107D
uring the turmoil that followed the Arab Spring of 2011, several authoritarian
Arab rulers were unseated. Street demonstrations confronted Syria’s Bashar
al Assad, and after his government’s violent crackdown, these demonstrators
were soon in open armed rebellion. Because governments in Eu rope and the United
States believe that dictatorships such as Assad’s are cruel and unjust, the United
States and its allies, among others, supported some of the vari ous rebel groups
that aimed to depose Assad. As Syria descended into civil war, the government lost
control of all but its westernmost territories and cities. In Syria’s north, Kurdish fight-
ers gained territory, and in 2013, the Islamic State gained control over the eastern
half of Syria. In September 2015, the Rus sian Federation intervened and began air
strikes against rebel forces in support of Assad, sometimes violating Turkish air
space. In October, Rus sian President Vladimir Putin announced that his country
would be sending “volunteers” into Syria to fight on the ground. Tensions between
the Rus sian Federation and NATO were already high when Turkey shot down a Rus sian
fighter jet in November 2015.
Observers of these events no doubt worry about how Rus sia’s actions affect the
international system. Will the intervention by Rus sia and the Western allies in SyriaThe In TernaTIonal
SySTem
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