Syrian Civil War: Considering Two Centric Dimensions (Domestic and Regional)

Abstract

The ongoing Syrian Conflict has been subjected to considerable amount of political debate. In some cases, any change in the political structure of the conflict affected state will influence the balance of power not only in the state but also in the regional arena. The war in Syria initially was an intra-state conflict between the Syrian government and internal armed rebel groups. The Syrian government has always wanted to suppress the rebel groups to raze any secession tendencies, while the rebel groups have sought to challenge the military dictatorship rule of the government and to overthrow the regime. However, the intra-state conflict in Syria escalated into an internationalized intra-state conflict when regional and global powers split into pro and anti-Assad blocs and inserted themselves into the conflict. This research examines some theories of intrastate conflict and civil wars, while concentrating on the domestic character of internal conflicts within states, transnational theories focus on external factors in examining intrastate conflicts. Objectives of the study include explaining main reasons for the Syrian conflict and advancing the role of domestic and regional actors directing in this conflict. Through qualitative methodology this research conducts an in-depth case study of the current crisis and war in Syria. It utilizes the qualitative data gathered from secondary data. This research concludes highlighting complexity of Syrian conflict with the implications of the most relevant fighting parties in domestic level and finding a resolution for such internal conflict would be more difficult due to the considerable amount of stakes which are involved in the regional level. Finally this study seeks to fill the gap in the transnational theories of conflict and civil war which fails to fully examine the role of regional actors in directing a domestic conflict and civil war.