United States's requests went ignored, the CIA began training Syrian rebels to fight Assad. With help from the United States, the most extreme fighters from Al-Qaeda were able to form the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria after a disagreement with Al-Qaeda leaders. ISIS, now Al-Qaeda’s sworn enemy, traveled across Syria, seizing territory and galvanizing Syrians and the rest of the world. As a form of retaliation, Turkey began bombing ISIS and the Kurds, who were simultaneously taking the fight to ISIS. This conflict goes to show that there fails to be a likeminded force, and that there is no end in sight to the civil war in Syria or the casualties that continue to occur.
In the center of the conflict are Syrian refugees, fighting for their lives. Although many, including President Obama, believe that we should house refugees seeking asylum, are we endangering the lives of the American people by doing so?
After the recent Paris attacks and the mass-shooting in San Bernardino, countries have limited the number of refugees they are accepting in fear that they are a part of ISIS or other jihadist groups. On the contrary, not a single Paris attacker or San Bernardino shooter has been a Syrian refugee. Many politicians claim that Syrian refugees do not make an effort to assimilate themselves into the counties they are seeking refuge in. Although that may be true in some cases, it is not true for all Syrian refugees. Some analysts argue that the attacks were done by extremists so they would be able to continue galvanizing Syrians without countries like the U.S. accepting asylum seekers. But, not all Muslims are terrorists and extremists groups are indirectly making Islamophobia more of an issue.
During this civil war, we have to remind ourselves of Lady Liberty’s values, the same values this nation was founded on:
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!
As a nation, we must remember that we are all immigrants of the United States of America; and as an international community, we must recognize that we are all immigrants of the world.
The first shots that were fired were by Syrian dictator, Bashar al-Assad. Subsequent to his retaliatory attacks, violent rebels in Syria joined together to create the Free Syrian Army, turning the uprising into a civil war. In order to make it more difficult for nation states to back the rebels, Assad aided the Free Syrian Army in joining the rebels which created a new branch of Al-Qaeda in Syria. During the same time as Al-Qaeda formed, the Kurds took up arms against Assad in Northern Syria. Assad’s most vital ally, Iran, intervened on his behalf by sending troops and military personnel to take the fight to the rebel groups. Other Middle Eastern countries began sending resources in the form of money and weapons to the rebels through Turkey and Jordan. As a response, Iran sent Hezbollah, a Lebanese Shia group, to fight alongside Assad, who later used chemical weapons on civilians resulting in over seventeen-thousand casualties.
By 2013, the Middle-East was divided between Sunni powers aiding the rebels, and Shia powers allied with Assad. In an effort to ease the conflict, the United States attempted to negotiate with Arab Gulf states to stop funding and equipping extremist rebel groups. When the United States's requests went ignored, the CIA began training Syrian rebels to fight Assad. With help from the United States, the most extreme fighters from Al-Qaeda were able to form the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria after a disagreement with Al-Qaeda leaders. ISIS, now Al-Qaeda’s sworn enemy, traveled across Syria, seizing territory and galvanizing Syrians and the rest of the world. As a form of retaliation, Turkey began bombing ISIS and the Kurds, who were simultaneously taking the fight to ISIS. This conflict goes to show that there fails to be a likeminded force, and that there is no end in sight to the civil war in Syria or the casualties that continue to occur.
In the center of the conflict are Syrian refugees, fighting for their lives. Although many, including President Obama, believe that we should house refugees seeking asylum, are we endangering the lives of the American people by doing so?
After the recent Paris attacks and the mass-shooting in San Bernardino, countries have limited the number of refugees they are accepting in fear that they are a part of ISIS or other jihadist groups. On the contrary, not a single Paris attacker or San Bernardino shooter has been a Syrian refugee. Many politicians claim that Syrian refugees do not make an effort to assimilate themselves into the counties they are seeking refuge in. Although that may be true in some cases, it is not true for all Syrian refugees. Some analysts argue that the attacks were done by extremists so they would be able to continue galvanizing Syrians without countries like the U.S. accepting asylum seekers. But, not all Muslims are terrorists and extremists groups are indirectly making Islamophobia more of an issue.
During this civil war, we have to remind ourselves of Lady Liberty’s values, the same values this nation was founded on:
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!
As a nation, we must remember that we are all immigrants of the United States of America; and as an international community, we must recognize that we are all immigrants of the world.
Written by: Leily Rezvani