An Outline of the Syrian War and the Aspects that make it Unliveable

Syria is a country that has been made incredibly unliveable, due to a number of factors. The circumstances that have made the country unliveable for many include the ongoing war, the lifestyle accompanied with life in a war zone, the lifestyle accompanied with the way of life for many refugees and the process of seeking asylum in Europe or other parts of the world.

The first issue that makes Syria unliveable is of course the ongoing war occurring throughout the whole of the country. The war began in 2011, after a series of protests throughout Syria and much of the Middle East known as the Arab Spring. The purpose of these protests was to campaign for a more democratic government, rather than the corrupt semi-authoritarian government that was in place in Syria, run by dictator Bashar al-Assad. The government's response to the protests was to shut the movement down by killing many of the protesters, which was what began the war. Soon after, a rebel force fighting for democracy was assembled, and they set out to rid their homeland of the government, and became locked into an intense battle with government forces. A few months later, the Islamic State terrorist group joined the battle, fighting to establish their own state. The Kurdish ethnic group then joined the battle, them fighting to retain their land against Islamic State. Later on, American and Russian forces joined the battle, the Americans fighting with the rebels, and the Russian forces fighting with the Assad regime. The ongoing multiple-sided war made the country of Syria incredibly unstable and unsafe to live in (due to bombings, usage of chemical weapons and shootings) and forced many citizens to abandon their homeland.

The second issue that makes Syria unliveable is the lifestyle associated with life in a war zone. The unstable conditions associated with the war make living in a city-turned-war zone incredibly difficult and unsafe. This can be seen in the Four Corners documentary: Children on the Frontline. The children featured in the documentary live in Aleppo, a major city in Syria divided by government forces and rebel forces, each occupying approximately half each of the city. The children's father is a rebel fighter fighting for freedom and democracy for his children. In order to do so, he must remain in the incredibly unsafe city of Aleppo with his wife and four children. The family is shown to live in the ruins of decrepitated buildings, and live each day under the constant threat of bombing. This is an incredibly unsafe and unstable situation, and the conditions the family live in are completely unliveable, shown by the constant threat of bombings, unsafe housing and the raging war occurring on all fronts.

The third issue that makes the country of Syria unliveable is the extreme  way of life for many native Syrian refugees. The ongoing war has made staying in Syria completely impossible for many Syrians, shown already through the description of life within a war zone. This issue has forced many Syrians to flee their homeland, and the war has displaced and made refugees of a total of 12.8 million Syrians, around half of the total population of Australia, and more than half of Syria's own population. 6.6 million of the people mentioned have applied for refugee status and have fled to surrounding countries such as Lebanon (a total of around 1.2 million are currently living there), Jordan (around 600,000), Turkey (3 million) and other countries throughout Europe and much of the rest of the world including Germany, the United States and Australia. Syrian refugees often endure much hardship throughout their journeys and especially within refugee camps; the conditions many refugees are forced to live in can only be described as horrendous - conditions within refugee camps on Manus and Christmas Islands are not much better than those within war-torn countries, so really, for many refugees, being placed in detention camps is really not that much better nor liveable than the conditions within war-torn countries such as Syria.

The fourth and final issue that makes liveability for Syrians incredibly difficult is the strenuous process of applying for asylum. To apply for asylum, one must leave their home country and travel to another and then apply for asylum at the embassy or consulate of the country one wishes to live in. In Children on the Frontline, the family leaves Syria and travels across the border into Turkey where they then apply for asylum at the German Embassy. They are granted it, and receive German passports and refugee status and then embark on a plane to begin a new life in Germany. For many, it is not so easy. Many Syrian refugees struggle to apply for asylum and refugee status, and even after obtaining this status, many still struggle to get into their country of choice. Australia in particular makes it incredibly difficult for refugees and asylum seekers to enter our country, and forces many into horribly unliveable camps where they are often mistreated. The insolence of the Australian government! To force those who have already endured so much hardship and often been on the brink of death to spend what is often a process of many years in a horrible camp is despicable, and these hardline policies must be removed and replaced with more empathetic ones. The conditions of many refugee camps across the world, and especially within Australia are horrific and completely unliveable, often the only improvement from warzones for refugees is the lack of the imminent threat of bombings.

In conclusion, Syria and the circumstances associated with leaving the country are incredibly unliveable, shown through the extreme circumstances of the war, the lifestyle for many within the war zone, and the horrifically unstable lifestyle and strenuous process of applying for asylum and refugee status. Together, across the world, we must fight to restore peace and unity, and treat refugees with empathy.