The situation in Syria

News of the situation in Syria has permeated news feeds around the world since protests surged against the government in 2011. There have been seemingly endless accounts of human crises flowing from the country, beginning with dictator Bashar al-Bassad’s overtly violent reactions to the protesters and the rise of militant groups against his regime and culminating recently in the massive waves of Syrian refugees we’ve seen fleeing the country to various parts of Europe and even the U.S.  The crises have also been highlighted by the rampant ISIS activity in the country since the radical Islamic militants have won so much attention on the global stage. The aim of this post is to help us have a grasp on the situation in Syria and how it’s affecting the rest of the world. Please feel free to leave comments or add new information as it comes up. This is designed to be a running post since the situation changes almost daily.

As with most international crises, there is a virtual sea of information to sift through so I’ve included two useful articles that effectively explain the beginnings of the civil war in Syria and the current migratory crisis that has stemmed from it.

First off, it’s important to have a reasonable understanding of the history of Syria’s civil conflict which first started grabbing headlines around 2011. This article serves as a comprehensive summary of the war as it breaks down the information as a timeline. It is the more detailed article I’ve included and I found it extremely useful in understanding how the crisis has developed.

Here is an article from CNN that effectively describes what’s happening with the migratory situation. It puts some important empirical figures in perspective and illustrates where the Syrian migrants are most concentrated currently. A number of countries throughout Europe and other parts of Asia are finding vast numbers of Syrian refugees at their door and are struggling to come up with solutions. Many countries have set limits on how many Syrian migrants they are willing to accept but these numbers are perpetually in debate as more and more people looking for asylum arrive.

Finally, here is a gallery of photos from the entirety of the conflict that give us a visual perspective into the crisis as well as the insight that the captions provide.

I found these three resources very helpful in understanding the complex situation in Syria and I hope they serve you all well too. Again, feel free to contribute any thoughts/additional information.