Five years. That's how long it's been since 2011's pro-democracy protests in Syria escalated into a chaotic civil war. In the meantime, millions of Syrians have fled their homes, seeking safety abroad, and contributing to the worst international refugee crisis since World War II. The nation's conflict — originally a struggle between President Bashar al-Assad's Syrian Armed Forces and competing networks of rebel fighters — has grown into a tangled web of global powers, all vying for different outcomes. There are Russian fighter jets, ISIS fighters, and al-Qaida affiliates. World powers like Britain, Qatar, the United States, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia have a stake, too. Some are determined to destroy ISIS, others are there to back Assad.
How will it all end? While peace talks stalled in Geneva after just two days, and are now scheduled to start again on February 25th, Refinery29 has rounded up what world leaders are saying about the crisis in Syria — and how we can restore peace to the region.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel
Chancellor Merkel’s welcome of roughly one million refugees from Syria, North Africa, and elsewhere to Germany has been a source of controversy since she first spoke about the moral responsibility of accepting asylum seekers in 2015.
Merkel was named Time’s person of the year. But the same bold leadership that was applauded by the magazine has riled her critics. Members of her own Christian Democratic Union party have criticized her so-called open door approach, and Merkel’s poll numbers are in steady decline.
Meanwhile, Merkel initially envisioned a diplomatic solution to Syria's problems that included dialogue with President Bashar al-Assad. "We have to speak with many actors, this includes Assad, but others as well," Merkel said last September. That statement put her at odds with the U.S., Britain, and other Western powers who had no interest in talking to Assad, and were actively working against him.
But by December, Merkel said that a dialogue with Assad was off the table. "Assad can never be part of a long-term solution," Merkel told German lawmakers in December 2015. Since then, her focus has been on the refugees and diplomacy.
From German Chancellor Angela Merkel's speech to the European Parliament, October 7, 2015.
President Barack Obama
The simplest way to describe President Barack Obama’s strategy on ISIS and Syria is with one sentence: “We have to think things through,” he said, after the horrific terror attacks in Paris last November. Currently, the U.S. provides support to rebel groups trying to overthrow Assad, which had put a strain on relations with Russia, Assad's key supporter. The U.S. is also coordinating an international effort to fight ISIS on the ground, rather than sending in U.S. troops (although U.S. special forces soldiers are helping the Syrian rebels).
From Obama’s perspective, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq after 9/11 are proof that the U.S. needs to devise a strategy, rather than rush into conflict out of fear.
But it’s that fear of an attack, like the one in San Bernardino, CA, that has sparked criticism from 2016 candidates on the president's response to the conflict and refugee crisis. They argue that the strategy in Syria must change to see an end to the conflict.
Since the start of the year, Obama has reached out to Russian President Vladimir Putin to talk about finding a diplomatic solution to the conflict in Syria, and the ISIS problem. But Obama has remained firm in his belief that military involvement isn’t the answer.
From U.S. President Barack Obama's speech to the United Nations General Assembly, September 28, 2015.
Russian President Vladimir Putin
Near the end of 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that his country was ready to increase its military role in Syria— and it has.
Russian airstrikes have become the norm in Syria. But while Putin claims that Russia is targeting ISIS with its fire, many Russian airstrikes have targeted rebels opposing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Putin’s relationship with Assad has led to coordinated assaults by land, air, and sea on insurgents trying to topple the Assad regime.
It's a relationship that makes the West and allies in the Middle East suspicious of Russian involvement. In November 2015, a Russian plane was downed by a Turkish F-16 over the Turkey-Syria border after being warned 10 times to change direction. This incident only further strained relations between Russia and the rest of coalition fighting ISIS.
Putin has said he’s willing to put aside differences to work with the West to take out ISIS. But it’s clear that his defense of Assad hasn't softened." Assad does not fight against his own population, but against those who take armed action against the government. If the civil population is then also harmed, it is not Assad’s fault, "but primarily the fault of the insurgents and their foreign supporters,” Putin said in a recent interview with Bild.
He added that once the conflict in Syria is over, it’s up to the Syrian people to decide who their leader should be. Putin indicated that if the Syrian people decide that person is not Assad, the question then becomes, will he leave Syria willingly.
From Russian President Vladimir Putin's speech to the United Nations General Assembly, September 28, 2015.
British Prime Minister David Cameron
British Prime Minister David Cameron closed out 2015 by calling on Parliament to extend the British air campaign in Iraq to reach Syria as well. Cameron said that Britain had to decide whether to take on the “evil” of ISIS or to “wait for them to attack us.” The 11-hour debate that followed shows that the situation is much more complex than a simple "this or that" scenario.
This wasn’t Cameron’s first call for an extension of Britain’s air power in an effort to fight ISIS. Cameron has been adamant that protecting the British people requires attacking ISIS in Syria, not just Iraq.
In November 2015, he said, "The longer ISIL is allowed to grow in Syria, the greater the threat it will pose. It is wrong for the United Kingdom to subcontract its security to other countries, and to expect the aircrews of other nations to carry the burdens and the risks of striking ISIL in Syria to stop terrorism here in Britain.”
He noted that seven terror plots in the U.K. in 2015 were directed by or inspired by ISIS and its propaganda.
The message hit home: Cameron won the vote on airstrikes in Syria by a majority. Now, Britain has joined the coalition of nations conducting airstrikes against ISIS in Syria. So far, Britain has launched strikes on Omar oil fields with unmanned drones firing Hellfire missiles. But critics question whether these strikes are making any difference in the fight against ISIS.
Cameron has also been criticized for his claim that there are 70,000 Syrian opposition fighters who don’t belong to extremist groups. Even Syrian President Bashar al-Assad mocked Cameron for this assertion.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, Assad said, "This is a new episode in a long series of David Cameron’s classical farce. Where are they? Where are the 70,000 moderates he is talking about? There is no 70,000. There is no 7,000."
From Prime Minister David Cameron's comments in the British House of Commons, during debate on military action in Syria, December 2, 2015.
Samantha Power, United States Ambassador to the United Nations
In Samantha Power’s book, A Problem From Hell: America And The Age Of Genocide, she explores how American leaders repeatedly fail to stop unthinkable humanitarian disasters.
Syria is almost the exact type of conflict that she writes about. It’s both a humanitarian ruin, and fueled by complex relationships between international powers. This complexity has made the U.S. hesitant on involvement.
Power knows that there’s no easy way out of the conflict in Syria. She knew that when she backed the U.S. in using military force in Syria, as a last resort to counter the chemical attacks and violence people in Syria were being subjected to by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime—which was when Assad crossed President Barack Obama’s “red line.”
She knows that now.
Power has been a powerful voice in the treatment of refugees around the world, and the atrocities affecting the Syrian people everyday. She’s spoken about the controversial call to arm Syrian rebels. Power has noted that Russia’s involvement only adds to the already enormous complexities of the conflict. And she’s told Russia time and time again that backing Assad it “not a winning strategy."
Despite her influence, and opinions on military involvement in Syria, Power’s true goal is to end the humanitarian crisis. And she sees the new set of peace talks between rebel groups and the Syrian government as a first step on the long road to ending Syria’s conflict.
From comments by U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power to United Nations Security Council, December 21, 2015.
King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein of Jordan
Last year, after the brutal murder of a Jordanian pilot capture during a raid, King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein of Jordan pledged to wage a “relentless war” against ISIS.
“We are waging this war to protect our faith, our values, and human principles, and our war for their sake will be relentless and will hit them in their own ground,” the king said, according to state TV. Shortly after the king's statements, Jordan bombed 56 ISIS targets in Syria in a three-day campaign to avenge the death of their young pilot. Currently, Jordan is engaged in a fight with other allies in the region.
King Abdullah II has said that the fight against ISIS and other extremist groups is "a third World War by other means.”
He told CNN, "All these groups, whether they're from the Philippines, or in Indonesia, all the way to Tenali, these all the same, whether it's ISIS, Boko Haram, Al-Shabaad, Al- Nusra, wherever you find them around the world.”
King Abdullah II added, "And, again, as I said, from Asia all the way to the African continent, there is either a full out war or counter insurgency warfare. This is a global struggle… the global war - what I call the third World War by other means - is, is one that is a generational one.”
King Abdullah II also said that the international coalition, including Russia, is aware on some level that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must go. In fact, King Abdullah II was the first ruler in the Middle East to call on Assad to step down from power back in 2011.
According to Time, government officials estimate that 2,000 Jordanians are fighting with ISIS. And with the ongoing refugee crisis hitting Jordan, officials are concerned that these fighters could find their way back home and carry out attacks.
From King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein of Jordan's comments at the Leaders' Summit on Countering ISIL and Violent Extremism, September 29, 2015.
Zein
When Refinery29 first met Zein, she described herself as "one of the girls of the revolution."
Zein was one of the subjects of the documentary series Syria's Rebellious Women, produced by journalist and filmmaker Zaina Erhaim. The series focuses on women still living and working inside Syria.
Zein was involved in demonstrations on her campus in 2011, and eventually decided that she wanted to do more to help the rebel fighters.
"I did some trainings in first aid and as a paramedic. Then, I volunteered to work in a field hospital,"Zein said in Arabic in an interview with Refinery29.
Zein worked at Dar al-Shifa field hospital, and was eventually arrested. She spent more than a year in prison, where she was tortured, and forced to watch officers rape inmates.
"When the door opened, you knew it was your time to be tortured," Zein said.
Currently, Zein works as a teacher at a Free Syrian Army school in Aleppo, Syria. Despite her parents' suggestion that she get married, Zein says she sees no point in having children right now.
The message that Zein wants to share with the world is that not all Syrian women are victims. They're fighters, they're active, and they have strong opinions on how to end this crisis.
For Zein, the answer to the Syria problem isn't more foreign involvement, but the fighters and activists on the ground who are opposing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
From Refinery29's interview with Zein, a Syrian refugee and pro-democracy activist in Turkey.
Vice President Joe Biden
Previously, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden wasn't vocal on the conflict in Syria. That changed in January.
Biden went to Turkey at the end of January to ease tensions between Iraq and Turkey, and to broker a deal for both countries to coordinate a U.S. military plan to take back the key city of Mosul, Iraq from ISIS. This deal would expand Turkey’s role in the fight against ISIS.
“We are increasingly making progress, and I am confident that progress will be sped up as a consequence of our meeting today,” Biden said, after meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
Biden also said that the U.S. and Turkey were prepared for a military solution against ISIS in Syria if diplomacy failed.
"We do know it would better if we can reach a political solution but we are prepared ..., if that's not possible, to have a military solution to this operation in taking out Daesh,"Biden said at a news conference after a meeting with Davutoglu.
Biden also said that he and the Davutoglu discussed how their two countries could further support Sunni Arab rebel forces fighting to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The U.S. also offered assistance to help Turkey seal its border with Syria.
From U.S. Vice President Joe Biden's remarks after a meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, January 23, 2016.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was elected in 2000, replacing his father, who ruled the country for almost three decades. Since taking power, Assad has built a reputation for arresting opposing leaders and curbing freedom of the press. Hence the 2011 protests calling for democracy.
Since the protests escalated and became an all-out civil war, there have been countless reports of Assad using chemical weapons, like chlorine gas and nerve agents, on his own people.
Meanwhile, the situation has escalated beyond a civil war due to the involvement of international forces, ISIS, and splinter groups—some opposing Assad and few backing the dictator.
Assad insists that he’s not the bad guy here, and that the complexities of the conflict blur the lines between the opposition, rebels, and terrorists. His true ally throughout has been Russia, but even Russian President Vladimir Putin has suggested that Assad may not be the best leader for Syria.
As the conflict grows worse, and millions flee Syria for safety, Assad is currently being called out by the U.N. for ignoring three quarters of all its requests to deliver aid in Syria. People are starving in Syria, and out of the 113 requests to be allowed to make aid deliveries to “hard to reach” areas last year, only 10% reached the civilians in need, according to U.N. secretary general Ban Ki-moon.
Assad believes that there can be no short term solution, and that the real end game is putting an end to the ideology behind ISIS.
From Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's interview with Spanish news service Agencia EFE.