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Will Taylor
Tierney
AP History
9/10/17
Syria Vs Iraq

Syria and Iraq have been fighting for years, and the conflict shows no signs of

stopping. Many awful things have arisen from the chaos, and if drastic

measures aren’t taken soon, who knows what the future of these two

countries, especially Syria, will be like.

Syria and Iraq have been fighting for almost 6 years, and things haven’t gotten any

better. More than 500,000 have been killed and 12 million citizens have been estimated to be

uprooted and unable to find homes as forces loyal to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad battle

with those opposed to his rule as well as the Islamic State. In this essay I will be discussing the

conflict between Syria and Iraq and what horrors have sprouted from the chaos.

Everything started with pro-democracy protests in March of 2011 in the southern city of

Deraa as well as torture of teenagers who painted revolutionary slogans on a school wall.

Protests only increased after security forces opened fire on demonstrators, killing multiple and

injuring several more. By July, hundreds of thousands were taking to the streets in protest for

Bashar al-Assad and his corrupt regime. Eventually people opposed to the government took up

arms defending themselves and fighting against government forces in their areas. Eventually

this conflict and hostility led into civil war as entire rebel brigades and cells were formed, battling

the government forces for control of the country. Fighting eventually reached the city of

Damascus and Aleppo in 2012. According to BBC news, “The conflict is now more than just

a battle between those for or against Mr Assad. It has acquired sectarian overtones,

pitching the country's Sunni majority against the president's Shia Alawite sect, and
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drawn in regional and world powers. The rise of the jihadist group Islamic State (IS) has

added a further dimension.”

The fighting has also seen an extensive use of chemical warfare. Hundreds were killed

in August of 2013 as rockets filled with the nerve agent Sarin were fired at Damascus suburbs.

The Assad regime and rebel syndicates blamed each other for firing the rockets, but it was

presumed that the regime was the real culprit behind the savage attack. Lauren Said-

Moorhouse from CNN news was quoted as writing, “The attack, in which 89 people died, was

one of the deadliest in Syria in recent years and prompted the US military to launch 59

Tomahawk cruise missiles at a Syrian airbase. The OPCW report comes the same week the

White House issued a public warning that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would pay a "heavy

price" for using chemical weapons”. Following the attacks, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad

agreed to signing a document that stated that the Syrian military would get rid of its chemical

arsenal, but researchers have documented multiple uses of gas, especially chlorine, in attacks

on rebel held areas, mostly between April and July of 2014. Not only has the Syrian government

been documented using chemical weapons, but ISIS has been found using homemade

chemical weapons, such as sulphur mustard, which the OPCW said that they used it on the

town of Marea in August that killed a baby.

Not only has the fighting been devastating for the people of Syria and Iraq, but has also

created and fueled extremist groups like ISIS. Islamic State, otherwise known as ISIS, has

grown out of the chaos as more and more people join as an extreme means of taking over the

Syrian and Iraqi governments. In June 2014, the group formally declared itself a caliphate,

which is a state governed in accordance with Islamic law, or Sharia, by God's deputy on Earth,

or caliph. The group has demanded that Muslims around the world swear allegiance to its

leader: Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim al-Badri al-Samarrai, otherwise known as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

ISIS has told many other groups to swear allegiance and follow them, and many have, thus
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growing the number of extremists in ISIS rapidly. ISIS seeks to destroy obstacles to, “restoring

god’s rule on Earth” And to defend the Muslim community from outsiders, welcoming

confrontation with National militaries, most notably the United States(BBC news, what is

“Islamic State). In fact, other Jihadist groups such as Al-Qaeda have deemed the terror tactics

of ISIS as “too extreme” and “inhuman”(BBC news, what is “Islamic State”).

In conclusion, the war in Syria and Iraq shows no signs of stopping, has killed and

estranged millions, and has seen the formation of what is often called the most ruthless Jihadist

group to ever be created. The US and other countries are struggling to drive out the Jihadist

groups such as ISIS, who are embedded deep and are hard to locate, as well as the Syrian Al-

Assad regime. ISIS is surprisingly well equipped as well as the Al-Assad regime, and this

enemy will not go down without a fight, proving that the conflict will not be over quickly unless

extreme measures are taken, measures that would cost millions of innocent lives.

Works Cited

Lucy Rodgers, David Gritten, James Offer and Patrick Asare, “Syria: the Story of the
Conflict”, BBC.com, 11 March 2016,
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http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-26116868

BBC, “Islamic State and the crisis in Iraq and Syria in maps”, BBC.com, 21 september
2017, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-27838034
BBC, “What is “Islamic State?”, 2 December 2015, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-
middle-east-29052144
Lauren Said-Moorhouse, “Sarin used as weapon in Syria chemical attack, watchdog
says”, CNN.com, http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/30/middleeast/syria-khan-
sheikhoun-chemical-attack-sarin/index.html