TY - JOUR AU - Brigadier General Mizanur Rahman Shameem, BP, ndc, psc, PY - 2017/12/30 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - SYRIAN CRISIS: ROLE OF MAJOR POWERS JF - NDC E-JOURNAL JA - NDC E-JOURNAL VL - 16 IS - 2 SE - DO - UR - https://ndcjournal.ndc.gov.bd/ndcj/index.php/ndcj/article/view/214 SP - 55-68 AB - <p>The Syrian crisis has entered into sixth year compounded by new and old<br>challenges and is now more than just a battle between those for or against<br>President Bashar al-Assad. Peaceful procession asking democracy and greater<br>freedom at the beginning got agitated on the regime’s brutal action and later<br>demanded the president to resign. The conflict turned into an armed rebellion<br>within a short period which was overtly sectarian in nature between Alawitedominated<br>government forces, militias and other Shia groups. Opposition splited<br>into different groups of rebel fighters instead of having single entity. Meanwhile<br>an extremist group called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) started<br>taking over large swath of the country adding a further dimension. The political<br>crisis in Syria has concerned major regional and international actors in such a<br>way that in a short period of time, a new political alignment has taken shape<br>at the regional level as well as in the international arena. Two major regional<br>powers formed coalition i.e. Russia , Iran, Lebanese Hezbollah form the anti-<br>Western coalition and United States, Turkey, European Union and the Persian<br>Gulf countries are in the opposing side. Most importantly the conflict in Syria<br>has drawn in major global powers, supporting and opposing President Bashar al-<br>Assad and the myriad rebel groups ranged against him. Russia has been one of<br>Syria’s staunchest allies for decades. The US insists President Assad cannot be part<br>of Syria’s future. Diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and Syria have long been<br>strained by major events in the region. As such Saudi Arabia provides military<br>and financial assistance to several rebel groups in Syria. Turkey had ambition to<br>project power in the region and tried to overthrow Assad by actively supporting<br>the armed rebellion. This study intends to find the answers of some pertinent<br>questions related to this most pressing conflict of present time. The study mainly<br>focuses on the role of major powers and how their involvement actually shaped<br>the war by period of time. This research also tries to identify way-out to resolve<br>the crisis.</p> ER -