On March 15, 2011, Syria, which is located west of Iraq and south of Turkey, Syria erupted into a raging civil war, which has been raging for the better part of four years.

The war began when15 school aged children were arrested for writing anti-government graffiti on a wall. The 15 children were reportedly tortured. Peaceful protests began, the protesters were calling for the children to be released, democracy, and greater freedom of the people in Syria. The protests began to turn sour when the government decided to open fire on the crowd, killing four. Another person was killed at a memorial service. The rebels began to unite against President Bashar al-Assad. An estimated 1,000 different rebel groups have joined the ranks to fight the al-Assad regime. The 1,000 plus rebel groups have amassed to 100,000 or more fighters.

The main cause of the distress in Syria, is the refugee crisis. With the battling in Syria creeping into urban areas, an estimated nine million Syrians have fled Syria in the last four years since the war began. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees(UNHCR) has reported an estimated three million, or more, Syrians have fled to their neighboring countries of Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq.  Jordan and Lebanon, including Lebanon especially, are very small countries and have both taken in more refugees than the European Union. 6.5 million Syrians are internally  displaced within their country.

In the European Union(EU), under 150,000 Syrians have taken asylum. Some of the countries have even closed their borders to the refugees. Germany is planning on giving asylum to 28,000 Syrians within this year. Pope Francis has called on all of Europe’s Catholics to do something to aid the refugees fleeing their home that is being torn by a bloody, vicious, civil war. Pope Francis said this to Europe’s Catholic population, “May every parish, every religious community, every monastery, every sanctuary in Europe host a family.”

Latin teacher, Jason Tiearney commented on the Pope’s address, “Based on what I have seen, probably not [take in refugees]. So many countries are closing their borders. Germany and Austria are doing a lot. It seems more are closing [their borders], then opening. The Pope has great idea, but I don’t see it happening.” The main countries that have contributed to the asylum of refugees are Germany, Serbia, and Sweden. Most countries in the European Union have taken less than 10,000 refugees. Some have taken in even less than 1,000 or 100.

America is also another very hot topic when it comes to this crisis. So far America has taken in roughly 1,000 refugees. A lot of people believe that the United States as a whole should be doing more to help since we are the most powerful and influential country. Recently President Barack Obama has increased the refugee number to 10,000. By 2016, the next fiscal year, there will be a good number of the 10,000 Syrians will be in America.  

“I know we are increasing it [the refugee cap] to 10,000 but I do not think that is enough. I do think we could afford to open up enough space,” Tiearney said.

Secretary of the State John Kerry has said that America has committed to increasing the  refugee cap. Although, a lot of Americans are worried about the refugees coming to America, many Americans are xenophobic, which is a type of phobia where people are afraid of refugees immigrating into their country. The refugees may be looked at like second-class citizens due to this.

“Yes, absolutely. I think talking about it in classes there is a lot of fear. I have definitely noticed a fear of having different people[in the country],” said Tiearney.

ISIL, or ISIS, the acronym stands for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, ISIL is a Salafi jihadist extremist militant group, has moved into eastern Syria amongst the chaos of war. ISIL has acquired Syrian land and also power. ISIL is a force to reckon with, it has played a role in killing the 200,000+ Syrians that have been killed in in the four years of conflict. Russia and America are trying to do their best to help Syria get rid of ISIL. On October 8, 2015, Russia launched a naval bombardment on ISIL targets in Syria. From four ships they fired 26 missiles, hitting 11 targets. The missiles were launched from the Caspian Sea. The missiles they fired were very high-tech, they flew 930 miles to their targets from the Caspian Sea.

“I think either way ISIL is still going continue the path they are on. When they get resistance, that makes them rebel more, but it is more dangerous when they do not have resistance,” said sophomore Samuel Modde.

And America continues to bombard ISIL with airstrikes. In September of 2014, America, United Kingdom, and other armies united to try and stop ISIL by doing airstrikes on ISIL ground troops.

The Assad family is also a large part of the conflict. The president of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, has refused to resign. Many of the anti-Assad groups have been trying to get him to resign from office since the start of the unrest. He refuses to resign because he believes that will make the problem worse, even though many of the Syrians wants him to resign from office.

“If the family were to step down, that could make more fight occur over who would govern next. But then again, if they don’t step down will the fighting ever stop?” said sophomore Kate Terreri.

There is still no clear solution to what will happen in Syria. But, many countries around the world are doing what they can to help the civilians involved. The future of the Syrian Civil War is unknown, but there is always more to be done by Syria’s allies.