Syrian Arab Republic - Mr. Duncan's History Page



Should the United States take in Syrian Civil War Refuges? The?Syrian Civil War grew out of?the unrest?of the 2011?Arab Spring?and escalated to armed conflict after President?Bashar al-Assad's government violently repressed a revolt. The Syrian government has since then refused efforts to negotiate with what it describes as armed?terrorist?groups. The war is being fought by several factions: the Syrian Government and its various supporters, a loose alliance of?Sunni?Arab?rebel groups (including the?Free Syrian Army), the majority-Kurdish?Syrian Democratic Forces,?Salafi jihadist?groups (including?al-Nusra Front) who often co-operate with the Sunni rebels, and the?Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant?(ISIL). The factions receive substantial support from?foreign actors, leading many to label the conflict a?proxy war?waged by both regional and global powers. Syrian opposition groups formed the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and seized control of the area surrounding?Aleppo?and parts of southern Syria. Over time, factions of the?Syrian opposition?split from their original moderate position to pursue an?Islamist?vision for Syria, as al-Nusra Front and ISIL. In the north, Syrian government forces largely withdrew to fight the FSA, allowing the?Kurdish?YPG?to move in and proclaim?de facto?autonomy. In 2015 the YPG joined forces with Arab, Assyrian, Armenian and some Turkmen groups, forming the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), while most Turkmen groups remained with the FSA. International organizations have accused the Syrian government, ISIL and rebel groups of severe human rights violations and of?many massacres. The conflict has caused a?refugee crisis. On 1 February 2016, a formal start of the mediated?Geneva Syria peace talks?was announced by the?United Nations?but fighting continues.Background Information Syrian Arab RepublicU.S.Infant mortality rate (under 1)136Total population (thousands) 20,766313,085Annual number of births (thousands)4664,322Life expectancy at birth7679Number per 100 population using mobile phones63106Number per 100 population using internet2378Secondary school participation (percentage) male/female67/7389/90GDP per capita average annual growth rate % (1990-2011)22Average annual rate inflation (%)72 Statistics from CIA World Fact BookSyrian Arab RepublicU.S.GDP (Purchasing Power Parity)$107.6 billion (2011 est.)$15.94 trillion (2012 est.)GDP per capita$5,100 (2011 est.)$50,700 (2012 est.)Labor force5.327 million (2012 est.)155 millionUnemployment rate18% (2012 est.)8.1% (2012 est.)Population below poverty line11.9% (2006 est.)15.1% (2010 est.)Five Facts About Syria. The Syrians About 23 million people live in Syria, and the majority of those people, about 74 percent, are Sunni Muslims. Another 12 percent of the population is made up of Alawites, a sect of Shia Muslims. Despite being a minority, Alawites have dominated the government for decades; President Bashar al-Assad is an Alawite. About 10 percent of the population is Christian, and another small percentage is made up of Druze, a mystical religious sect with elements common to several monotheistic religions. Whereas most people in?Syria?speak Arabic, about 9 percent of the population — mostly in the northeast — speak Kurdish.2. Ancient HistorySyria has been a cradle of civilization for at least 10,000 years. It was home to the ancient majestic city of Ebla, which flourished from 1800 B.C. to 1650 B.C. A vast trove of 20,000 cuneiform tablets unearthed in the city provided an unprecedented look at everyday life in Mesopotamia at the time. Since then, it has been part of the major empires of history: At various times, the Egyptians,?Assyrians, Chaldeans, Persians, Macedonians and Romans ruled the region.3. Notable PlacesThe biggest cities in the country —?Aleppo, in the northwest, and Damascus, in the southwest — are truly ancient. ?Damascus was first mentioned in an Egyptian document dating to 1500 B.C. Carbon dating from archaeological sites near Tell Ramad, just outside of Damascus, suggests that site has been occupied as far back as 6300 B.C. Aleppo may be one of the oldest continuously occupied cities in the world: There is evidence of human inhabitance of the area from about 6000 B.C., and because the city was along the Silk Road, it saw bustling trade for centuries. *For Photos: “Survival of an Ancient Civilization in Syria”, . Modern HistoryFor nearly four centuries, Syria was part of the Ottoman Empire. Along with what is now Lebanon, Syria came under French control after the Ottoman Empire collapsed in 1918, and became an independent country in 1946. Because the area was once one territory, Syria has traditionally tried to exert influence over Lebanon, and from 1976 to 2005, Syrian troops occupied portions of Lebanon, ostensibly to protect Lebanon from outside threats. (Demonstrations in Lebanon successfully removed Syrian presence in the country after the assassination of Lebanon's Prime Minister Rafic Hariri.) Hafez al-Assad, the current president's father, was in power from 1971 until his death in 2000. The elder Assad violently squelched dissent and killed thousands of people in a crackdown on the?Muslim Brotherhood in 1982. The current president Assad assumed his position after his father's death. -2552703937000Washington Post: Nine Questions About Syria You Were Too Embarrassed to Ask (08/29/2013) Ancient City of Aleppo FactsCapital: DamascusOfficial Language: ArabicCurrency: Syrian PoundArea: ～185,180 sq.km. (similar to Washington State)Date of Independence: April 17, 1946Population: 22,457,336 (July 2013 est.)Annual Population Growth: 0.15% (2013 est.)Official Religion: Sunni Muslim (74%) 00Fast FactsCapital: DamascusOfficial Language: ArabicCurrency: Syrian PoundArea: ～185,180 sq.km. (similar to Washington State)Date of Independence: April 17, 1946Population: 22,457,336 (July 2013 est.)Annual Population Growth: 0.15% (2013 est.)Official Religion: Sunni Muslim (74%) World and Regional Map of Syria right2857500Source 1: “Hillary Clinton Just Showed Why Defeating ISIS and Welcoming Syrian Refugees Aren't Opposing Ideas,” , Nov. 19, 2015"We cannot allow terrorists to intimidate us into abandoning our values and humanitarian obligations. Turning away orphans, applying a religious test, discriminating against Muslims, slamming the door on every single Syrian refugee—that's just not who we are. We are better than that.Remember, many of these refugees are fleeing the same terrorists who threaten us. It would be a cruel irony indeed if ISIS can force families from their homes and then also prevent them from finding new ones...America's open, free, tolerant society is described by some as a vulnerability in the struggle against terrorism. But I actually believe it's one of our greatest strengths. It reduces the appeal of radicalism and enhances the richness and resilience of our communities."?Source 2: Source:?The Blaze, "Governor Mike Huckabee Makes His First Blaze Appearance / Dana," , Nov. 16, 2015 "When Chipotle had an outbreak of E. coli just recently, what did they do? They closed all the Chipotle restaurants. I mean, how many gallons of tainted milk do we tolerate before we say, 'take it off the shelves'? Here's the point. If we take millions of gallons of tainted milk and we close entire restaurants because a few people get sick, does it make any sense that we would say, 'Well, we're gonna bring in tens of thousands of people. We have no idea who they are. We have no idea if they're ISIS members. But we’re going to bring them in because we can handle a few people who are going to bring bomb and shoot up a night club or shoot up a football stadium of people watching high school kids play.' My God, Dana, what have we come to when we don't understand that the number one responsibility of the President of the United States is to protect America, not the image of Islam."?Source 3: The image of 5-year-old Omran Daqneesh, sitting dazed in an ambulance following an airstrike in Syria on Aug. 17. ABC NewsSource 4: “How the Islamic State used Syrian refugee flows to attack Europe” by Marc A. Thiessen. American Enterprise Institute. 4/26/2016. weekend, the Washington Post?reported?for the first time on exactly how the Islamic State was able to infiltrate operatives into Europe, hiding them among the flood of refugees, so they could carry out deadly terrorist attacks. In addition to interviews with intelligence officials, the Post was able to interview an Islamic State commander who boasted about how the worst is yet to come.Syrian refugees at the US processing centre for Syrian refugees, in Amman, Jordan, April 6, 2016. REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed.The Post reports:On a crisp morning last October, 198 migrants arrived on the Greek island of Leros, all of them seemingly desperate people seeking sanctuary in Europe. But hiding among them were four men with a very different agenda.The four were posing as war-weary Syrians — all carrying doctored passports with false identities. And they were on a deadly mission for the Islamic State.Two of the four would masquerade as migrants all the way to Paris. There, at 9:20 p.m. on Nov. 13, they would detonate suicide vests near the Stade de France sports complex, fulfilling their part in the worst attack on French soil since World War II.The other two men would not make it that far.Stopped upon arrival in Greece for lying about their identities, they were delayed — but only for a few weeks before being granted permission to continue their journey deeper into Europe.The Post notes that both intelligence officials and the Islamic State commander warn that these attacks are only the beginning.“European security officials say they think that the Islamic State has seeded terrorist cells on the continent over the past year ….The vast majority of migrants were genuinely fleeing war and poverty. But over the past six months, more than three dozen suspected militants who impersonated migrants have been arrested or died while planning or carrying out acts of terrorism. They include at least seven directly tied to the bloody attacks in Paris and Brussels.The Islamic State is gloating that they have far more lying in wait.“We have sent many operatives to Europe with the refugees,” an Islamic State commander said in an interview over an encrypted data service. “Some of our brothers have fulfilled their mission, but others are still waiting to be activated.”This is the problem with President Obama’s proposal to bring 10,000 Syrian refugees into the US. It creates an opportunity for ISIS to do to the US what it has done in Europe. But instead of addressing these legitimate concerns, President Obama is busy demagoguing those who disagree with his plans. On his recent trip to Germany, Obama blamed opposition to his plan on xenophobia,?declaring:“These are unsettling times. And when the future is uncertain, there seems to be an instinct in our human nature to withdraw to the perceived comfort and security of our own tribe, our own sect, our nationality. People who look like us, sound like us. In today’s world, more than any time in human history, that is a false comfort.”The president is wrong. What Americans fear are not people who don’t look like us, but people who want to kill us. Given the way ISIS used refugee flows to attacks Paris, that is a valid concern.That does not mean, however, that refusing Syrian refugees is a sufficient answer – and this is where the president’s critics falter.We need to find a way to stop that 2%, while helping the 98%.It is true that the vast majority of refugees are good and decent people who are fleeing the carnage wrought by the Islamic State. They are not?advocates?of Islamic radicalism; they are the?victims?of Islamic radicalism. The danger is not coming from them, but from Islamic radicals who are using them as cover to infiltrate operatives into the West. In the case of the Paris attacks, only four of the 198 refugees who arrived on the Greek island of Leros that day were terrorists. That is just 2%. But that 2% were able to carry out an attack that killed at least 130 people.We need to find a way to stop that 2%, while helping the 98%. And there are ways to do so without endangering our security. But they involve hard choices that President Obama does not want to make – like, for example, creating a safe area inside Syria where Syrian refugees can live safely, much like the way we protected the Kurdish regions of Northern Iraq from Saddam Hussein after the 1991 Gulf War.But President Obama does not want to do this. It is much easier to accuse your political opponents of racism.Unfortunately, those opposed to admitting refugees are making it far easier for the president to make such accusations, because instead of proposing better, safer and more compassionate alternatives to helping the victims, their argument stops at “no.” And “no” is not good enough.Source 5: “Syrian Refugees Don’t Pose a Serious Security Threat” / Cato Institute / 11/18/2015 security threat posed by refugees in the United States is insignificant. Halting America’s processing of refugees due to a terrorist attack in another country that may have had one asylum-seeker as a co-plotter would be an extremely expensive overreaction to very minor threat. Resettling refugees who pass a thorough security check would likely decrease the recruiting pool for future terrorists and decrease the long-run risk.The current refugee vetting system is multilayered, dynamic, and extremely effective. ISIS fighters or terrorists who are intent on attacking U.S. soil have myriad other options for doing so that are all cheaper, easier, and more likely to succeed than sneaking in through the heavily guarded refugee gate. The low level of current risk does not justify the government slamming that gate shut.Document Source Analysis SheetSource or Text Is this source supportive, critical, or neutral toward the United States bringing in Syrian Refugees?What good points does the author or creator make with this source for their position? What weaknesses does this source have (what is left out)? Source 1: Hillary Clinton Speech Source 2: Mike Huckabee speechSource 3: Refugee Image Source 4: Thiessen editorialSource 5: Cato Institute Editorial ................
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