MARCH MAGAZINE APRIL MAGAZINE | Page 20

2. Civil War

The violence kept growing and it ended up as the beginning of the civil war. Rebel brigades were formed to battle government forces for control of cities, towns and the countryside. Fighting reached the capital Damascus and second city of Aleppo in 2012.

According to BBC, by June 2013, the UN said 90,000 people had been killed in the conflict. By August 2015, that figure had climbed to 250,000, according to activists and the UN.

All this got out of control because there were no longer only rebels fighting against Bashar, a lot of sectarians looked this as the chance to take control of Syria. So now there were rebels, the ISIS, jhiadists, Al Qaeda, and the military forces of Bashar fightinf violently for the desperate control of Syria.

Plus, the war crimes, such as murder, rape, kidnapping or torture, and add this the “methods of war” like: locking access to food, water and health services through sieges, to all the innocent civilians.

3. Proxy war

First, you need to know what a proxy war is: “an armed conflict between two states or non-state actors which act on the instigation or on behalf of other parties that are not directly involved in the hostilities”.

According to BBC UK: “Tehran is believed to be spending billions of dollars a year to bolster Mr Assad, providing military advisers and subsidised weapons, as well as lines of credit and oil transfers. Russia has meanwhile launched an air campaign against MrAssad's opponents.

The Syrian government has also enjoyed the support of Lebanon's Shia Islamist Hezbollah movement, whose fighters have provided important battlefield support since 2013.

The Sunni-dominated opposition has, meanwhile, attracted varying degrees of support from its international backers - Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Jordan, along with the US, UK and France.”