Which faction of Syria is right?

The uprising of Arabic democracy through 2011 sparked a flame spreading across the Middle East. The fire is at Syria’s door and has burned through many lives already. In a bloodthirsty war between the FSA (Free Syrian Army) and Bashir Al-Assad's military, these factions fight for and against democracy and cross every barrier in morality, principle and culture to both achieve and defend their goals. Both are ferocious towards one another, so who should we as the civilized world be supporting in this bloodbath? The rebels, who want nothing more than to have the freedom and lives mimic that of the first world? Or the government who are trying to restore order into Syria for the benefit of the people and maintain their history? Through each variable, I find that we should be defending the government against the animals on the other side. This is influenced from the analysis of the conflict and its evolution. Or devolution?

The rise of the modern Middle East first originated in February 2011 with rebels bringing Gaddafi’s tyranny to an end. This war settled in October 2011 after rebels swarmed into Tripoli where Gaddafi was finally killed and democracy was planned to come forth within eight months of their new liberation. Syria’s people sought the same but Al-Assad was not impressed with this copy of Libyan uproar and sought to broadcast a message that Syria simply wasn't ready for democracy. To ease tension, they release dozens of political prisoners. So they may have some heart after all this. With everybody naively thinking everything was settled, Al-Assad saw otherwise and announced that the protestors were influenced by Israeli agents. Al-Assad could be paranoid of suffering the same fate as the late Gaddafi and claimed that 120 security enforcement agents were gunned down by armed rebels in the northern town of Jisr al-Shughour.

The FSA then targeted a high profile military base close to Damascus and supporters of the government retaliate by targeting foreign embassies. By December 2011, dual suicide bombers detonate outside security facilities, killing 44. The FSA holds the government liable when they are trying to cool the heat from the rebels to keep the country in order however the rebels are pushing the tolerance of the government and in turn, air units are dispatched into Baba Amr to recapture the land recently commandeered by the FSA. The death toll from the attack is at over 7,500 and the world is beginning to criticize the government for the barbaric attack and national opposition begins to form as a result which spirals into a later civil war. The FSA may appear to seek freedom, but this has only resulted in death and the government is doing what any other government would do with a 'terrorist' problem. Would you stand down and watch your country rise against you? This is only right as Syria cannot shatter and join so many other countries in the rebuild of the Middle East.

By 2012, international support of Syria shifts between the government and the rebels being our favorable faction. In May 2012, the UN is still eager to handle this outbreak in Syria, and condemns the government's use of heavy. The US also warns that using chemical weapons would tilt the US into an invasion and have the same outcome as Saddam Hussein in 2006. The same should not be for Syria when this can be avoided if the US kept their ego out of Syria's own business. The rebels continue to terrorize the people throughout the land killing anybody in support of the government, blowing up 3 government security chiefs and two additional bombings in Damascus, killing innocent 4 guards who merely followed orders. International pressure intensifies after Turkey intercepts a cargo plane inbound to a military base carrying arms from Russia, and in order to keep the conflict internalized, Syrian airspace is out of bounds to Turkish aircrafts. Neighbouring countries are further pushing the patience of the Syrian government when a storm of Israeli jets attacks a Syrian military ‘research’ facility, allegedly the destination of a convoy of ]lorries carrying weapons from Lebanon. The FSA continues to seize more land from the government and so the government bombs out the city of Raqqa in reason to exile a stronghold of the FSA. Through this we can see that the government is not picking arguments and is only combating the moves of the FSA.

However Bashir Al-Assad and his government are not the innocent, blameless victims that they may originally appear to have been. The government can be equally as medieval in their methods, like the FSA and so demonstrated how they are able to use their resources that the FSA can only aspire to wield. On August 21st, 2013 in the east centre of Damascus, at least 8 chemical missiles struck the land. It was confirmed that the chemical agent spliced into the missiles was the deadly nerve gas, Sarin which Saddam Hussein once used. The M14 rockets used are able to carry a payload of up to 2.2kg of Sarin alongside their combustive materials. Rebels would not be able to source the missiles, Sarin or the launcher they were released from and with no known third party, only the government can be held liable for this attack. Within the death toll, a large percentage was women and infants. By the time the full force of Sarin had taken effect, the toll had soared to over 1,000 solely from the chemical attack. With this media disaster on their hands, Russia and Syria collaborated in a joint press release showing a video of rebels from Liwa al-Islam launching the missiles. Liqa al-Islam insisted that these videos were fabricated in order to shift the blame. This devastating attack would hopefully suffocate the war but this only added to the determination of the FSA to continue against the government in a selfish, cruel, inhumane and brutal act. A government should not be treating its people like this although sending foreign military to Syria will only fan the flames and frankly, the world should keep its nose out of the Middle East and let it take care of itself. This part of the globe has been at war - one way or another - for hundreds of years and our best (and safest) bet would be just to keep out for once.

To conclude, the Syrian civil war is a complex, delicate matter however with neither side willing to admit their wrong-doings or surrender to the opposition, it is most likely this war will continue to run until there is no more damage left to be done. Judging from the information provided, the FSA were the instigators of this war and all havoc would have never surfaced if it weren't for them. The death toll now stands over 100,000 according to the UN. The FSA knows no boundaries and in a media stunt, a warrior was filmed to cut out the heart of a government soldier and then eat it in front of the lens. Our country wishes to arm these animals and doing so would only further invoke retaliation from the government until the damage is devoid of repair. However the actions taken against the FSA were far out of order and with the chemical strike, Al-Assad has only made the situation worse with the UN deciding the ‘fate’ of Syria.

Word count: 1239

Sources:
Lybian war: http://pages.wustl.edu/wuir/development-conflict-arab-spring-libya-and-syria-revolution-civil-war - Accessed on November 29th http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13755445 - Accessed on November 29th
Syrian war: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23927399 - Accessed on November 29th http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14703995 - Accessed on November 29th http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23455760 - Accessed on November 30th