Running head: ARGUMENT PROJECT

Argument Project
Countries Affiliations in Syria
Emina Hadrovic
Salt Lake Community College

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Thousands and thousands of people are dying in the Syrian Civil War,
some of them are just innocent people caught in the midst of the war.
Women, children, and even men, not participating in the war, are dying. We
know there are always casualties in wars, but the people in Syria are dying in
very unethical and inhumane ways. The countries that have become
involved in the Syrian Civil War have not considered the innocent lives that
are going to be lost when they plan attacks or they are just not interested in
saving peoples lives. What I am arguing is that the involvement of these
countries is making the Syrian Civil War worse, we have to restrict these
countries and get Syria better help, and we know if nothing is done the
number of innocent people dying in Syria will only increase and if we get
them the right help, the sooner innocent people will stop dying.
The Syrian Civil War started in 2011 and is still going strong today. The
war started when the Syrian citizens rebelled against the president of Syria
because they wanted a new government. The countries that are involved are
picking which side they want to support, the government or the antigovernment side. In the article Of Arms, Funding and Non-lethal
Assistance-Issues Surrounding Third-State Intervention in the Syrian Civil
War, professor Tom Ruys (2014) states that the European Union in May
2013, gave the green light for the transfer of arms to the Syrian Opposition
Council (Pg.13). Once the European Union allowed this, the involvement of

countries in the Syrian Civil War was significantly increased. Much of the
involvement caused more destruction than restoration. There was already
involvement from other countries before the European Union gave the green
light, Ruys (2014) claims that these
countries that were involved are Russia, the United States, Qatar, and Saudi
Arabia, they
provided arms, funding, and/or non-lethal assistance to Syria (Pg. 13).
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The allowance of weapons transfers, that the United Nations allowed,
also allowed countries to bring lethal weapons that would make the Syrian
Civil War worse. Ruys states that the United States violated the principle of
training, arming equipping, and financing (2014). Although, the country that
is causing the most havoc in the Syria Civil War is Russia. Once the
opportunity arose, Russia took the advantage and put itself in Syria. Russia
says they are helping the people but what they are actually doing isnt
helping Syria. In the article The Russian Intervention and the Internal
Dynamics of Syria, Dr. Andrew Terrill (2015) explains that Russia says it is
only targeting IS and other jihadists, but when it comes to evidence, Russia
is bombing places where there is no IS (Pg. 128). Russia bombed a place
where there was no IS, and we know the innocent people who might have
been there, died for no reason because of Russia. Ruys (2014) and Terrill
(2015) both agree that Russia is supporting the government or as they call

it the Assad side. What this says is that Russia supports a government that
has control over their citizens. These countries that are involved in the Syrian
Civil War are there for their own benefits, which means Syria is not going to
get better if they are still involved. These countries only care for their own
interests and are not interested in the well-being of the people who live in
Syria.
While Russia is one of the main countries involved in the Syrian Civil
War, there are much more following Russias footsteps. An online article,
Syrian war: Who next to intervene? by
Jonathan Marcus (2016) points out the countries that will become involved or
will become more heavily involved in the Syrian Civil War. The countries that
Marcus (2016) includes are the
western countries, the Gulf Arabs, Iran, and maybe Turkey if it is pushed to
the point. Keep in mind the destruction that just Russia has caused in Syria,
these countries will do the same as
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Russia and only make the war worse. Marcus (2016) shows another way
countries have become involved in the war but without bringing destruction,
the way the countries are doing this is by taking in refugees fleeing from the
war. Marcus (2016) says that Turkey is having a refugee problem. The war
has gotten so bad to the point millions of people are trying to get away from
the war so they are going to neighboring countries for safety. The countries

are having a problem with dealing with all the refugees at such a quick rate.
So, not only are the people in Syria being killed but also being driven away
from their home. Countries should accept Syrian refugees if they truly want
to help because they are trying to get to safety because of the dangers these
countries have brought into Syria.
Now that we know the consequences of countries becoming involved in
the Syrian Civil War, I believe that we have to put a stop to it. There is so
much death we cant just sit around and do nothing. An online article that
affected me deeply is the Syria conflict: Childrens hospital hit in deadly
Aleppo strikes, written by the BBC News (2016). This article affected me by
making it clear to me that the government will do anything just to get their
side to win. It is inhumane to bomb place where there are innocents, not able
to defend themselves. The BBC News (2016) writes that a hospital, blood
bank, and ambulances have been hit by a bomb from a government aircraft.
Women, men, and children bombed when they were already in the hospital,
it cannot get more unethical and inhumane than that example.
The involvement of these countries are not helping Syria at all and could
actually make the war last longer (Ruys, 2014, Pg. 16). The way we can stop
all this is if we stop allowing the help that these corrupt countries are
providing to Syria. We need to leave Syria alone so the country can figure out
what the people want, rather than all these other countries becoming
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involved so they can push one side to win for their own intentions. The
citizens rebelled against the Syrian government for a reason, they need to
figure this problem out themselves because clearly, all the other countries
are just making it worse and more complicated. Every country has
an uprising to make a change and make it better rather than to stay the
same and to be controlled. The restriction of other countries to stop being
involved in the Syrian war will make the war end sooner and the sooner it
ends the sooner bystanders will stop dying. If nothing changes the war will
be as it is now, people dying for no reason and Syria having a government
that is not wanted by its own citizens. It might become even worse because
the longer the war is going on, the more time there is for other countries to
get involved. We need to resist the different countries involvement by not
allowing any funding, weapon support, or training. We just need to stop all
support they are giving Syria because as we have seen here all it has done
is make the war worse and worse as intervention increases.
Although some may argue that the involvement from other countries in
the Syrian Civil War is making it better and actually saving peoples lives,
which could be true. They say that the countries are giving people weapons
and training so they can defend themselves so they dont die fighting. Terrill
(2015) shows the example of Russia providing weapons and the United
States proving training (Pg. 127). They say that everyone should be more
involved so that people stop dying. That is also true in a way, what I mean
here is that countries that are providing refugees safety from the war, also

there are some countries like the United States that are trying to stop other
countries from using bombs in Syria. This is a good argument but that bring
me back to the point that this is the reason all of this is happening is because
of the countries involvement. Although they are helping in providing
assistance, they are only helping
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for more killing to happen. In the article, Syria In Revolt, Sadik Al-Azm
(2014) points out that the people in Syria dont see the Unites States as a
hero (Pg. 39). Al-Azm (2014) states that the Unites States knew of an attack
3 days before it happened but they did nothing about it (39). To truly stop
and end the Syrian Civil War sooner, so people stop dying we have to restrict
these countries involvements.
To sum up, the Syrian Civil War has been going on for years and will
continue to go on for many years if these countries stay involved in Syria.
The countries involved in the Syrian Civil War have only made the war worse,
causing innocent people to die because of attacks that did not consider the
innocent lives at risk. The BBC News (2016), Marcus (2016), Ruys (2014), and
Terrill (2015) all have evidence that supports that the interference of other
countries has made the war worse. These authors have strong evidence of
the destruction these countries have caused in Syria. While some may think
they are helping by being involved, there is a picture bigger picture that
when they become involved they help individuals but overall they are not

helping to end the war. We have to restrict countries from being involved in
their mischievous ways so that people lives can be saved and the war can
come to a final end.

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Work Cited
Al-Azm, S. J. (2014). Syria in revolt understanding the unthinkable war.
Boston Review, 39 (5),

34-41.

BBC News. (2016, November 16). Syria conflict: Childrens hospital hit in
deadly
Aleppo strikes. Retrieved November 19, 2016, from
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-37998751.
Marcus, M. (2016, February 5). Syrian war: Who next to intervene? Retrieved
November 19,

2016, from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35502907.

Ruys, T. (2014). Of arms, funding and non-lethal assistance-issues
surrounding third-state
Intervention in the Syrian civil war. Chinese Journal of International
Law, 13 (1) 13-53.
Terrill, W. A. (2015). The Russian intervention and the internal dynamics of
Syria. Strategic
Studies Institute, 4 (1) 127-129.