As a college student, it can be difficult to keep up with current events. We don’t just sit around with CNN on, and you probably can’t event remember the last time you picked up a newspaper. It’s hard to ignore the fact that the United States has been discussing the country of Syria lately, and this article has the basic facts a college student should know about the conflict.
Syria is a country in the Middle East that is currently engaged in a civil war. In 2011, peaceful protests began as activist began challenging the dictatorship governing them. The government responded with force and began shooting activists to try and bring an end to the protests. As civilians were being killed, the activists eventually began shooting back, and it hasn’t stopped since.
Bashar al-Assad is the current leader of the country. The al-Assads have been ruling Syria since 1970. Recently, al-Assad has been accused of using chemical weapons on civilians, which have been banned by the United Nations since 1925, according to the United Nations Office of Disarmament Affairs.
Although the United States has had an on-again off-again relationship with Syria since the Bush administration, our ears really perked up at the possibility of chemical weapons. As a member of the world, some people argue, it is the United States’ responsibility to aid the civilians who are being unjustly tortured by a power-hungry dictator. Others, however, feel that this civil war amongst Syria is none of our concern right now, chemical weapons or not.
President Obama is not currently calling for the U.S. to invade Syria at the aid of the activist. He is holding out for “diplomacy” in hopes that our ambassadors can negotiate with Syria in hopes that they will surrender their weapons.
In an interview with ABC, Obama said “If we can do that without a military strike, that is overwhelmingly my preference.”
Invading Syria would mean a long and violent war for the U.S. military, just as Obama stated in his recent State of the Union address that troops are “finally coming home” from the war in the Middle East.
Another issue with invading Syria is that if we head over there, the Russian military will be waiting for us on Syria’s side. Russia is a long-standing ally of Syria, which brings an added nation to consider in our actions.
In an interview with a Russian TV station, Assad said that he would adhere to the “standard procedure” that would come with signing an international ban on chemical weapons. However, Secretary of State John F. Kerry says we need more reassurance than that.
“The words of the Syrian regime, in our judgment, are simply not enough,” Kerry said.
The conflicts of the world are by no means a simple thing to understand, and this article has barely scratched the surface. However, the next time you catch a snippet of “Syrian” talk on the radio or see a political Facebook status, you may have a better understanding of what’s being said.