Syria 10 page essay.docx - Leslie Franco Syria crisis...

Leslie Franco
Syria crisis
Social Science Dual Credit 102
Mrs.Fernandez

Introduction
Syria is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the
west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest . The
Assad family have been in power for a for over more than a quarter of a century, with current
president Bashar al-Assad taking over from his father in 2000. Hafez and Bashar have done so
much damage to Syria’s civilians. Syria crisis has escalated so much after Bashar took
presidency. The U.S should work with the Syrian government to remove of Assad from power
and help the Free Syrian Army defeat ISIS so they can have new elections and solve the crisis in
Syria is the best solution because if it still happens, The Free Syrian Army is there to defeat the
Syrian army in order to help the civilians that are currently living in Syria.
Background
Hafez al-Assad was born into a low income family. He little by little worked his way up,
from joining into the Baath party, to Air Force pilot, commander in chief, prime minister, and the
presidency of Syria. According to the Power and Policy in Syria , by Radwan Ziadeh, he presents
an analysis of Syria’s political structure in which Syria’s influence in legal and policy decisions,
he explains “With President Hafez al-Assad having ignored the warning signs, the economic,
social and political crises were sooner or later bound to blow up his successor’s face.” ( Ziadeh,
37). Hafez al-Assad has ruled Syria for over more than 30 years till his death from 1970-2000.
He was an outstanding figure of Arab politics and was respected and feared in his own country
and throughout the Middle East. Syria's social and political structures went upside down.
1

According to the Middle East Voices website, Syria’s 1982 Hama Massacre Recalled: Lesson for
Assad Today? , by David Arnold, which he coordinates the Syria Witness project at Middle East
Voices and reports,which gives them the opportunity to narrate their life on the streets, he said,
“After violent clashes between government forces and Muslim Brotherhood
insurgents in several trouble spots in 1982, then-President Hafez Al-Assad ordered troops
into the restive city of Hama. For three weeks Syrian tanks and planes bombarded Hama
while soldiers airlifted in by helicopter carried out house-to-house searches and on-the-
spot executions. Estimates of the total number of civilians who died in the siege range
widely between 10,000 and 45,000.” ( Arnold, 2012).
According to The Guardian report article, Jason Rodrigues, 1982: Syria's President Hafez
al-Assad crushes rebellion in Hama , he did a report on the Hama Massacre which Hafez al-
Assad made a scene to kill Sunni rebellion, he said “The 1982 massacre is regarded as the single
bloodiest assault by an Arab ruler against his own people in modern times and remains a pivotal
event in Syrian history” ( Rodrigues,2011). Thousands had died and instead of killing the rebels,
they survived and killed his own people. What is occurring right now with the situation that