Forum: Council of Arab Foreign Ministers Issue: The Syrian Civil War Student Officers: Adham Zaineldin, Hanya Abdelhamid. I. Introduction: The Syrian Civil War is a crisis that has been plaguing Syria for nearly an entire decade. Its beginning can be traced back to the early 2010s. In late 2010 and early 2011, a wave of revolutions, known as the Arab Spring, began to arise in multiple countries in the Arab world. Numerous pro-democracy protests started to erupt through the Middle East, such as in Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Libya, and several other Middle Eastern countries. Inspired by this wave of revolutions, demonstrations began erupting all over Syria, protesting against the severely strict rule of Bashar Al-Assad. These demonstrations were met with violence from the Syrian police and military, which led to the formation of militias aiming to overpower the Syrian government. The conflict between the militias and the Syrian military continued to escalate as time went by, until it finally developed into a full civil war. More than nine years later, conditions are still as hostile as they ever were, and the war is showing no signs of coming to an end. Over the course of these nine years, the war has led to more than 500,000 total deaths, at least 200,000 civilian deaths, and an estimated 13 million refugees. This seemingly never-ending war has devastated all aspects of Syrian life, leaving the country as a mere shadow of what it was before. After countless attempts to bring an end to this conflict, none of which had any significant long-term effects on the war, the Council of Arab Foreign Ministers is assembling in an attempt to put an end to this dreadful crisis that is plaguing Syria once and for all. II. Definition of Key Terms: Arab Spring: a series of anti-government protests, uprisings, and armed rebellions that spread across several Arab countries in the early 2010s. The protests began in Tunisia, before spreading to Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Syria and Bahrain. Refugee: an individual who is forced to leave their country/ city to escape war or persecution. Militia: a civilian military force that is formed to oppose a regular army. Ceasefire: an agreement between two opposing sides in a war to temporarily stop fighting. Buffer zone: a neutral area between two hostile nations or forces, designed to prevent acts of aggression.

III. Focused Overview: 1. History of the Conflict The Syrian Civil War is a quite complex situation with many different sides and elements to consider. Subsequently, to truly grasp the causes of the events that are currently taking place in Syria, one must first understand the history of the war. The true beginning of the conflict is agreed to have been in March 2011, when anti-Assad demonstrations first began to arise. In early March, demonstrations were sparked after Syrian police arrested a group of teenagers for anti-government graffiti. As protests began to increase in number, the government started taking increasingly drastic measures, leading to the killing of more than 100 people in the first month. As protests began to spread throughout the country, government forces continued to attack protesters in an attempt to put an end to the uprising. The demonstrations kept growing in number, reaching more 100,000 protesters by mid-2011. In support of the ever-growing revolution, defectors from the army began uniting to form rebel militias, including the Syrian National Coalition and the Free Syrian Army. Figure 1: Thousands of protestors gather to protest against These militias began to attack Bashar Al-Assad government troops, marking the Image source: New York Times beginning of the Syrian Civil War. 3 February 2012 saw one of the bloodiest massacres of the war, as the government launched an offensive on Homs, which was the center of the Syrian Revolution at the time. It is said that more than 200 protestors were killed on this day. Despite the losses faced by protestors in the early days of the offensive, fighting in Homs continued until March 2017, when the government gained full control of the district. As the Syrian Government continued to attack Syrian protestors, the United Nations Security Council began peace talks. On 12 April 2012, a ceasefire was issued by the council. Despite the ceasefire initially being accepted by the government and the opposition, it broke down immediately. Throughout the following years, countless were made by the United Nations to reach a peaceful solution, all of which failed to bring about long- term peace. On January 6, 2013, President Bashar Al-Assad proposed a peaceful solution to the war. He offered a peace conference and a new government and constitution. However, this offer was rejected by the Syrian opposition. At this time, rebel forces began capturing key locations in Syria, including the city of Raqqa and several military bases in Aleppo. Terrorist groups in the Middle East, namely the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and EL Qaeda, began to grow their influence in Syria, launching attacks on both the opposition and the Syrian Government. In June 2013, President Barack Obama, in response to the Syrian Government’s use of chemical weapons in the war, began issuing military support to the opposition. In June 2014, presidential elections were held by the Syrian Government, and the results were announced to be a landslide victory for Bashar Al-Assad, who received 90% of votes. The opposition completely dismissed the election, claiming that its results had been manipulated by the government. As ISIL continued to grow its power in Syria, gaining control over many key locations, the United States began launching air strikes on ISIL- controlled locations in Syria. In January 2015, the United States began arming Syrian rebels fighting ISIL. As the war waged on, and the Syrian government continued to bomb rebel forces, Russia began its own bombing campaigns. Despite the claims made by the Russian government that the bombings were targeting ISIL, many sources confirmed that the bombing were in fact targeting civilians and rebels. The bombings significantly weakened the rebel forces, shifting the tide of the war in Al-Assad’s favor. As foreign involvement continued to rise, the United States began to deploy American forces on Syrian soil, claiming that they were sent to combat ISIL. In early 2016, the United Nations held multiple peace conferences, in which the Syrian Government and opposition agreed on a nationwide ceasefire. Unfortunately, despite the United Nations’s efforts, the ceasefire fell apart in less than two months. Over the following years, several other attempts were made at reaching a long-term ceasefire, none of which were successful. Instead of the war dying down as was expected, it seemed to only be growing as time went by. More and more new countries began to join the fighting, either through sending troops or through bombings, including Iraq, Israel, Turkey, and several other countries. In December 2018, President Donald Trump announced he they believed ISIL had been defeated in Syria, and that the US was consequently withdrawing its 2000 US troops from Syrian soil, and that 600 US soldiers would remain in Syria to prevent ISIL from regaining power. Despite peace talks between the Government and opposition on April 26, 2019, Syrian and Russian forces launched many air strikes on rebel cities in northwest Syria. 2. Involvement of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the conflict Ever since the beginning of the Syrian Civil War, ISIL has played a major role in the war, acting not only as a belligerent, but also as a means for foreign powers to justify their involvement in the war. Over the course of the war, many countries used ISIL in this way, including the United States, Russia, Israel, and Turkey. ISIL’s reign of terror came with countless atrocities against the Syrian people, as they waged a war against both the Syrian government and the opposition. Because of their eventual defeat in Syria in 2018, the impact of ISIL on the war is often underestimated. However, it is safe to assume that the Syrian Civil War would never have reached such catastrophic levels had it not been for ISIL’s involvement. This is because by 2013-2014, a big part of the fighting was held by not only Syrian forces but also by foreign forces, including soldiers, missiles, and aircraft. Had ISIL not gotten involved in the fighting in Syria, foreign powers, such as the United States and Russia, would have had no excuse to engage in the conflict, and would have Figure 2: ISIL leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi consequently been much less involved in the war. announcing that he would take revenge on "the west" just months before his death ISIL’s effect on the war lasted until their eventual defeat in 2018, when the United States finally Image source: Daily Mail declared that ISIL no longer had power in Syria. The leader of ISIL, Abu Bakr Al- Baghdadi, was killed during a U.S. raid on October 27th, 2019. 3. Socio-economic impact of the war The Syrian Civil war is possibly one of the most destructive civil wars in modern history. It has had and continues to have an immensely devastating impact on Syria, both from the humanitarian point of view and the economic point of view. The first and arguably the more important consequence of the war is the humanitarian one. The war has not only led to deaths and injuries that are too many to count, but it has also caused arguably the worst refugee crisis today. According to the human rights watch, the death toll is estimated to be more than 500,000 people over the course of the war. Of these deaths, it is estimated that at least 200,000 were civilian deaths, most of which have been caused by the Syrian Government and its Russian support. Another catastrophic impact the war has had on Syria is the refugee crisis. Since the beginning of the war, there have been 6.6 million registered Figure 3: Graph showing the decline in Syrian economy due to Syrian civilian refugees forced out of the war their home country, along with 6.5 Image source: Middle East Institute million Syrians who were internally displaced. The total number of displaced Syrian civilians amounts to more than half of the Syrian population. According to the United Nations, this is the worst refugee crisis in the last 20 years. The Syrian economy has also been severely declining due to the war. According to the world bank, it was estimated in 2017 that the Syrian economy had faced total GDP losses of 226 billion USD, which has led to a 63% decline in GDP. The Syrian pound, which was valued at 46 pounds to one USD in 2010, now sits at 511 pounds to the USD. All thing considered, the economic, social, and humanitarian impact of the Syrian Civil War truly cannot be understated.

IV. Major Parties and Organizations Involved: 1. Syrian United Opposition: The Syrian opposition is a collection of political groups, militias, and organizations representing the anti-governmental power In Syria. The opposition is composed of numerous groups, and, despite their common goal of overthrowing the Syrian government, they do not share the exact same ideas and methods. The main groups of the Syrian opposition are the Syrian National Council, the Syrian Free Army, the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and opposition Forces, the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change, the Syrian Democratic Council, the Syrian Salvation Government, and the Syrian Interim Government. The last two are alternative governments opposing the Syrian government, while the rest of the groups on the list are political groups that often partake in armed conflict with the government. In ISCMAL Council of Foreign Arab Ministers 2020, all Syrian opposition groups are collectively represented by one delegation, named the Syrian United Opposition. 2. United States of America: Since the very beginning of the war, the United States has clearly shown its support for the rebellion. Despite first expressing their support in August 2011 when President Barack Obama called on Bashar Al-Assad to resign, the United States only truly began its involvement in the war in June 2012. President Obama had previously stated that a “red line” to him in the Syrian Civil war would be the use of chemical weapons. After the white house discovered that chemical weapons had been used by the Syrian government multiple times, President Obama began to send small amounts military aid to the Syrian Opposition. President Obama was initially unable to gain the congress’s acceptance for sending large-scale military aid, until September 2014 when he was finally able to begin air strikes against ISIL in Syria. Obama formally vowed that the United States would bring an end to ISIL. In January 2015, the Pentagon came to an agreement with the Syrian opposition to begin a “train and equip” program, wherein Syrian opposition fighters would fly to the United States to get trained. The troops began to enter Syria in July 2015. In April 2017, after the government launched yet another chemical attack, the United States fired 59 missiles into Syria. This was the first direct attack on the Syrian government by the United States. Over the course of the war over 17,000 locations were struck by U.S. airstrikes, most of which were under ISIL control. Today, despite many claims made by Trump’s government that all United States troops would be removed from Syrian soil, many troops still remain. 3. The Russian Federation: In the first years of the war, Russia was relatively uninvolved and did not launch any troops or military strikes on Syrian targets, while only sending military support to the Syrian government. However, this changed completely in September 2015 when President Vladimir Putin received parliamentary approval to launch airstrikes into Syria. The Russian government assured that the military campaign was purely targeting terrorist groups in Syria, mainly ISIL. However, that did not seem to be the case. The Syrian Civil Defense organization published a report claiming that 33 civilian deaths occurred on the first day of the air campaign. Along with this, United States officials noted that most strikes took place in areas where terrorist organizations had almost no presence. Although the Russian government strongly denied these allegations, many sources show that rebel forces were commonly targeted by Russian airstrikes. The air campaign had a significant effect on the war and is believed to have significantly shifted the tides of the war in Assad’s favor. Today, the Russian government continues to launch airstrikes on Syria, and Russian military forces still reside on Syrian soil. 4. The Republic of Turkey: In the 2010’s Turkish-Syrian relations were friendly, and conflict between Turkey and Syria seemed unlikely. However, when protests broke out in Syria in 2011, the Turkish government showed its clear support for the rebels and requested Bashar Al- Assad’s resignation. Turkish involvement in the war began when Syrian army defectors were taken in by Turkey, trained militarily, and returned to Syria as the Free Syrian Army, a Syrian rebel militia supported by the Turkish military. Turkey continued supplying the Free Syrian Army and other rebel groups with arms and military supplies over the course of the war. In 2012, a Turkish fighter jet was shot down by Syrian forces, which significantly increased hostilities between the two nations. Consequently, Prime Minister Erdogan ordered that “any Syrian element approaching the border would be deemed a threat and be treated as a military target.” This decision led to many battles on the Syrian-Turkish border. From summer 2015 onwards, Turkish forces became openly hostile towards Syria, with countless skirmishes and airstrikes occurring in the following years. Today, relations between Turkish and Syrian forces remain as antagonistic as they were in 2015, with fire being exchanged between them as recently as February 3, 2020. On February 27, after 33 Turkish soldiers were killed by Syrian airstrikes, a new Turkish military offensive was launched in retaliation. V. Timeline of Events: Date Event March 6, 2011 Police arrested adolescents for pro-democracy graffiti in Daraa, which sparked the first protests. July 1, 2011 More than 100,000 people protested against Assad across Syria. February 15, 2012 Syrian government forces assaulted the city of Hama. April 12, 2012 The United Nations brokered a cease-fire between the regime and the rebels, but it broke down immediately. May 25, 2012 Pro-government forces killed more than 100 people, including more than 40 children and 30 women, in the village of Houla. July 2012 Rebels captured the eastern half of Aleppo. Regime forces dropped barrel bombs on densely populated urban areas held by rebels. Around one million civilians fled Syria’s commercial center, and another half million were displaced within the eastern part of the city. November 11 2012 The National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, commonly known as the Syrian National Coalition, was formed through the merging of several opposition groups. On December 11, President Obama recognized it as “the legitimate representative of the Syrian people in opposition to the Assad regime.” January 6 2013 President Assad presented a proposal for peace that included a national reconciliation conference, a new government, and a new constitution. Rebels inside Syria as well as the Syrian National Coalition rejected the offer. March 4, 2013 Rebel forces captured Raqqa, a city in northern Syria.

June 13, 2013 The White House confirmed that the Syrian government had used chemical weapons multiple times, a direct violation of the rules of the Chemical Weapons Convention. In response to this violation, President Barack Obama authorized the expansion of covert military assistance to Syrian rebels. August 21, 2013 Hundreds of people were killed by chemical weapons in an attack on the Damascus suburbs of Eastern and Western Ghouta, an attack widely suspected to be by Assad’s forces. September 27, 2013 The U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution calling for an international peace conference and the swift elimination of Syria’s chemical weapons. The United Nations declared that Syria’s defiance of the resolution could trigger sanctions or stronger coercive action. On October 31, the Joint Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons confirmed that Assad met a deadline to destroy chemical weapons production facilities. June 3, 2014 Presidential elections were held by the Syrian Government. The next day, the speaker of parliament announced that Assad won with 90 percent of the vote. The opposition dismissed the election. February 5-8, 2015 The Jordanian air force launched 56 air strikes against ISIL targets in response to the killing of a Jordanian fighter pilot whose plane crashed in Syria. April 10, 2015 Peace talks in Moscow among Syrian factions ended with no sign of progress. September 30, 2015 Russia launched its first airstrikes in Syria. It claimed to target ISIL, but U.S. officials said that many Russian strikes instead targeted civilians and Western-backed rebels. Russian air strikes, along with the deployment of military advisors, turned the tide of the conflict in favor of Assad. March 2016 Aided by Russian airstrikes, Syrian government forces seized Palmyra from ISIL. September 6, 2016 A chemical attack in Aleppo injured more than 120 people and killed at least two. October 16, 2016 Turkish-backed Syrian rebels took the northern town of Dabiq from ISIL. December 11, 2016 ISIL recaptured Palmyra from Syrian government forces despite heavy Russian bombing. December 22, 2016 Government forces recaptured Aleppo from rebels after days of bombarding rebel-held areas of the city. Aleppo had been the site of intense fighting since 2012, when rebels took the eastern half of the city. The government victory was a major loss for the rebels. February 24, 2017 For the first time, the Iraqi Air Force struck ISIL targets inside Syria. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the strikes were coordinated with Damascus. The U.S. provided intelligence for the mission, according to the Pentagon. April 4, 2017 More than 80 civilians were killed in what seemed to be a chemical weapon attack on Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib, a rebel- controlled province. In September, a U.N. investigation determined that the attack had been made by the Syrian government. Two days after the Khan Sheikhoun attack, the United States fired 59 cruise missiles at a Syrian airfield from which warplanes had flown the mission. This was the first direct U.S. attack on a Syrian government target. On April 24, the Trump administration imposed sanctions on 271 people involved in Syrian chemical weapons development. May 18, 2017 U.S. jets struck a convoy of Iran-backed militiamen near the town of al-Tanf in southeastern Syria. It was reportedly the first U.S. strike on Iranian proxies in Syria since U.S. airstrikes began in 2014. August 2017 The Lebanese army and Hezbollah announced a joint assault on ISIL territory along Lebanon’s northeastern border with Syria. On August 24, Hezbollah seized most of an ISIL pocket near Syria’s border. November 2017 On November 3, the Syrian government declared victory over ISIL in Deir Ezzor, the largest city in eastern Syria. On November 9, it claimed victory in Abu Kamal, the last major town held by ISIL. The next day, however, ISIL reclaimed half of Abu Kamal. By November 19, the entire town was back under government control. January-February 2018 The Syrian military reportedly used chemical weapons in attacks on Douma, a suburb of Damascus, on January 13, January 22 and February 1. February 10, 2018 Israel intercepted an Iranian drone that crossed into Israeli airspace from Syria. The Israeli Air Force retaliated by attacking Syria’s T-4 military base—a pivotal command center in the war, near Palmyra—from which the Iranian drone had been launched. On its way back, one Israeli fighter jet crashed in northern Israel after coming under Syrian antiaircraft fire. Israel then hit eight Syrian targets and four Iranian positions. February-April 2018 On February 19, Syrian ground forces, backed by Russian airpower, escalated their offensive on Eastern Ghouta, the last rebel stronghold near Damascus. Hundreds were killed in the first days of the attack. By April 8, all anti-regime rebels agreed to evacuate. Government forces took full control of the area on April 12. May 9, 2018 Iranian forces in Syria fired around 20 rockets toward Israeli military positions in the Golan Heights. Several rockets were intercepted by the Israeli Iron Dome missile defense system. The next day, Israel struck dozens of Iranian targets in Syria. July 6, 2018 As part of a Russian-brokered cease-fire in southern Syria, rebel forces agreed to surrender their arms to allow the government to resume control of Daraa province September 4, 2018 Russian planes launched airstrikes against rebels in northern Idlib province. On the same day, the Israeli military acknowledged that it had conducted more than 200 airstrikes on Iranian targets in Syria since 2017. September 17, 2018 Israeli F-16 jets struck a Syrian weapons facility in northwest Latakia province. April 28, 2019 Assad regime and Russian forces intensified airstrikes on rebel- held northwest Syria, which began on March 13. The offensive broke the de-escalation zone deal that Turkey and Russia agreed on in September 2018. Approximately 270,000 civilians were reportedly displaced. December 19 2018 President Trump signaled his intent to withdraw the 2,000 U.S. forces from Syria. “We have defeated ISIL in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump presidency,” he tweeted. The White House then announced that the pullout has already begun. October 26, 2019 ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in a U.S.-led nighttime raid in Syria’s northwestern Idlib Province. December 1, 2019 Clashes between Syrian forces and opposition groups continued in Idlib despite a cease-fire that went into effect in August. Following a relative lull in hostilities, fighting resumed and intensified throughout the month of December, which fully undermined the cease-fire and began a new phase of violence in the northwest. December 3, 2019 The U.S. military completed its withdrawal from most parts of Syria, maintaining a small troop presence in northern Syria, specifically in the northeast near the oil fields. The troop level remained at approximately 600, including a small number of troops, approximately 100-200, at Al-Tanf, a small military outpost in a remote area where the borders of Syria, Jordan, and Iraq converge. December 3, 2019 The Syrian pound reached an all-time low on the black market, 975 pounds to the dollar. The rate was more than double the official rate of 434 pounds to the dollar. This was incredibly low compared to the original rate of 48 pounds to the dollar in 2011. December 21, 2019 President Trump signed the Caesar Syrian Civilian Protection Act as a part of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act. The act authorized a new set of sanctions on Syrian, Iranian, and Russian parties deemed responsible for mass atrocities during the Syrian conflict. The sanctions were slated to go into effect in June 2020. January 16, 2020 Syrian and Russian forces continued to intensify their aerial campaign on rebel controlled Idlib as the number of displaced civilians neared 350,000. January 17, 2020 The Assad regime launched a new ground offensive in western Aleppo, which was designated as a de-escalation zone in 2017 as a result of the Astana talks. The assault was part of the regime’s strategy to gain greater territory, especially around the strategic M5 highway. February 3, 2020 Turkish and Syrian government forces exchanged direct fire, which reflected the increasing tension between the neighboring countries. Ankara announced that at least six Turkish soldiers had been killed, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that 13 Syrian soldiers had been killed in retaliatory strikes. February 27, 2020 Syrian forces reportedly killed 33 Turkish soldiers in an airstrike in Idlib, the deadliest single attack to date on Turkish soldiers in Syria. Turkish forces immediately retaliated, reportedly killing 309 Syrian troops. March 1, 2020 Turkey launched a military offensive against the Assad regime after around three dozen Turkish troops were killed in Idlib on February 27. March 3, 2020 Turkey shot down a Syrian fighter jet, the third downed in three days.

VI. Relevant U.N. Treaties and Past Resolutions: 1. Chemical Weapons Convention: The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) is an arms control treaty prohibiting the development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, retention, transfer or use of chemical weapons by States Parties. It is administered by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and entered into force in 1997. Throughout the course of the war, the Syrian government directly breached this treaty multiple times, against the many warnings of the United States. Chemical weapon use has led to at least 1500 deaths since the beginning of the war.

2. U.N. Security Council Resolution 2254: This resolution was passed unanimously on 18 December 2015. It ordered all parties to stop attacks on civilian targets, strongly called for a ceasefire, and declared that U.N. supervised elections would be held after 18 months. Despite the resolution receiving praise and getting invoked by Iran, Russia, and Turkey as the solution to the conflict, the resolution did not have much effect on the war. VII. Failed Solution Attempts: 1. In 2012, The U.N. Security Council accepted a plan calling for a Syrian-led political process to address citizens’ demands, a U.N.-supervised cease-fire, provision of humanitarian assistance, release of arbitrarily detained persons, freedom of movement for journalists, and respect for the freedom to demonstrate peacefully. The Syrian government accepted it on March 27, however the ceasefire broke down almost immediately. 2. In November 2015, The International Syria Support Group (ISSG)—which included 17 countries, the United Nations, the European Union and the Arab League—met in Vienna to work on a cease-fire and negotiations between the Syrian government and the opposition under U.N. supervision. However, very little progress was made, and the meeting did nothing to slow down the war. 3. In February 2016, The United Nations hosted a third round of peace talks in Geneva between the government and the High Negotiations Committee (HNC), a broad umbrella body representing the opposition. The talks broke down on the third day without reaching any conclusions. They later resumed in April, but with similar results as the round before, with the opposition walking out to protest increased violence and the escalating humanitarian crisis. 4. A nationwide cease-fire brokered by the United States and Russia went into effect on February 27, 2016, but it began to fall apart within less than two months. The United Nations described it as “the best hope for peace in five years of civil war.” 5. Several other cease-fires were attempted in the following years, none of which lasted long. In September 2016, a cease-fire brokered by the United States and Russia went into effect between rebel forces and the government. Another cease- fire went into effect on December 30, 2016. 6. Peace talks—co-sponsored by Russia, Iran and Turkey—between the Syrian government and armed Syrian opposition groups were held in Astana, Kazakhstan in January 2017. The rebel factions and government representatives exchanged views indirectly. Mohammed Alloush, leader of the Jaysh al Islam group, headed the rebel delegation. The U.N. special envoy participated, and the United States attended the talks as an observer. Russia, Iran and Turkey agreed to set up a trilateral monitoring body to enforce the December 30 cease-fire. More than 10 more conferences were held in 2017 and 2018 as part of the Astana track, in parallel to the U.N.-led talks in Geneva. However, there were no breakthroughs in the later Astana conferences. VIII. Possible Solutions: 1. Setting up buffer zones where no military forces are allowed 2. Splitting the nation into two sections, one for the Government and one for the opposition 3. Establishing new refugee camps and improving existing camps in order to increase help available for refugees 4. Imposing economic sanctions on parties that continue fighting IX. Useful Links 1. https://www.britannica.com/event/Syrian-Civil-War 2. https://www.britannica.com/event/Syrian-Civil-War/Civil-war#ref1270688 3. https://www.history.com/topics/middle-east/arab-spring 4. https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/syria/publication/the-toll-of-war-the- economic-and-social-consequences-of-the-conflict-in-syria 5. http://unscr.com/en/resolutions/2254 X. Works Cited: 1. Darke, Diana, et al. “Debt-Ridden and Broke: The Syrian Regime's Colossal Reconstruction Challenge.” Middle East Institute, 23 Sept. 2020, www.mei.edu/publications/debt-ridden-and-broke-syrian-regimes-colossal- reconstruction-challenge. 2. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Syrian Civil War.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 17 July 2020, www.britannica.com/event/Syrian-Civil-War. 3. Hayes, Mike. “ISIL Leader Baghdadi's Death: More Details Emerge from US Raid.” CNN, Cable News Network, 29 Oct. 2019, edition.cnn.com/politics/live- news/baghdadi-monday-dle-intl/index.html. 4. History.com Editors. “Arab Spring.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 10 Jan. 2018, www.history.com/topics/middle-east/arab-spring. 5. “Syria Timeline: Since the Uprising Against Assad.” United States Institute of Peace, 8 Sept. 2020, www.usip.org/publications/2020/07/syria-timeline-uprising- against-assad. 6. “The Syrian Opposition: Who Is Who? And Who Is with/against Whom?” Fanack.com, 24 Sept. 2020, fanack.com/syria/history-past-to-present/the-syrian- opposition-who-is-who-and-who-is-withagainst-whom/. 7. “Syria's Refugee Crisis 'Is Worst since Rwanda Genocide in 1994'.” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 17 July 2013, www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/syria-s-refugee-crisis-worst- rwanda-genocide-1994-8713328.html. 8. “The Syrian Civil War.” Statista, www.statista.com/topics/4216/the-syrian-civil- war/. 9. “The Toll of War: The Economic and Social Consequences of the Conflict in Syria.” World Bank, www.worldbank.org/en/country/syria/publication/the-toll-of-war- the-economic-and-social-consequences-of-the-conflict-in-syria. 10. “United States Dollar(USD) To Syrian Pound(SYP).” United States Dollar(USD) To Syrian Pound(SYP) Exchange Rates Today - FX Exchange Rate, usd.fxexchangerate.com/syp/.