As has been stated before, there is a tremendous human rights crisis occurring in Syria. At least 300,000 people are dead, the majority, close to 200,000, innocent civilians, predominately killed by the Syrian government forces. At least 12 million are displaced, a mix of refugees and internally displaced person's, the name for people who are essentially refugees but that haven't fled the country, yet. [1][2][3][4] It's worth nothing that this was out of a country with 22 million people, as over half the population is under siege by the government. As the Syrian refugees are beginning to run out of food, there is expected to be mass casualties or fleeing of the country begin to occur, as the country in the midst of war has largely been unable to produce goods like it would have ordinarily, and human rights activists trying to proliferate food and other goods are repeatedly barred from entering or straight up killed. From the bombing of the white Helmets to the destruction of a U.N. convoy, Russia has been predominately responsible for these sorts of attacks on humanitarian aid groups, but the Syrian government is no angel, either. The war has been going on for nearly 5 years, when Assad began brutal crackdowns on protesters in the Arab spring, and the resulting massacres caused members of Assad's own military to defect in order to protect the innocent civilians.
The conflict of course started as a part of the Arab Spring, a push for democracy in which Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, and many other countries began to demand that their governments represent the people. After many peaceful protests and very minor fighting, many of these government leaders stepped down or were overthrown, granting many countries in the middle east rights they had never seen before. Feeling threatened, Assad overreacted to simple protests, and after killed thousands of his own people in blatant massacres, a large section of the military began to defect. Simultaneously losing support from his own military forces and people, whilst being attacked, Assad's regime began to crumble, and it looked like peace was coming to Syria, like it had for the rest of the members of the Arab spring.
That is, until Russia intervened. From bombing the Syrian people to providing weapons and logistical support to the dying Assad regime, their new efforts were bolstered as the regime which has none of it's own logistical supplies to sustain itself is kept alive from outside influences. To make matters worse, Russia has threatened any foreign groups trying to intervene, humanitarian assistance or otherwise, going as far to bomb these units, including a U.S. base in Syria. They've deployed warships, including some with nuclear weapons, to try and shoot down American aircraft and have more or less threatened or straight up attacked anyone trying to intervene in the country. [1][2][3] The Assad regime and Russia have thus far killed more civilians than ISIS, and ISIS only began operations in the region as of 2014, 3 years after the war started in 2011. ISIS is far from the worse actor in the region, and the majority of the rebels fight to oust the corrupt government and for democracy.
Now, fighting has picked up again. [1] With many at their breaking point, it's expected that the syrian civilians will soon face and unprecedented humanitarian crisis, that is not only the worst the world has seen since WWII, but that will escalate even further with the deaths of millions. The question is, ED, what will we do? Sit back and let it unfold, or try and intervene?[/quote]