Syria's Civil War and its Looming Dangers

The ongoing civil war in Syria is developing into another major conflict in the Middle East, and is threatening to drag the whole region into war as the death toll piles up. The war started early in 2011, and has been escalating ever since. An uprising group set on ousting the current government and its leader, who has been in power for over 40 years, has been fighting the Syrian army for many months now. After a failed ceasefire in April 2012, fighting has restarted in most of the country's major cities.

While the ongoing war is simple in its cause and nature, some of the implications it has caused and poses to cause are anything but. With the Assad government's use of chemical weapons, it has caused the United States to begin aiding the rebels in the conflict. Yet again it seems, the United States are in a situation where they are giving weapons to questionable people. Here's a gruesome video of an example of the type of people we are arming. (Warning: Graphic Images)

While it has been proven once major outside parties become involved in these wars (Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan) it is relatively easy to remove the enemies from the region, it's what happens after that remains difficult. Once victory is achieved, there will still be a lack of organized government, not to mention all of this donated military equipment floating around a region known for its susceptibility to violence. If no organized government is setup, and the country is still rich with weaponry, it seems only a matter of time before conflict erupts again.

As mentioned before, once these weapons are in the region, they stay in the region. Unfortunately they don't stay in the right hands. Numerous terrorist organizations including Hezbollah will most likely try to seize these weapons and subsequently seize power. This has caused Israel to become involved in the war, in order to prevent Hezbollah from gaining ground and eventually launching an attack against them.

This shows that while there are numerous countries providing aid in the war, many or all of them are not doing it for the safety and benefit of the people living there, but instead some ulterior motive for their own good. Most involved countries are just interested in making sure no terrorist organizations take a foothold in the region amidst the turmoil. Even the United States seem to be getting involved to keep the ever presence Sunni-Shia tensions at bay, preventing the rise to power of Hezbollah, or perhaps getting involved to avoid scrutiny for remaining passive while other countries such as Israel and Russia acted. Unfortunately, these aid providers will most likely provide little to no real help after the conflict has been resolved. Much like in the DRC where other countries become involved for their own personal gain, Syria will most likely continue to be exploited by outside interests long after their civil war has ended.