A short history of the Syrian War The Syrian Crisis A short history of the Syrian War

How did it start? March 2011: Several teenagers in the city of Deraa are arrested and tortured for painting revolutionary slogans on a school wall. The people were so mad that they started a Pro-Democracy protest on the streets. Democracy: when the people of a country get to decide who the leader of the country is.

Security forces shot the protesters, killing several people Security forces shot the protesters, killing several people. Instead of scaring people away, more took to the streets. People started demanding President Assad, leader of Syria, resign. He refused and tried to use military force to stop the protesters But it didn’t work. The use of force made the people on the street every angier. By July 2011, over 100,000 people were protesting in the streets. Eventually, they started to gather their own weapons in order to fight back against the military who was trying to stop them.

Civil War The people on the streets became known as the rebels. They started to group together to battle the military for control of cities, towns and the countryside. Fighting reached the capital Damascus and second city of Aleppo in 2012. By June 2013, over 90,000 people had been killed. By August 2014, a year later, it had risen to 191,000 killed. By August 2015, it had risen to 250,000 killed.

The conflict is now more than just a battle between those for or against President Assad. The rise of the jihadist groups, including Islamic State, has changed the fighting.

Government and rebel forces have also been accused of using civilian suffering - such as blocking access to food, water and health services - as a method of war.

The Islamic State has also been accused of inflicted severe punishments on those who refuse to accept its rule, like public executions and amputations. Its fighters have also carried out mass killings of rival armed groups, members of the security forces and religious minorities, and beheaded hostages, including several Westerners.

Refugee Crisis Neighbouring countries have borne the brunt of the refugee crisis, with Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey struggling to find room for the flood of new arrivals. More than four million people have fled Syria since the start of the conflict, most of them women and children. The crisis has got worse in 2013, as conditions in Syria deteriorated.

More than 11 million Syrian’s have made the difficult choice to leave everything they have behind

Why are we just hearing about it now?  In early September 2015, a photo was taken of a small boy who had drown as he and his family were trying to flee Syria. The boy was Aylan Kurdi and was said to have died with his five-year-old brother. They were among 12 Syrians who drowned while attempting to reach the Greek island of Kos.

Suddenly, everyone was talking about the tragedy in Syria and how it needed to be stopped. Little did they know, this horrible situation had started 4 years earlier. But now, they had a face to the tragedy.

So now you know a little bit about the Syrian Crisis…