A surreal amount of tension in Syria has been brought to the media’s attention as of late due to the fight for leadership in the country. However, this competition for power has been in effect for multiple years.

Bashar al-Assad has ruled Syria as president since July 2000. Before him, his father, Hafez al-Assad, ruled Syria from 1970 to 2000. In 2011, a civil war started through pro-democracy activists that voiced their opinion about the unfair ruling of dictator Bashar al-Assad. In response, Bashar killed hundreds of demonstrators to show his power and disapproval of their actions; this created the civil war. Since 2011, about 500,000 civilians have been killed, over a million have been injured, about 5.5 million have fled and about 6.5 million citizens are internally displaced (attempting to flee their home, but stuck within the country’s borders.)

Though this war has been actively progressing for years, the tension has been high the past month. On April 7th, dictator Bashar bombed the last rebel town in Syria with toxic chemicals killing at least 42 people on impact. In response to this violent bombing, United States president Donald Trump and his allies made the decision to bomb three targets in Syria: a research center, a storage facility and an equipment facility and command post in the hope to prevent another chemical bombing. Russia responded to the United States’ decision with a stern warning of consequence. This is because Russia’s troops were stationed nearby the bombing and the attack was viewed as an act of aggression to Russia’s own men. It is unclear what the U.S., Syria or Russia has decided to do next.