What started the Syrian civil war?

Answer 1

The Arab Spring is the outcome of a number of repressive policies against Arab citizens from their own governments. This anger was fomenting in the Arab populaces (at different rates in different countries) pretty much since the Independence Movements secured the European Colonizers' retreat. The reason the Arab Spring did not happen earlier is that most Arabs did not believe that they had the power to overthrow their governments. The ouster of Zine Abidine ben Ali in Tunisia changed that view and encouraged Arabs in different states to revolt against their leadership.

Arab Spring Protesters had a variety of demands which a number of the Arab Leaders were not willing to concede. Some of these included, but were not limited to the following:

1) Democracy: Arabs want a hand in how their own governments create policy as opposed to the dictatorships in the Arab World that masquerade as republics when there are no elections. This is especially pertinent in countries like Syria or Bahrain where the unelected leadership represents the views of a minority religious group.

2) Economic Self-Sufficiency: Many Arabs see the current governments as having inadequately built up their economies both in terms of the governments' failure to create jobs and build internal infrastructure as well the governments' failure to make sure that grains like rice and corn remain affordable to the "average Dick and Jane Arab".

3) So-Called First Amendment Rights: Many Arabs, especially from unrepresented minorities (like Christians, Shiites*, Sunnis*, Baha'i, and Zoroastrians) want the ability to openly pray to their Gods in their proper context and to do so on equal footing with the predominant religion (either Shiite or Sunni Islam). Arabs also want to have the freedom to criticize their leaders and to protest freely against them if need be.

4) Citizenship over Race/Religion: A major trend in the Arab World has gone unrecognized by the authorities prior to the Arab Spring. Most people in Arab countries belong to a certain ethnic, religious, and tribal group that the state identifies and discriminates between. Many protesters in the Arab Spring would prefer official recognition that all people who live within the borders of a country are citizens regardless of race or religion and should have equal rights and privileges.

5) Transparency: Arab Regimes are notoriously corrupt. Nepotism, racism, and many other non-meritocratic means are used to promote people into positions of power and wealth. Arab Spring Protesters want a government that is accountable to its people and that functions based on meritocracy.

Answer 2

Initially, the Arab Spring protests which has uprooted the regimes in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and threatened to uproot those in other countries migrated to Syria. The values that undergirded the original Arab Spring in Syria included campaigning for more democracy, developing economic self-sufficiency and equality, freedom to criticize the government, unified Syrian citizenship (as opposed to ethnic and religious loyalties), and transparent government. After a few weeks, the regime decided to open fire on the protesters, thus leading to open conflict. As a result, the Arab Spring values have fallen by the wayside as the conflict has escalated and continues to escalate. Currently over 200,000 people have died.

Initial Causes
At the outset the Arab Spring Protests in Syria had numerous underlying causes. A gross overview consists of the following:

1) Religious Disempowerment: The current government of Syria, led by Bashar al-Assad is a representative of the minority Shiite Islamic Religion. (Specifically he is an Alawite which is a type of Shiite -- in the same way that Methodist is a type of Protestant.) The vast majority of Syria (>70%) are Sunni Moslems and wish to be in power because of their majority status. To prevent a transition to majority-rule, Assad has limited the rights and freedoms of Sunnis.

2) Dictatorship: Assad is a dictator who inherited control of Syria from his father. They used violence to maintain power and have no interest in moderated control. Syria is officially a Republic, but since the late 60's, Emergency Law has been in effect which grants the President (Assad) unlimited powers to "contain problems". Understandably, citizens want a repeal of the Emergency Laws and a say in their country's politics.

3) Rights Infringements: Assad's Government has made no secret that it tortures, disappears, and executes those that disagree with its policies or express any opinions that government disagrees with. Religious minorities like Christians (in addition to the majority Sunni) have difficulty in getting protection for their community centers and houses of worship. Citizens want rights protections so that they can freely speak, assemble, and worship and they also want a right to privacy and protection from unreasonable searches and seizures.

4) Economy: Syria has a very unemployment rate, skyrocketing prices for essential foodstuffs, and no attempts by the government to improve the quality of life for the Syrian people. Many citizens want a job (or if they have a job a better one) and the ability to support their families and Assad is not responding to this crisis.

5) Hope: When the Tunisian Protests made Zine Abidine bin Ali, "President" of Tunisia flee, it inspired Arabs across the Arab World to finally rise up and topple their dictators. Before this point, Arabs thought that it was impossible to lead a successful rebellion against their corrupt regimes. (The Homs Rebellion in the 1970s resulted in a massacre of tens of thousands.) However, now that Tunisia has been successful not only in removing bin Ali but replacing him with a functional democratic government, Syrians are ready to give hope a chance.

Changes Since the Protests
As a result of the Assad Regime militarily attacking the protesters, a number of those protesters took to arms and began a rebel campaign to overthrow Assad. In this chaos, al-Qaeda of Iraq crossed the border into Syria and founded Islamic State and the Syrian Kurds declared independence. To further clarify, in the Syrian Civil War currently, there are currently four sides:

1. Government of Syria: Bashar al-Assad and the Government of Syria come from the Alawite minority which was historically discriminated against because their religion is a post-Islamic religion (even though Iran has "certified them" to be part of Twelver Shiite Islam). As a result, they do not want to cede power to the Sunni majority who will likely discriminate against them again as they had in the past. In contrast to most ethnic conflicts in the Middle East, many other Syrian minorities such as the Christians and Druze (another post-Islamic Religion) and the Shiite Muslims in Syria have thrown their weight behind Bashar al-Assad and the Alawites, preferring moderate Alawite discrimination to possible Islamic fundamentalism. They fear worse will come under Sunni-dominated rule, especially since while Assad was Secular, his opposition was Islamist and will likely rule harshly over non-Sunni religious groups.

The Government of Syria is currently supported by Iran and Russia and controls most of Syria.

2. Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL): ISIL is an extremist Sunni Islamist organization which used to have links to al-Qaeda before al-Qaeda condemned them for their barbarity. They are fighting to bring the Sunni majority into power, especially in Sunni majority regions of both Syria and Iraq, and impose a more fundamentalist view on politics. They consider themselves to be fighting the injustices and violence of the current Assad regime and the inequalities of the US-supported Government of Iraq. ISIL is primarily supported and armed by Saudi Arabia, but the US and UK have indirectly given ISIL millions of dollars and equipment since US and UK military vehicles and assets left to the Government of Iraq have fallen into ISIL hands (especially with the fall of Mosul). They also see Alawites as being unfit to rule because they are not true Muslims and according to their reading of Qur'anic Verse 3:28 (cited below), no non-Muslim should have power over Muslims. Considering that Sunnis are the majority of the country, they do not understand why the minority Alawites and their Druze, Christian, and Shiite allies should dictate policy.

ISIL controls significant amounts of land in Syria and Iraq and conquered much of its Iraqi territory in June 2014.

3. Kurds and the Peshmerga: The Kurds, a Sunni ethnic minority (as opposed to a religious minority), are primarily concerned with protecting their minority in northern Iraq and Syria. Syrian Kurdistan (YPG) is the name of their de facto independent polity and the Peshmerga is the name of the militias that fight on behalf of that authority. The Syrian Kurds are increasingly under attack by ISIL and Western bombing campaigns and funds have helped balance the equation. While both Iraqi Kurds and Syrian Kurds support the idea of Kurdish unity, there have been difficulties uniting all of the Kurds under one banner.

Iraqi Kurds control areas in Iraq and Syrian Kurds control areas in Syria. Iraqi Kurdistan has helped and supported their Kurdish brothers across the border.

4. Free Syrian Army: The Rebels of Syria split between those who were more Islamist in their outlook and joined with ISIL (above) and those who are more liberal in their outlook and are considered to be interested in democracy. The Free Syrian Army is composed of those more liberal rebels, but they are weaker in the overall struggle than both the Syrian Government and ISIL. They are fighting to bring the Sunni majority into power and consider themselves to be fighting the injustices and violence of the current Assad regime and the atrocities of his father, including the Hama Massacre of 1982 which may have claimed as many as 40,000 civilian lives. Considering that Sunnis are the majority of the country, they do not understand why the minority Alawites and their Druze, Christian, and Shiite allies should dictate policy.

The Sunni Islamist factions (more strongly ideologically aligned with ISIL) are primarily supported and armed by Qatar and Saudi Arabia while the Democratic Pretenders are armed by the United States. The Sunni Islamist factions, especially Jubhat an-Nusra (the Al-Nusra Front), have met with much more military success than the more democratic groups in the Free Syrian Army.

Qur'an 3:28: (Muhsin Khan): Let not the believers take the disbelievers as Auliya (supporters, helpers, leaders etc.) instead of the believers, and whoever does that will never be helped by Allah in any way, except if you indeed fear a danger from them. And Allah warns you against Himself (His Punishment), and to Allah is the final return.