ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the uprising in Syria and explores the international reactions to that conflict. It tracks the progression of al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) through the Syrian conflict and into its most recent incarnation as the Islamic State. In the Syrian context, the Alawi were closely linked to the rise of the Ba'ath Party. By the 2000s, Iran viewed Syria as part of the Axis of Resistance due to their shared position on Israel and support for Lebanon's Hezbollah. Saudi Arabia viewed the Syrian War through a geostrategic lens. For the United States, the Iraqi government and large sections of Iraq's Sunni community, AQI represented a serious security challenge. In 2006, Sunni tribes from the province of Anbar formed the Anbar Awakening to fight against AQI. The chapter also explores the Syrian refugee crisis, which has emerged as a lasting consequence of both this conflict and the Arab uprisings period as a whole.
