THE SYRIAN GENOCIDE
200,000 Dead, 6 Million Displaced
"Each bloodletting hastens the next, and as the value of human life is degraded
and violence becomes tolerated, the unimaginable becomes more conceivable."
-Bill Clinton
The Syrian crisis began in early 2011 when Syrian President Bashar al-Assad began a brutal crackdown on growing peaceful protests throughout the country. With the use of tanks, chemical weapons, attack helicopters, and artillery against protesters and the torture and execution of children, protests spread and opposition groups took up arms. The attacks and counter-attacks escalated into a full-fledged civil war between the Assad regime with allied militias and an array of opposition groups. The death toll has reached over 200,000, according the United Nations, and over 6 million people have been internally displaced or fled to other countries, half of them children. The spread of the Islamist extremist group, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) into Syria has added another dangerous element increasing atrocities and threatening genocide against the Yazidi and other minority groups.