TLDR News: Syrian Civil War Background

Eight minutes on who's who in the Syrian conflict.

Syria’s civil war, now in it’s thirteenth year, has always been a multifaceted muddle. The Syrian regime struggles against the Kurdish northeast. Shia Iran backs Alawite Assad via Hezbollah, which has at times had a full brigade in country supporting the his regime. The Turks would like to send over three million refugees home. ISIS tried without much success to drag both Lebanon and Jordan into the mess. Cold War stockpiles all over Eastern Europe and North Africa were drained, and the country became a de facto lab facility for Anti-Tank Guided Missile manufacturers.

Iran has been constrained from getting new air defense equipment and they’ve countered by developing proxies. Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, the Houthis in Yemen, and otherwise they seek arrangements like this with ideological fellow travelers as a buffer zone.

I would like to see Russia access to their naval supply station at Tartus terminated. Unless it would contribute to a regional conflagration.

I’d love to see Iran’s drone construction facilities leveled. Unless it would contribute to a regional conflagration.

I’d love to see Yemen fission back into North and South Yemen, ending their conflict. Unless it would contribute to a regional conflagration.

I’d love to see the Kurds made safe from their abusive neighbors and I imagine they’d bring the Yezidi along with them, which would be really great. Unless it would contribute to a regional conflagration.

International relations has been described as “a global billiard table”. You draw back, give the cue ball a vigorous poke … and unless the table is very clean there will always been some unexpected secondary *clacks* somewhere.

I just hope we don’t clack our way into catastrophe …