Syria: The Crisis and Its Implications
Contents:
In the chaos of fighting between the government and anti-government fighters, IS took over large parts of Iraq and then moved into eastern Syria, where they were able to gain land and power. Even though IS has since lost control of a lot of this land, fighting continues in the country. The situation is also more complicated because other countries have got involved in the conflict. The UK, France and other western countries have also provided varying levels of support to what they consider to be "moderate" rebels.
According to the United Nations UN - a group of countries working together to try to bring peace - at least 6.
This, in turn, has made it impossible to tackle some urgent challenges arising from the refugee presence, and from underlying structural problems with the delivery of basic services to the Lebanese population. As the Syrian regime proved to be resilient and the international community remained reluctant to intervene, after it became clear that the FSA had failed as an effective armed opposition Turkey adopted a utilitarian strategy of supporting what it saw as the most effective anti-regime consortium. What else do we need to know about this war? More than , Syrians have lost their lives in four-and-a-half years of armed conflict, which began with anti-government protests before escalating into a full-scale civil war. The group who want the president to step down - called the opposition - is made up of several kinds of people. The sectarian framing of the event itself, by both government and the opposition, in the aftermath of the attacks contributed considerably to the accentuation of sect-based divisions.
Read on to find out more about the situation, but if you have any questions about what is going on, send them in to us here and we will get a BBC expert to try to answer some of them. On 14 April, armed forces from the UK, the US and France fired missiles to destroy what they say are chemical weapons factories in Syria. The air strikes were in response to a suspected chemical attack in an area called Douma , which shocked a lot of people. It was the biggest military attack against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government by western powers in Syria's civil war.
UK Prime Minister Theresa May said the Syrian regime had demonstrated a "persistent pattern of behaviour" when it came to the use of chemical weapons, and that "must be stopped". However, many people don't agree that military strikes are the best approach and feel that the prime minister should have asked Members of Parliament MPs to agree to action before it was taken. Douma was the last town under the control of the rebels in Syria's region of Eastern Ghouta.
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Dozens of people are reported to have died in the attack, although the exact number is not known. Syria has said that the chemical attack is a "fabrication" - as has its main ally, Russia.
What's happening in Syria? - CBBC Newsround
The Syrian government has repeatedly denied ever having used chemical weapons. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons OPCW has sent experts to Syria to carry out investigations into the suspected chemical attack, to try to find out more about exactly what happened.
They have arrived in the country and were due to travel to Douma over the weekend, although it has not been confirmed if they have arrived there yet. But where did the conflict in Syria come from in the first place? Even before the conflict began in Syria, many Syrians were complaining about high unemployment, officials not behaving as they should do, and a lack of political freedom under their President Bashar al-Assad.
Syria: The story of the conflict
However, the event which caused the situation to escalate into a full-blown civil war dates back to , to the Syrian city of Deraa. Local people decided to protest after 15 school children were arrested - and reportedly tortured - for writing anti-government graffiti on a wall. The protests were peaceful to begin with, calling for the release of the children, democracy and greater freedom for people in the country. The government responded angrily and, on 18 March , the army opened fire on protesters, killing four people.
The following day, they shot at mourners at the victims' funerals, killing another person. People were shocked and angry at what had happened and soon the unrest spread to other parts of the country.
Syrian Crisis: Reasons and Implications in a nutshell
At first, the protesters just wanted democracy and greater freedom. But after government forces opened fire on peaceful demonstrations, people demanded that President Bashar al-Assad resign. However, he refused to do this which made the protesters extremely angry.
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President Assad still had a lot of people in Syria that supported him and his government, so they began to fight against people who were against the government. In July , the International Red Cross said the violence in Syria had become so widespread that it was in a state of civil war. There isn't one single group of people fighting against President Assad and the government's army.
The group who want the president to step down - called the opposition - is made up of several kinds of people. These include groups of rebel fighters, political parties who disagree with Assad, and those living in exile who cannot return to the country.
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It is thought there could have been as many as 1, different groups opposing the government since the conflict began, with an estimated , fighters. It wasn't long before the crisis in Syria became more than just a war between people who are for or against President Assad. In , the group calling Islamic State IS joined the rebellion against President Bashar al-Assad in Syria, where it found a safe haven and easy access to weapons.
What is Syrian Crisis?
IS is a militant group with extreme, violent views, which has used this violence against anyone who doesn't agree with what they think. They have also persecuted other groups, including Christians and Yazidis. In , the group began to take over large areas of a country called Iraq , next door to Syria.
Western powers said it could only have been carried out by Syria's government, but the government blamed rebel forces. Facing the prospect of US military intervention, President Assad agreed to the complete removal and destruction of Syria's chemical weapons arsenal.
The operation was completed the following year, but the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons OPCW has continued to document the use of toxic chemicals in the conflict. Investigators found chlorine was used "systematically and repeatedly" in deadly attacks on rebel-held areas between April and July IS has also been accused of using homemade chemical weapons, including sulphur mustard. The OPCW said the blister agent was used in an attack on the northern town of Marea in August that killed a baby. Neighbouring Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey have struggled to cope with one of the largest refugee exoduses in recent history.
The warring parties have compounded the problems by refusing humanitarian agencies access to civilians in need. The armed rebellion has evolved significantly since its inception. Secular moderates are now outnumbered by Islamists and jihadists, whose brutal tactics have caused global outrage. So-called Islamic State has capitalised on the chaos and taken control of large swathes of Syria and Iraq, where it proclaimed the creation of a "caliphate" in June Its many foreign fighters are involved in a "war within a war" in Syria, battling rebels and rival jihadists from the al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front, as well as government and Kurdish forces.
In September , a US-led coalition launched air strikes inside Syria in an effort to "degrade and ultimately destroy" IS.
The Visible Impacts of the Syrian War May Only be the Tip of the Iceberg from their homes in what is the largest refugee crisis since World War II. While the rate of economic deterioration slows down over time, its effects. its forces from almost half of the country's territory, change in Syria, which serves as its main transit route . and geopolitical implications of the Syrian crisis .
But the coalition has avoided attacks that might benefit Mr Assad's forces. Russia began an air campaign targeting "terrorists" in Syria a year later, but opposition activists say its strikes have mostly killed Western-backed rebels and civilians. In the political arena, opposition groups are also deeply divided, with rival alliances battling for supremacy. However, the exile group has little influence on the ground in Syria and its primacy is rejected by many opponents of Mr Assad.
With neither side able to inflict a decisive defeat on the other, the international community long ago concluded that only a political solution could end the conflict in Syria. The UN Security Council has called for the implementation of the Geneva Communique , which envisages a transitional governing body with full executive powers "formed on the basis of mutual consent". Talks in early , known as Geneva II, broke down after only two rounds, with then-UN special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi blaming the Syrian government's refusal to discuss opposition demands.
Moreover, violence has spilled over into some neighbouring countries, including Lebanon.
The impact of the Syrian crisis on Lebanon has been immense. Since the outbreak of the crisis in , up to 1. The situation in neighbouring Syria has exacerbated Lebanon's political instability, and led to political deadlock for the past three years.
This, in turn, has made it impossible to tackle some urgent challenges arising from the refugee presence, and from underlying structural problems with the delivery of basic services to the Lebanese population. Moreover, there are concerns, particularly among Christians, Shias and Druze, that a large number of Syrian Sunni Muslims could upset the delicate sectarian balance in Lebanon's multi-confessional political system.
In light of Lebanon's experience with up to Palestine refugees, its population is united in its opposition to a lasting refugee presence in the country.