Fatma - Syria Unrest

Syria is one of the oldest places where civilisation has tough to have started. His capital, Damasus, is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Throughout history it has seen many changes, violent and otherwise. Today it is comprises of a number of ethnic groups, mostly Arab, though a reasonable numbers of Kurds, Armenians are also present. There have also been a number of Iraq refugees and the main Arab group are themselves from different sects and denominations. 
 Around January 2011, following on from the Arab Spring where protest against ruling regimes erupted in a number of Middle East countries, protester in Syria came out demanding President Basyar Al-Assad and his government step down. In respond, Assad send in troops with some cities and regions being besieged for weeks and month. Both pro and anti-government protest gathering have at time being large. Criticism of Syria crackdown has been quite widespread. The Arab Langue has responded by suspending Syria's membership. Syria claims that it is fighting an insurgency that is terrorist by natured and claimed Al-Qaeda is involved.It has not been possible to verify that claim so many see it as a cynical excuse.
The ruling regime is a sect of Shia, so has support from Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah, while the opposition is largely Sunni, thus receiving support from another Middle East countries, such as Saudi Arabia and others. Thousands have been killed-civilians and armed combatants. Some are asking the West for a military intervention like there was in Libya, but the US in particular is not keen on another military even though they have been openly hostile and critical of the Syrian ruling regimes for many years. China and Russia also have close ties with Syria and to date not been keen on any action condemning Syria and have been vetoed some actions. Some papers have reported Iran and others helping Syria with weapon, while others also mentioned the opposition being armed by the West.
Mainstream media coverage is of course part of the issue. Understandably the brutal regime crackdown has been met with shock, horror, etc. But the coverage has also been one-sided in the sense that similar type of violent remitted by US, led coalition frees in Afghanistan and Pakistan do not receive similar criticism, but much flatter and measured reporting instead.