SJS 1 - "Letter From Damascus: Will Syria Descend into Civil War?"

                           SJS 1 - "Letter From Damascus: Will Syria Descend into Civil War?" 
Citation: Moubayed, Sami. "Letter from Damascus: Will Syria Descend into Civil War." Current History 110.740 (2011): 339-44. Print.

Author Credentials: Sami Moubayed is a Syrian historian. During 2012 and 2013 he was a scholar for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Beirut. He has writings of his published in several magazines such as al-Ahram Weekly, Gulf News, The Daily Star, the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, and Asia Times. He also published a book "Under the Black Flag: At the Frontier of the New Jihad" and was the editor in chief at a magazine publisher. Finally, he was a professor at the University of Kalamoon. 

Summary: This article presents the idea that Syria may fall into a Civil War. It starts with the fact that the Tunisian revolt influenced many Syrians to rise up and support the act of rebellion. Social media pages flew the electronic flag of the Tunisian Flag. The citizens of Syria believed that their president, Bashar al-Assad was fit to run their government and was going to solve the problems arising in the country. Soon though, the tensions were risen when there were a series of uproars including the arrest of two school children for painting anti-regeme on the walls and many protests in Jassem. There seems to be no stoping the violence, the government placed troops in major cities across the nation.  The country has gone forward by reforming the government. At this time in the article, elections will be held soon and a noticeable political party is the Syrian Democratic Party. Syria has had sanctions put on them and credit cards cut off from them, which raised tensions even higher than before. As a result of this, there have been assassinations and a war may be on the verge of breaking out even though the country says that everything is fine.

Analysis: Moubayed makes a strong argument that Syria is on the verge of a civil war. He states that there are many uprisings and symbols of anti-regeme forces that may overthrow government and that there are many protests that reject the current government. The evidence that he presents in this article provides mainly the thought that Syria will fall into a civil war, but the upcoming election is hopeful for many Syrians that wish to end the conflicts. The author tells the article in his point of view. He uses some opinions, but many facts to support those opinions. This author is a reliable source because he lives in Syria and is a Syrian historian with a long list of credentials.