War-Torn Syria and the sad state of humanity 2020
Bashar- al-Assad the president of Syria has been in power since 17th July 2000. Assad family has held power in Syria since 1971. The issue began when people started protests in the region to dethrone the family and bring about change requesting president Assad resign. This refers to as the Arab Spring, protests were seen in other Arab countries as well. It does not help that majority of the president's supporters are Shia while the majority of the opposition is Sunni. The president himself claims to be an Alawite a sect of Islam primarily from Syria.
The request for the resignation was not welcomed and in 2011 Syrian army fired on the demonstrators. After months the protest turned into an armed rebellion. The Syrian government received military support from Russia and Iran. Qatar and Saudi Arabia gave weapons to the rebels. By July 2013, the Syrian government-controlled approximately 30–40 percent of the country's territory and 60 percent of the Syrian population. A 2012 UN report said that the battle somehow became between Shia and Sunni rebel groups.
International organizations accused both government and opposition forces of breaching human rights. More than 4 million Syrians were forced to relocate because of the battles and more than 2 million refugees left their country. Millions of citizens are still short of electricity, food and drinking water.
In my time (2018) in Dubai, working for a multispecialty clinic we had doctors and other staff being hired from Syria constantly. While there are efforts from a lot of humanitarian organizations to help and stop this conflict, it makes one wonder if it is going to be enough. Many countries are providing asylum to Syrian refugees across the globe, but the war continues.
UN claims over 100,000 people were killed by June 2013. A total of 120,000 were killed by September 2013. UN tried to launch a peace initiative Geneva peace talks on Syria in March 2017 which were peace negotiations between the Syrian government and the Syrian opposition but the fights have continued. The warring sides did not get to face-to-face negotiations, but for eight days no party walked away, while Russia talked with the parties separately.
It deeply saddens me to see a religious sect like Islam, so very rich in cultural heritage hell-bent on bankrupting its own self. Fighting for power at the cost of human life, infrastructure and endless loss of resources, growth, and prosperity. There are no winners in war.
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