Some Questions

How much attention have you paid to the Syrian Civil War since its beginning in 2011?  How, if at all, has it influenced you?  To what extent has it framed your understanding of international affairs?

Why is there a war in Syria ?  What is the war about?  How did the Syrian Civil War begin?  Why has it lasted so long?  What has been the trajectory of the war?

In what ways has the Syrian conflict been not just a civil war but a major international conflict as well?  What role has been played by the following nations, and how would you begin to place these roles against the broader backdrop of history?

Russia

Iran

United States

Turkey

Israel

Saudi Arabia

What has the Syrian Civil War revealed about the current international order and how, in turn, has it shaped that order?

How has the Syrian Civil War contributed to an international refugee crisis?

How has the history of terrorism and the Syrian Civil War intersected?

What role have the Kurds played in the conflict?

What are some of the important things to understand about the Syrian past? What is distinctive about the demographic composition of Syria? What would you highlight from the decades or centuries before 1970 that is still of significance?  Who are the Assads and the Alawites, and how have they shaped Syria's history?

Some Terms:

Hafez al-Assad

Bashar al-Assad

Alawites

Baath Party (1963)

Deraa (2011)

Free Syrian Army

Eastern Ghouta (2013)

Eastern Aleppo

Idlib Province

Jabbat al-Nusra

ISIS, ISIL, IS, Daesh

Caliphate

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

Raqqa

Palmyra

Kurds

Rojava

YPG

PKK

Syrian Democratic Forces

Abdullah Ocalan

Halabja (1988)

Tartus, Latakia

"red line"

Hezbollah

Golan Heights

Six-Day War (1967)

Aylan Kurdi (2015)

Sykes-Picot Agreement (1916)

Michael Aflaq

Hama (1982)

Muslim Brotherhood

1946

1963

1970

2000

2011