Syrian Civil war; is it too late to intervene?

The Syrian civil war is an ongoing, armed conflict in Syria between forces loyal to the Syrian government and those who are attempting to oust it. This particular conflict began in March 2011 and eventually grew nationwide by April 2011. These protests/demonstrations came to be known as the Arab Spring; protesters had been demanding the resignation of the current president (Bashar Al-Assad) whose family has held the presidency in Syria since 1971. It has become clear that the majority of the population in Syria has become tired of the ruling of the Assad family regime, and has been calling for democratic elections. Syria is used to violence from its past, and with this problem facing the country it is causing much political violence throughout the entire country.

This conflict began as a civil uprising, with minor protests turning into massive anti-governmental demonstrations against the Assad regime. The government then attempted to suppress these demonstrations by the means of crackdowns on these protestors, resulting in hundreds of citizens killed and thousands injured. Despite Assad’s attempts to breakdown these demonstrations and the use of censorship, the protests actually began to grow larger with more angry citizens. Assad then turned to a more drastic form to suppress the protests by using lethal force against unarmed protestors. This kind of political violence is making this country a very conflict ridden state at all times, overall making it a weak state.

A real threat that is concerning is the Assad government regime’s use of chemical weapons. The fact that Syria possesses these kind of destructive weapons, it immediately poses a threat to its citizens, neighboring countries, and countries like the United States- who is beginning to aid the rebel groups in this conflict. No country wants the threat of Syria potentially using its chemical weapons. Syria is thought to have the world’s third largest stockpile of chemical weapons, and the opposition forces are concerned that the Assad regime may begin to use them against its own citizens to retain its power. Many larger countries such as the U.S., France, and the UK have warned the government of the severe consequences for the use of the chemical weapons. Along with these protests it has brought forms of terrorism including; suicide bombs, cluster bombs (by the Syrian army) and scud missile attacks.

It has become a matter to think about, if major neighboring countries become involved in this conflict such as Libya, Iraq etc. it would become easy to remove the enemies from the region. Once something is achieved or a victory occurs, there will be lack of an organized government- an organized government will be key to end the conflict and violence. Seeing that the country is obviously full of weaponry, this is dangerous and will remain always a factor for conflict to arise again. I believe that since this country is so rich in weaponry, several terrorist groups will begin to take advantage of the weak government and seize many of these weapons. Because with a weak government will bring a weak security and will not be able to stop these terrorist groups from exploiting the country.

Because terrorist groups now come into the picture, this is why some countries (U.S.) are aiding the country. They don’t want these deadly weapons to fall into the wrong hands with these terrorists. Aiding countries are trying to become involved, but will this help? Or is this no help from Syria getting exploited even more? These aiding countries don’t want to stand back and say they did not become involved, but I believe they are being somewhat passive in this conflict. This civil war I believe will continue to become more violent and exploited by others looking to gain things. I don’t see this conflict ending anytime soon, and once it does it will become even more exploited due to a weak government.

The international community is to late to intervene in this conflict I believe, because it has become so destructive and nothing will make a major impact. I think that the damage that has already been done is too severe to help. Since the international community did not intervene early enough they need to maybe think of letting the conflict play out and take its course as it has been.