Why are so many external countries involved in Syrian conflicts?
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Russia is involved because they support Syria’s ruling party, and Syria is an important step for them to project power into the Middle East.
The US is involved because it hasn’t managed to fully disengage from the Middle East in the wake of the Global War on Terror. The US also has an on-again-off-again relationship with both of the Syrian opposition groups (i.e. the Kurds and the SNA), in part because if they didn’t support them they might turn into Islamist terrorists (i.e. what happened to the other two Syrian opposition groups; Al Nusra (so, Al Qaeda) and ISIS).
Iran is involved because Syria is a major corridor for them to send militants and weapons to Hezbollah for their conflict against Israel.
Israel is involved because Iran and Hezbollah are involved.
Turkey is involved because Syria is a neighbor and aren’t exactly happy with the potential for an independent Kurdish state springing up right on their border.
Lebanon and Iraq are involved in the sense that they’re neighboring states to Syria and so they’re subject to a *lot* of collateral damage based on what happens in Syria (e.g. ISIS forming in Syria, invading Iraq, and almost chasing the Iraqis out of Baghdad).
Pretty sure that covers all of the major players. Most of the other major nations involved are in Europe or are Arab states, and they’re all essentially supporting the US.
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