Tag: crisis in syria

Over two years ago, protests started in Deraa, a town in southern Syria, and, despite the peaceful nature of the protests, President Bashar al-Assad responded with force. Due to his regime’s extreme reaction, the protests spread, and things have finally spilled over into a civil war (BBC News). Although the initial protests two years ago were peaceful, the rebels are far from it now. Besides the large number of Syrians fighting Assad’s government, large numbers of foreign jihadists are now entering Syria to aid in taking on the regime. These extremists are complicating matters a great deal, as Assad is using them to show that, if he gets knocked out of power, these radicals will then take over Syria. The problem here lies with the fact that Britain, France, and the United States aren’t remotely friendly with Bashar al-Assad or his allies and had at one point been considering ways to aid the rebels. It would obviously be a terrible political move for those nations to help the side that the jihadists are also helping, but they initially intended to aid the rebel forces who are badly outclassed because Assad’s allies in Iran and Russia are aiding the government forces. A suicide attack on a pro-government mosque by the jihadists aiding the rebel forces has all but guaranteed the United States and other major Western powers will try to avoid being linked to groups taking such radical measures.