Arab Spring and Syria
Syrian army defectors have reportedly killed or wounded nearly two dozen members of the security police after attacking a Damascus base for military intelligence, bringing Syria closer than ever to civil war
The so called Arab Spring: is a revolutionary wave of demonstrations and protests occurring in the Arab world that began on Saturday, 18 December 2010.
The Arab Spring has been widely seen as a watershed event which has irrevocably changed the global political landscape and led to a seismic shift in the social contract governing the relationship between Arab ruling elites and their populations.
The Arab spring started a Syrian uprising, which consists of a huge protest where the protesters want to gain back there civil rights and they also want to put an end to the state of emergency. The protesting that has been going on has caused 15 children to be arrested and abused because they were writing slogans that were going against the regimen, this took place in Daraa. Syrian strong man Bashar al-Assad is under growing Arab and Western pressure to halt violent repression of its dissents, which according United Nations officials have killed more than 3,500.
The uprising has been going on for about 7 months in Syria (The bloodiest in the capital) and it has been a very harsh reality for many people. Syrian authorities agreed to a request from “The Arab league” which was to set free prisoners of political authority and to pull military out of restive towns and cities. Syrian protesters want Assad to resign from office, so they can lead a more democratic life style. Most of the Arab leaders have been saying that Assad's rule is going to be coming to an end.
Some Arabs have been offering Assad safe haven to leave as quickly as possible. Many reports of the violence of regime forces have been reported, such as sexual assault towards women. So far, 3500 people are said to have been killed since the start of the protests and many more have been injured. Since the uprising, a draft law was created where more have been injured. Since the uprising, a draft law was created where more political parties would be allowed, but the protesters did not approve of the law since it also said the Baath party would continue to be the leader of state and society.
The protests have raised a number of new security challenges for the region. Although sectarian motivations have been largely absent from most of the recent uprisings, the threat of sectarian conflict looms large over a number of countries, particularly those such as Bahrain and Syria which are ruled by an ethnic minority group. The Arab Spring exposed Al-Qaeda’s ineffectiveness as an agent for political change.
LIU Journalism students who contributed to this special report include: Victoria Saporito, Ariel Delande, Joella Skoogh, Kelly Back, Dalea Min. www.liu.edu