During a time when chaos and despair is spreading throughout the world, it's quite common to see an Arab country locked in a civil war. Currently, we find a war waging in Syria. It is a war where casual civilians themselves are taking up arms for civil rights; fighting, so that they may be treated as humans.
It all started in 1964, when the Ba'ath Syrian Regional Branch government came into power after performing a successful coup d'état. Later, Hafez al-Assad, the defense minister orchestrated another successful coup d'état and overthrew the ruling party members in 1970. Though elections are conducted, for the namesake that Syria has a democratic government, the al-Assad family has been ruling the country ever since.
After the death of Hafez al-Assad, Bashar al-Assad took over the reigns accompanied by his wife. They put up proposals to turn the country into a more democratic state. This is when “Damascus Spring” took place. Political activists would meet up at their own houses to discuss various social and political issues.
In August 2001, Damascus Spring ended with an arrest of all activists involved.
The actual conflict between the Syrian government and its people began in March 2011, which was marked with a large demonstration that grew nation wide by the following month. These demonstrations were part of a larger series of public outrages presently referred to as the Arab Spring. Finally, in April 2011, the Syrian army was called upon to subdue the mass demonstrators. The army, without warning, opened fire causing widespread shock. After months of military tyranny, the non-violent demonstrators turned into armed rebels, hungry for justice and vendetta.
The rebels consisted of untrained civilians who picked up arms to defend their families and beliefs. On the other hand was the strong-armed Syrian army. The famous radical Islamist group Hezbollah later entered the war in support of the Syrian government. Syrian government obtained further support from Russia and Iran.