FOR BETHUEL BEST ONLY

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Sean Mcadam Follow Oct 20, 2016 · 6 min read

America’s Ignorance: The Syrian Civil War

his is Omran Daqneesh, a child roughly the same age as the Syrian

Civil War itself. His image has made its rounds all over social media

in the western world, bringing to light the horrors of the con�ict. Along

with his family, Omran was injured in what most think was a Russian or

Syrian Regime airstrike on the city of Aleppo. He was very close to

being one of the thousands of civilians killed in the city of Aleppo

alone, but was miraculously pulled out of the rubble just in time.

His dazed stare raises questions; how did we get here? Who is we? Most importantly, where do we go from here?

T

Photo by Mahmoud Raslan/Aleppo Media Center.

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he above chart may give a basic understanding as to who the actors

in the Syrian Civil War are and who they are a�liated or �ghting

with, but it does not come close to telling the real story as to whats

happening on the ground. With nearly a dozen di�erent factions within

the country itself and a myriad of intervening nations, it is very di�cult

to ascertain exactly what is happening inside Syria. The fact that both

Russia and the U.S. are only miles apart from each other on the

battle�eld only complicate things further. The only thing known for

sure is that there will be no winners, only losers.

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. . .

The Current State of Con�ict The Syrian Civil War has been in a stalemate for the past few years,

with only very recent advances by regime forces supported by Russian

air strikes. Much of this results from the various factions inside the

rebels themselves. Just like the foreign powers intervening, each rebel

faction is motivated by di�erent agendas, causing chaos in a time

where unity would be decisive. Desire for land and power have

distracted the many rebel groups from the bigger picture of defeating

the Assad Regime, and have left them squabbling among themselves as

This web of factions provided by CNN is informative, but does not tell the whole story.

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the Russian-backed military Syrian military slowly forces them out of

their areas of control.

leppo, the Syrian city made famous for receiving the brunt of

Russian and Syrian airstrikes is currently the focal point of the

entire con�ict. It is the Civil War in microcosm, with nearly every

faction besides ISIS being represented. The Syrian government has

besieged the rebel-held eastern part of the city, and a war of attrition

has been ongoing for about two years. Indiscriminate airstrikes by the

Syrian and Russian militaries have been cause for great alarm, with

allegations of war crimes being levied against both the Syrian dictator

Bashar al Assad and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Aleppo has been

targeted by extremely rudimentary bombing methods, including the

barbaric method of dropping barrels of high-explosives in built up areas

to cause maximum damage.

A

Syria as of 5 September, 2016. ISIS controlled areas are in Grey, Regime areas in pink and rebel-held

areas are in green and yellow. The white areas in the northwest of the country are the last holdouts of

the Al-Qaeda a�liated Al-Nusra front.

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But what does a civil war 7,000 miles away have to do with the average American?

. . .

International Consequences With the struggle between the rebels and the Syrian government

locked in a stalemate for the last �ve years, only the intervention on

behalf of countless foreign governments have managed to turn the tide

for either side. On one end is the Russian, Iranian and Chinese

governments who have been aiding the Syrian government through

direct military intervention in the case of Russia and Iran or economic

aid from China. On the opposite side of the con�ict supporting the

rebels is the U.S. led coalition, supported by over a dozen di�erent

Western nations with the aim of ousting Bashar al Assad and

eliminating Islamic State from the region through precision airstrikes.

The devestation of the once largest city of Aleppo can be seen here

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he airstrikes by both Russian and the U.S. led coalition have

devastated the country, with thousands of civilians being killed as

collateral damage. Most recently the Russian and Syrian Air Forces

struck and destroyed a civilian hospital in Eastern Aleppo, just days

after striking a U.N. aid convoy destined for the same city. These

attacks have resulted in allegations of war crimes being pressed against

both the Russian and Syrian governments by various Western nations.

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. . .

Rising Tensions The relationship between Russia and the United States is at its most

fragile point since the end of the Cold War more than two decades ago.

Tensions have been high since the Russian annexation of the Crimea in

2014, and their intervention in the Syrian Civil War has only served to

make things worse. While the Russian and American governments have

worked together on several cease�res in the country, none of them have

lasted longer than a week. Most recently, a cease�re brokered in mid-

September lasted just �ve days before the Russian and Syrian forces

began bombarding the city of Aleppo again.

Russian spokeswoman has recently stated “If the US launches a direct aggression against Damascus and the Syrian army, it

will lead to terrible, tectonic shifts not only on the territory of this country but also in the region in general.” With the U.S. and several

A

The sheer terror of never knowing when the next air strike will hit is apparent in this clip

from Aleppo.

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Western nations taking an “Assad Must Go” stance, the West has placed

itself in direct opposition of the Russian and Syrian governments,

something that might carry severe rami�cations in the near future.

the time of writing, the Russian Navy has just embarked a naval

carrier strike group to take position in the Mediterranean Sea.

This act has the potential to completely escalate the Syrian Civil War

from an internal strife to an international debacle. Many leaders in the

United States have called for a no-�y zone over the entire country of

Syria, e�ectively halting any and all Russian or Syrian air strikes in an

e�ort to bring some semblance of peace to the region. This no-�y zone

was to be enforced by the many U.S. Navy ships in the area, but with

the introduction of the Russian Navy this task will be impossible

without inciting a much larger incident. 8 Russian ships, one of them

being their sole aircraft carrier, are destined for the Syrian coast in

order to bolster their e�orts to support Bashar al Assad. This will bring

the total of Russian ships in the Mediterranean to 18, enough to rival

the U.S. Navy’s Sixth Fleet who is also stationed in the area and

conducting air strikes in Syria.

At

Russian President Vladimir Putin can be seen meeting with Syrian Dictator Bashar al Assad

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further complicate the situation, the Russians have moved an

integrated and mobile air-defense system into Syria, focused

around their naval base in Tartus. This system gives them a 250 mile

To

The Russian Admiral Kuznetsov, the country’s only aircraft carrier, as it makes its way toward the

Mediterranean Sea

The extent of Russia’s air-defense network can be seen covering the majority of Syria, Israel, Turkey

and parts of the Mediterranean.

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radius from which they can shoot down any inbound aircraft or missiles

with their S-300 and S-400 anti-air systems. The new system has the

ability to “see” the current high-tech U.S. stealth bombers, rendering

the billion-dollar aircraft useless in a potential encounter. This would

make the task of targeting Assad’s forces or infrastructure impossible,

something which both major candidates in the U.S. Presidential

election advocate for. Enforcing a no-�y zone over Syria would require

a large presence of U.S. and coalition aircraft which would be directly

threatened by both the Russian Navy and their newly integrated anti-

air defense sites.

nbeknownst to the average American, the threat of another Cold

War with Russia is looming over the horizon. With the media

covering nothing but election shenanigans over the past few months,

the war in Syria has garnered barely a minute of airtime to every 60

minutes of election coverage. Most do not realize the possibility of

confrontation with Russia is real and may happen in the very near

future. If more were aware of the lurking danger, the Syrian Civil War

would be the hot-button issue during the U.S. Presidential debates,

rather than who grabbed who in the genitals.

U

Relations between the United States and Russia can be summed up with this photograph of

Presidents Obama and Putin meeting at the most recent G20 summit

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