Committee: DISEC

Topic 1: The crisis in Syria

Country: Gambia
School: Houston Academy for International Studies
Delegate: Palm, Andrea

Ironically, security issues are an ongoing weakness threatening the

United Nations. Despite the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the potential for
nuclear war remains in South Asia, the Middle East, and the Korean
peninsula. In a different vein, UNSC has failed to take substantial action in a
timely manner regarding the ongoing Syrian Civil War. In addition, the
committee must also search for new ways to effectively enforce existing
agreements in the realm of international peace and disarmament.
With Russia currently assisting Syria in its civil war, starting March of
2011, getting the country back under control has become significantly more
manageable. Backed by relentless Russian airstrikes, Syrian troops and allied
militiamen, as of January 6th, pushed deeper into a major rebel stronghold in
the northwestern province of Latakia, a day after seizing a key rebel-held
town in the strategic region overlooking the coast, according to government
and opposition activists. Later that day, the Free Syrian Army and 33 other
factions and rebel groups issued a statement saying they would reject
scheduled peace talks in Geneva later this month unless humanitarian
conditions mentioned in a U.N. resolution for Syria are fulfilled.
ISIS is a main target for Syrian Armed Forces. ISIS, formerly Al-Qaeda's
branch in Iraq, has declared itself a Caliphate and is now in conflict with most
other rebel groups, the Assad government and Kurdish militias. Designated
or called a terrorist group by the United Nations Security Council, the US and
other states.
While the country of Gambia has nothing to do with the war in Syria,
Syria being 8,931.7 km (5549.90108 mi) away, we cant do much to try and
help solve the issue. This problem has become much bigger than it was
intended to and just one solution.

Committee: DISEC
Topic 1: The crisis in Syria
Country: Gambia
School: Houston Academy for International Studies
Delegate: Palm, Andrea

In what French President Francois Hollande called an act of war

against his country, on November 13 several attackers staged a complex
assault involving shootings and suicide bombings in Paris that left 129 people
dead. ISIS has claimed responsibility, citing Frances participation in the
crusader campaign against the group. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
was unsympathetic, blaming French policy toward his country: We said,
dont take what is happening in Syria lightly. Unfortunately, European officials
did not listen. France is one of 65 members of the U.S.-led international
coalition against the Islamic State, and one of eight that has conducted
airstrikes against the group in Syria.
Frances direct combat involvement in Syria is fairly recent; having
enlisted in international airstrikes in Iraq last year, in September France
joined a long list of combatants in Syrias civil war by bombing an ISIS
training camp in the country. (David Graham has more here on Frances
campaigns against ISIS and its affiliates in Syria and elsewhere.) That
participation seems destined to expand; two days after the Paris attacks,
Frances defense ministry announced it was conducting airstrikes against the
Islamic States de facto capital of Raqqa, Syria, and U.S. officials were
reportedly sharing intelligence on ISIS targets with their French counterparts.
What?
Syrias conflict has devolved from peaceful protests against the
government in 2011 to a violent insurgency that has drawn in numerous
other countries. Its partly a civil war of government against people; partly a
religious war pitting Assads minority Alawite sect, aligned with Shiite
fighters from Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon, against Sunni rebel groups; and
increasingly a proxy war featuring Russia and Iran against the United States
and its allies. Whatever it is, it has so far killed 220,000 people, displaced
half of the countrys population, and facilitated the rise of ISIS.
While a de-facto international coalitionone that makes informal allies
of Assad, the United States, Russia, Iran, Turkey, the Kurds, and othersis
focused on defeating ISIS in Syria, the battlefield features numerous other
overlapping conflicts. The Syrian war looks different depending on which
protagonists you focus on. Here are just a few ways to look at it:

Committee: DISEC
Topic 1: The crisis in Syria
Country: Gambia
School: Houston Academy for International Studies
Delegate: Palm, Andrea