Introduction to The Middle East in Crisis

               It’s heart wrenching to watch on TV some of the horrendous practices that have transpired in the country of Syria. The belligerence of her oppressing government has gone, for the most part, unnoticed by the rest of the world until the resistance of the Free Syrian Army, inspired by the success of the resistance in Egypt, commenced approximately one year ago. Due to lack of international journalists actively reporting from that country, it is hard to truly pinpoint what is going on between the national Syrian army and the oppositionists that comprise the Free Syrian Army. If one were to do a quick search on Google with the country “Syria” solely spelled out in the search box, an abundance of recently published news articles would pop up. Headlines such as “Syrian army uses human shields on tanks” or “Young boy tortured to death becomes symbol of uprising” illustrate the level of dehumanization that has materialized in this country. The first headline occurred just today around 10:30 a.m. / eastern time, February 12, 2012. http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/12/world/meast/syria-unrest/index.html?hpt=wo_c2. The other headline occurred almost a year ago on May 30, 2011. http://gulfnews.com/news/region/syria/young-boy-tortured-to-death-becomes-symbol-of-uprising-1.814703. Although there is a level of inhumanity geared towards the people of Syria, under the leadership and regime of President Bashar al-Assad, some argue that this is simply not the case, and that there is an underlying conspiracy that the regime itself is genocidal. http://www.infowars.com/leftist-media-resorts-to-conspiracy-theories-to-sell-syria-invasion/. A Syrian insider, however, would beg to differ from this depiction. http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/01/201211713546736564.html.

               Neighbor to the country of Syria, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has consulted Hamas’ Ismail Haniyeh, leader in Palestinian resistance to the country of Israel, in support of its opposition. http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle-east/irans-top-leader-urges-senior-hamas-figure-to-continue-resistance-against-israel/2012/02/12/gIQAy3VF8Q_story.html. In this article, the questions of why Iran and Israel are archenemies are explained, as well as the great deal of support Iran has for the Palestinians, explicitly stating, as never done before by an Iranian leader, that support for Hamas has been affirmed. Yesterday, the Supreme Leader also announced achievements that would be made clear in the coming days in terms of nuclear power, something that the country of Israel has long opposed. http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/ahmadinejad-iran-will-soon-announce-major-nuclear-achievements-1.412360. Israel is also under heat for detaining a Palestinian hunger striker, to many a human activists’ chagrin. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/12/palestinian-hunger-striker-shackled.

               While this is still an ongoing resistance, in regards to both the Palestinians and the Syrians, there is still a level of human intervention and outside contact that is significantly missing in both of these countries and across the Middle East. One can only hope, as the toll of deaths in the country of Syria rise to a staggering 7,000, that the violence comes to an end soon, but referencing back to the success of the resistance in Egypt, anything but peace may conclude after the glory of resistance has faded.