_edited.jpg)
The picture you just saw relates to the interpretation of a Syrian child and deals with the military conflict that is under current development in their country.
It is impossible for this representation not touch the hearts of its viewers, as it was extremely difficult to explain to a child that after over 2000 years of historical evolution, mankind has not yet learned to reject war as a strategy or solution for political, economic and religious conflicts.
In order to understand the Syrian conflict, it is important to comprehend the reasons of every party involved, and it is essential to know the difference between two different Islamic currents: Shi'ism and Sunnism.
For Shiites, it is only direct descendants of Mohammed who are allowed to be leaders of their faith.
For Sunnis, leaders do not necessarily have to descend directly from Mohammed.
The current president of Syria Bashar Al Assad belongs to the Shiite minority, since Syria is an overwhelmingly Sunni country. Due to these circumstances Al Assad cannot respond to requests to surrender his power, because if he does - he risks losing it forever.
In the ‘80s the father of Bashar Al Assad, who was in charge of the government, had to face civil protests demanding his resignation, to which he responded with great violence. The result was a success since he managed to suppress civil disobedience and armed resistance of the insurgent revolutions.
Recently in 2011 Bashar Al Assad’s son faced a similar situation in a form of request from a movement known as the Arab Spring. The Arab Spring, although it started as public protests in several countries, grew consistently provoking civil unrest of global importance.
In Tunisia and Egypt revolts overthrew the government in a few weeks, but in countries such as Libya and Syria, the government responded quite violently and refused to relinquish its power, which forced people to obtain weapons and start civil wars in both countries.
In Syria the war has continued for more than two and a half years. It has intensified lately, and the records estimate at least hundreds of thousands of deaths. Therefore, many specialists speculate that the situation in Syria to be the darkest manifestation of the Arab Spring.
As a result of this conflict, we can observe that the strategic alliance of Syria, Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah Terrorist Organization has strengthened, while on the other hand the opposite alliance between Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Qatar is providing financial and logistical support to Sunni revolutionaries and detractors of the current Shiite Al Assad government.
The magnitude of the Syrian conflict, of course, has passed its boundaries, involving not only Islamic representatives but also Russia and USA.
Russia since the beginning of the conflict has been supporting the Assad government.
The port of Tartus is the only seaport in the area, and it is located not on the Russian territory, but in the city of Syria in the Mediterranean Sea.
The U.S. support Sunni insurgents, targeting Shiite in order to defeat the Assad government and to weaken the alliance Iran - Syria - Hezbollah, which was previously mentioned. Alliance is characterized for being the main enemy of Israel, which turns out to be the best American ally in the Middle East.
Unfortunately with the scenario described above, the predictions for the future of Syria seem to be quite negative.
The path for peaceful resolution of the conflict could occur only in case of application of international intervention with the help of the UN Security Council.
Moreover, in case Syrian government use chemical weapons, it would be a clear violation of International law of the Geneva Convention.