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Civil War in the Middle East and Terrorism

Civil war causes an uprise in any society, in many countries in the middle east there has been war for centuries. Recently there have been three major countries who have had the biggest civil wars and amount of terrorism in the world. Syria, Egypt, and Libya have been in civil wars since the early 2000's. These countries also experience hundreds of terrorist attacks per year. There has to be commonality to it all, does the terrorism cause the civil war; or does the civil war cause terrorism?

Syria

Syria has been the hot topic of the news since early 2015. With the revolt starting in March of 2011, against the Assad regime, many Syrians have either joined the fight or attempted to flee their homeland. The Syrians are fighting for democracy against the totalitarian government that they are facing, they have been living in total poverty and are looking for a better way of life. Protests had been breaking out into the streets as soon as Assad had gained power, but in late March of 2011 things turned violent. Teenagers who had painted revolutionary pictures on a wall in Deraa were gunned down by lawn enforcement, this put the public into outrage. Soon revolutionaries were fighting the government over control of the cities in Syria. In 2015 alone there have been over 380 attacks resulting in; 2,761 fatalities and 2,830 injured. Known terrorist group ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and Levant), is responsible for over half of these attacks, with Al-Nusra Front claiming about 20 percent of other attacks. The majority group that is targeted is private civilians and property, while military and government fall closely behind.

Since 1970 Syria has averaged 36.2 attacks per year, the number has risen since the beginning of the civil war. Since 2011 there have been 1319 attacks, averaging 329.8 attacks per year. This shows the growth and opportunity that terrorist groups are seeing when there is a civil war going on in a country. With Syria's state of war it is common for its citizen to try and escape to have a better life. As of March 2017 over five million people have fled, and over six million have internally been displaced . Most of the Allies have stepped up to take in hundreds of thousands of these refugee's. Costing each country more than three billion dollars .

Egypt

With the fumbling of power within Egypt since the early 2000's,due to the Arab Spring, the Egyptian economy and government have been in a very fragile state. Jumping from one party to another multiple times in a matter of fifteen years. Causing tensions between the citizens of Egypt and the variety different political groups attempting to regain power. In 2015 alone there were over 500 attacks; resulting in 662 deaths, over 800 injured, and millions of dollars in destruction of property. While the Muslim Brotherhood is the most commonly blamed for terrorism, they actually committed a substantial amount less than another group. It is the Sinai Providence of the Islamic State that has taken claim for over 75 percent of attacks. Including taking down a passenger plane killing 224 people, they set a bomb onto the plane and detonated it while mid-flight, in 2015. The Sinai accounted for 183 attacks in 2015, accounting for 78 percent of all deaths, but some of attacks do not have a claim on what group did it just suspected. Most of commonly the police are the main target of any attack, although the government as a whole is the biggest target.

Since 1970 Egypt has averaged 40 attacks per year, many of these attacks were successful in the sense that they caused big damage and multiple injuries or fatalities. With rising tensions all around this makes Egypt and easy point to attack. Protests and gatherings are constantly held, making it easy for terrorist to have a quick way to hurt as many people as possible in one hit.

Libya

Since the beginning of the revolution to overthrow Prime Minister Mummer Gaddafi, in 2011, terrorism levels have been on the rise. Libya follows closely in the path of Egypt. In 2015, there were 454 deaths, 660 injured, and a total of 432 attacks. Since 2013 there have been 1,038 deaths, due to these terrorist attacks. While ISIL is an active terrorist group in this area, Barqa Providence of the Islamic State was the most active and successful in their attacks for 2015. The Barqa Providence was involved in over 45 attacks, resulting in almost 150 deaths in 2015 alone. The second most active group in the country is Tripoli Providence of the Islamic State, they have been involved with 40 attacks, resulting in 145 deaths. Tripoli also claimed the worst terrorist attack in 2015, which took place in Sirte. There was a hospital that was set on fire, killing 22 people inside. These two groups account for 238 attacks in 2015. Most of the attacks conducted in 2015 were targeted in four major cities; Benghazi, Sirte, Tripoli and Derna. The most common tactic carried out was the use of bombs, 18 of those were suicide bombings accounting for 93 deaths.

Since 1970 Libya has averaged 36.5 attacks per year, most of these ended with little to no deaths. Terrorism has recently been on the rise due to rising tensions in the Middle East, as well as the Civil War that has begun to gain traction back in 2011. Libya has had a rocky government since the fall of Qaddafi, there has been a power struggle between the HoR and the revolutionary forces to gain control of the government. Since 2011 there have been three different powers involved in the Libyan government, there is the sense now that there is no central government, just the image of one. Since the revolutionaries feel they are not being heard by their government and are not satisfied by the way it is being ran, they will do anything it takes to see a change in the government or attempt to overthrow it. in 2015 alone nearly half a million refugees made their way out of Libya, 75,000 of those refugees went to Europe.

Conclusion

Looking at these three countries shows the bond that war and terrorism have in common. Which brings down the economy and fuels the fire to those are involved. The government also has to make very rash and sometimes cruel reactions to try and regain their power over the revolutionaries, the government can support terrorist attacks to ensure that they are not overthrown. This support can come in many forms, like money and promise of power once the war is over. This pushes the groups to do bigger and better, because they want to maintain power and achieve the mission they are seeking.

It seems that civil war brings out terrorism as an attempt by the government to control the people, or an attempt by the people to over throw the government. At times it seems that these terrorist groups are fighting each other more than they are fighting for what they had originally intended to be fighting for. That statistics show that when there is civil war there is a much higher chance of multiple attacks and fatalities than when the country is not in war time.