The “Arab spring” also known as the Arab revolution is referred to a revolutionary wave of demonstrations, protest, and violence occurring in the Arab world in the Middle Eastern and North African regions beginning in December of 2010. The Arab spring has had a large impact on the worlds foreign affairs for the past 3 years. Many Arab countries in the last few years have had their own revolutions and protest almost reaching levels to be considered civil wars. The largest and most violent demonstrations have been and are currently happening in a country on the western border of Iraq and south of Turkey known as Syria. Syria has been in an inner conflict since the country won its independence from France in 1946. Though recently because of the large amount of different social ethical and religious groups all looking for power and authority in the same region, the country has been in a violent turmoil. To get a better understanding on why and how Syria has fallen into this state of power struggled violence you should first look at the other countries involved in todays Arab spring and how this whole mess started in the Arab world. On December 17, 2010, in a small North African country called Tunisia, a twenty six year old street vendor by the name of Mohamed Bouazizi started a revolution that would change the world forever. Earlier that day Mohamed had been selling goods from his wheelbarrow in his rural home town when local authorities seized his wheelbarrow and all of his goods with it and proceeded to beat him in public. Stricken with despair from being constantly tormented by the local government, Mohamed Bouazizi ignited himself in flames killing himself in protest of his treatment at the hands of the local authorities. Bouazizi’s suicide quickly spark an array of riots, some that became profoundly violent. These riots did not take long to reach the capital city of Tunisia, Tunis. The Tunisian government quickly responded to these demonstrations by sending out security forces to shut down the demonstrations and arrest the activist. The Tunisian government tried many tactics to shut down the demonstrations by shutting down the internet and other media sources in hopes to stop the word from traveling to other regions about the riots that were occurring. This only made matters worse and the demonstrators grew in numbers and more acts of violence began to arise. President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali offered to create 300,000 jobs, but it was to little to late for the Tunisian people and by January 14 the president Ali and his family fled the country to Saudi Arabia. This movement was later called the Jasmine Revolution.In October of 2011 after the Revolution the people of Tunisia replace President Ali with a temporary unity government that would pass a new constitution giving the people the riots and freedoms they deserved and fought for. Word of the success of the Jasmine revolution spread fast to other Arab countries. Inspired by Tunisia’s success Egypt was the second country to try their luck at a revolution. On Tuesday, January 25, 2012, thousands of Egyptians took to the streets to protest poverty, unemployment, government corruption and autocratic governance of their 30 year President, Hosni Mubarak. President Mubarak’s regime responded similarly to the Tunisian president by blocking social media web sites. Just as Tunisia, this only made matters worse by outraging the people of Egypt and brought increased national attention to these riots. The local law enforcement tried fighting the protesters, injuring hundreds with batons water hoses and tear gas. Soon the riots spread and rage throughout the country, drawing help from the Muslim brotherhood and recruiting former head of the international atomic energy agency and thought to be a potential Egyptian leader Mohammed ElBaradei to lead the protests. On a Friday word was spread by journalist and Egyptian activist of a large protest, the Egyptian military was called in to cover security, (an action welcomed by the protesters due to the violent demeanor of local law enforcement). The protest continued into Saturday where President Obama announced that he had spoken with president Mubarak and urged him to take “concrete steps” toward reform. President Mubarak had no choice but to step down. After the revolution Egypt was under military control. Recently Egypt held their first free presidential election in which the Muslim brotherhood backed Mohammed Morsi won the election and was declared the new president of the free Egypt. The trend in the Arab world was catching on quick and with the entire world watching these countries and their strive for a better future it was only a matter of time before the rest of the oppressed Arab countries stood up and started their own revolution. On the heels of Egypt's revolution other Arab countries broke out into demonstrations and protested local authority. The people of Yemen managed to oust president Ali Abdullah Sa Salah through protest and riots, and replaced him shortly after with his vice president Abd Al-Rab Mansur Al Hadi. Although the riots in Yemen were much less violent, the people still managed to revolt and bring in a new leader. Towards the end of the Egyptian revolution there was a large group of rebels in the country of Libya ready to start their own uprise and revolt against their countries government and leader Muammar Gaddafi. Gaddafi was an enemy of many including the united states for multiple terrorist attacks in the 1980s including the pan-am flight 103 attack in 1988 killing 270 people. The riots in Libya turned bloody and violent quick due to the aggressive nature of the Libyan rebels. It didn't take long for the entire country to break out in civil war. With Gaddafi being an enemy of the united states and UK, Both countries lent aid to the rebels in attempt to overthrow Gaddafi’s regime. Eventually a Rebel assault ended in the death of Muammar Gaddafi. Although the mission is complete and the Gaddafi regime is no more, Libya still remain at a state of unrest due to a large power struggle between various political groups in the country. The country of Syria is arguably the most conflicted country in the world today. inner conflict is no new story for Syria though. Since Syria's independence from france in 1946 the country has been threw a tremendous amount of political instability due to the diverse ethnic and religious groups in the country. Syria is home to ethnic groups such as the Kurds, Armenians, Assyrians, Christians, Druze, Alawite Shais and Arab Sunnis. Currently in control of the Syrian government is an army coup that helped restore Syrian independence known as the Pan-Arab Baath party who were led by president Hafez al-Assad. Assad was In power for 29 years until he died of a heart attack in 2000 after a long battle with ill health. The Baath party took control in 1963 and have been in power ever since. Assad was known for his strong anti-western policy abroad and his authoritarian rule at home. After the death of Assad, Syria had a brief moment of relief from oppression and hundreds of political prisoners were released, but the Syrian economy and political freedoms never developed. After the death of his father Hafez al-Assad, Bashar al-Assad assumed power over the Baath government and was elected again in 2007 to serve as president of Syria. The period of relaxation for Syria was short lived after Bashar took office. People first saw Bashar as a sign of hope to help the people from their oppression. The publics opinion was soon overthrown by the actions of Bashar and his disregard for human rights, economic lapses, and many acquisitions of corruption. The Syrian people became more oppressed then ever with no other countries to stand in and help due to Syria’s International isolation. Over the years Syria has been increasingly isolated from the rest of the world. Syria has been in numerous conflicts with Israel, primarily by supporting and arming different organizations such as the Hamas in Gaza and other Palestinian splinter groups that would then cary out attacks on Israel. One of the most notable occurrences of Syria’s support of terrorist groups was their involvement in Lebanon by giving weapons to the Hezbollah militia to fight against Israel. Syria has also constantly come under fire for their support of insurgents in Iraq. Through their support for these groups and organizations and violating U.N bans, heavy sanctions have been place on Syria, making the country become increasingly isolated from the rest of the world. As word of the Arab spring became more widely known. The Syrian people and rebel groups found hope and inspiration from the success in the other Arab countries. On March 15, 2011 after calling for activist through social media websites, a small demonstration was held in the capitol city of Damascus to demand a stop to the oppression and government corruption. Demonstrators protested against the al-Assad’s family regime. In just a few days these protest spread to different cities and grew in number of participants tremendously. On Friday, March 18, 2011, a day known as “the Friday of dignity” protesters gathered in a few cities of Syria to hold anti Baath demonstrations. The state security forces responded brutally turning the protest into a bloody battle of unarmed civilians versus the armed security forces killing many protestors. Security forces tried to crush the anti government protest by using tanks gunfire and mass arrest but the number of protestors and cities grew by the day. On April 25, the Syrian army began their first campaign against the protesting population. On June 3 protestors held their largest demonstration yet, a sit-in that gathered thousands of people to the city of Hama. At the demonstration security forces opened fire into the group of protestors killing more then 70 people in a massacre that was later known as “the children of freedom massacre”. The protests quickly became more formal when the opposition started to form and organize political and military sections for a long term plan to overthrow the Baath government. As the year went on the conflict only worsened with more blood shed and violence then any of the other Arab-state revolutions taking place in the recent Arab spring. The success of Tunisia’s revolution sparked a fast growing trend in the Arab world. Sick of being tormented and oppressed, the people of all these Arab countries decided to rise up against their governing elite and demand the rights they deserve. Some of these revolutions in the past few years have been great successes and some it is to soon to tell if the uprise had a positive or negative effect on their country yet. One thing is for sure is that Syria is now on the brink of a civil war. President Assad states that he will not agree nor negotiate with any of the rebel’s request, and the rebels state they will not stop until Assad is out of office. With no one stepping in to help this internationally isolated country, the end of this revolution doesn't seam to be in sight. And the fighting in this country grows increasingly brutal by the day. The Arab spring is a huge part of history being made right in front of our eyes. Whatever the outcome of these countries ends up being, it will have a large affect on the entire world.

References; BBC.co.uk, Aljazeera.com, NPR.org, NYtimes.com, nbcnews.com