Syrian Refugees and the Syrian Civil War

Terrorism and acts of terror have grown in frequency in the last few decades. The Middle East and the Western world have all suffered from the senseless acts of radicals and those wishing to take over government. With terrorism becoming a major concern internationally, some of the aftermath of terrorist groups like ISIS have led to some of the biggest problems currently happening throughout the world. The biggest of such problems is the Syrian refugee crisis that has displaced millions of Syrians and forced them to seek asylum and refuge in other countries. Such a move has sparked global controversy as people in Europe have shared horror stories of violence and rape with perpetrators being refugee "children" (Petersen, 2015, p. 83).

These "children" look much older than their perceived ages and are frequently male. As one article mentioned, Police in Germany, Sweden, and Norway have investigated hundreds of cases with some within five German cities where organized North African or Arab gangs have been suspected of sexually assaulting and attacking women (Wyke, 2016). While atrocities like the mass beheading of Christian children in Syria made international news, that was soon eclipsed by the terrorist attacks seen outside of Syria, leading those not from Syria to fear refugee migration to their respective countries. Though the Syrian Crisis is gaining negative attention, fueling fear and anger from non-Syrians and furthering the growth of terrorism across the world, it is important to see how this situation got so out of hand.

The Syrian refugee has its origin stories and in these origin stories, one will understand why Syria became so unstable and how their instability generated an increase in terrorism. Culminating with the Syrian Civil War, Syrians have had to deal with several occupations throughout history. Being a key geopolitical position, foreign powers have sought to control Syria. The Assads, the ruling family of Syria before the civil war, was the country's last hope at stability after years of coups d'etats that pushed the nation into continual military conflict and uncertainty (Marshall, 2012, p. 140).

However, just three short years after the Assad family seized power, Hafez al-Assad allied with Anwar al-Sadat, Egypt's president and ignite a new war against the nation of Israel. With Syria and Egypt gaining weapons from the Soviet Union, and Israel backed by the United States, the failed war damaged relations all over the Middle East and did little to progress Syria's goals. After that, the seventeen year-long Lebanese Civil War led to Syria waging their own proxy wars and creating bloodshed via direct and indirect military intervention. Thanks to smuggling rings and black markets, the Syrian government began seeing corruption within its ranks with daily bare necessities being having to be smuggled from Jordan and Lebanon (Weinberger, 1986).

From smuggling came a new upper class that squeezed the traditional middle class dry, leaving them deprived and angry towards Alawites and the regime in general. "The regime maintained its hold on power through the usual measures employed by a dictatorship: eliminating dissent through censoring the media, silencing opponents and critics, preventing free speech and denying political expression" (Nassar, 2013). With censorship, deprivation, and corruption rampant, the atmosphere of Syria turned from independence seeking to resent and fear of the Alawites, in particular the Assad family. Aside from the growing fear and resentment, other things occurred that led to the current situation in Syria. One of which was the massacre in the western city of Hama.

The Muslim Brotherhood, a Sunni group, terrorized parts of Syria via bombing and assassination. The regime responded by killing tens of thousands. However, it did nothing to eradicate it. Merely, it forced it further underground so it could wait for a prime opportunity to again surface. After the death of Hafez al-Assad in 2000, Bashar, his second son, became president.

While Bashar brought hope to the Syrian people because he had been exposed to the Western world and was an educated man, none of the promises he made took root. Even with some progress in the country in relation to international trade, the old regime quickly took over and the Syrians were forced again to deal with a corrupt and restrictive government. After all the disappointments and the civil unrest, protests against corruption began emerging from the populace and led to military violence against Syrians. The violence drove Syrians to seek help from other nearby countries in the region.

These people, religious leaders, asked Syrians to form a Sunni uprising against the Alawites and other ruling minorities. As the conflict grew, a new form of sectarianism took place, legitimizing violence against others. Since the Syrian regime had already behaved violently against its own people, those oppressed quickly accepted such philosophy. Thus the civil war began and made millions of Syrians into refugees. "Since the Syrian civil war began, 320,000 people have been killed, including nearly 12,000 children. About 1.5 million people have been wounded or permanently disabled, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights" (World Vision, 2016). The problem with the refugee situation, is that now these refugees live in places that are foreign to them and among those that fear them, leading to problems as seen in Sweden, Germany, and other countries that accepted refugees.