Syria's 4-year march toward 破壊
BEIRUT (AP) ― It began in March 2011 with a few words spray-painted on a schoolyard 塀で囲む: "Your turn is coming, doctor." The doctor in question was Syrian 大統領 Bashar Assad, a trained ophthalmologist whose family has 支配するd the country for more than 40 years.
奮起させるd by 反乱s rippling across the Arab world, Syrians flooded the streets for 大部分は 平和的な demonstrations 需要・要求するing change and political 改革（する）s. The 安全 services 迎える／歓迎するd them with clubs, bludgeons and 弾丸s. The 抗議するs 固執するd in the 直面する of an 増大するing 政府 厳重取締 before the 対立 結局 took up 武器, slowly turning the 反乱 into a voracious civil war that continues to devour the country and drag the 地域 into its maelstrom.
Four years on, there is no end in sight. As Syria 示すs the fourth 周年記念日 of the 反乱, here's a look at the 衝突, its enormous price and how we got here:
FILE - In this Tuesday, March. 20, 2012 とじ込み／提出する 国民 journalism image 供給するd by the 地元の 調整 委員会s in Syria and 接近d on Wednesday, March 21, 2012, Syrian 反逆者／反逆するs step on a portrait of Syrian 大統領 Bashar Assad in Idlib 州, Syria. It began in March 2011 with a few words spray-painted on a schoolyard 塀で囲む: ?Your turn is coming, doctor.? The doctor in question was Syrian 大統領 Bashar Assad, a trained ophthalmologist whose family has 支配するd the country for more than 40 years. (AP Photo/地元の 調整 委員会s in Syria, とじ込み／提出する)
WHAT HAS BEEN THE CIVIL WAR'S TOLL?
Staggering, by any 手段. More than 220,000 people have been killed and an 概算の 1 million 負傷させるd in a country with a pre-war 全住民 of 23 million.
Nearly 4 million people have fled Syria, putting a 大規模な 重荷（を負わせる） on the countries taking them in ― Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and Iraq. Another 7.8 million people are 追い出すd within Syria, part of an 概算の 12.8 million who are in 悲惨な need of 人道的な 援助. 病気s eradicated years ago, such as polio, have 行う／開催する／段階d a 復帰 as the health care system has 崩壊（する）d.
橋（渡しをする）s, roads, 力／強力にする 工場／植物s, schools, hospitals, entire 近隣s and even towns have been destroyed. Aleppo, once the country's largest city and its 商業の 資本／首都, has been 分裂（する） apart and 荒廃させるd by 反逆者／反逆するs and 政府 軍隊s.
Syria's social fabric is 平等に in tatters. The country is home to a tapestry of 約束s and ethnicities ― Sunni and Shiite イスラム教徒s, Alawites, Druze, Kurds and Christians. Before the war , the さまざまな communities by and large co-存在するd 平和的に and even intermarried.
But the longer the war has gone on, the more sectarian it has become. All 味方するs have committed 残虐（行為）s, but the 規模 of the 政府's misdeeds is exponentially greater than the 対立's. The Sunni-支配するd 反乱 is trying to 倒れる a 政府 深く，強烈に associated with Assad's Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam. The 大統領，／社長's 激しい 依存 on 地域の Shiite 力／強力にする Iran and the Lebanese 交戦的な Hezbollah group has その上の 燃料d sectarian animosities.
IS IT STILL ABOUT ASSAD?
It depends on who you ask. For the 武装した 対立, Assad remains the murderous 独裁者 whose 追放／剥奪 has always been and remains the 無視／無効ing goal. That fight, however, has been 大部分は 影を投げかけるd by the rise of the Islamic 明言する／公表する group, which has 掴むd 支配（する）／統制する of around a third of both Syria and Iraq and 宣言するd its own self-styled caliphate. The 部隊d 明言する／公表するs and its Arab and Western 同盟（する）s have been 行為／行うing airstrikes against the 極端論者s since August, although the 最初の／主要な 関心 for the Obama 行政 remains Iraq, not Syria.
Washington still 公然と hews to the line that Assad must go, but the White House has done little to help 勧める him out the door. It has 繰り返して 妨げるd at 上げるing support for the mainstream 武装した 対立, and a new program in the 作品 目的（とする）s to train a small number of 反逆者／反逆するs to fight the Islamic 明言する／公表する group, not Assad.
HOW IS ASSAD STILL IN POWER?
The Syrian leader's 支配する on 力／強力にする looked 不安定な in 2012, 誘発するing 予測s that his 落ちる was 切迫した. But Assad, his inner circle and 安全 設立 proven remarkably resilient. They managed to shore up their 持つ／拘留する on Damascus and the 都市の 中心s in the ひどく populat ed western half of the country.
Support from Iran, a の近くに 同盟（する）, has proven instrumental in 安定したing Assad. On the 軍の 前線, Tehran has 供給するd 助言者s and billions of dollars in 援助（する）. It has helped train tens of thousands of Syrian 議会の 闘士，戦闘機s known as the 国家の 弁護 軍隊s, which fight on 前線 lines across the country. Tehran's greatest 出資／貢献 may be roping in Shiite 民兵s from across the 地域 ― 特に Lebanon's Hezbollah but also 闘士，戦闘機s from Iraq ―to 増強する the 政府's beleaguered 軍隊／機動隊s.
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD?
Nothing points to the 衝突 ending anytime soon. The 政府 and the 対立 見解（をとる） the war as an existential struggle and have yet to bleed themselves out. The Islamic 明言する／公表する group is 焦点（を合わせる）ing its 成果／努力s on building its self-宣言するd caliphate and 給料 war against anyone that stands in its way ― Assad, 反逆者／反逆するs, Kurds.
Every 外交の 成果／努力 so far has failed. Peace 会談 between the 対立 and the 政府 last year broke 負かす／撃墜する after two 一連の会議、交渉／完成するs and 無 進歩. A ロシアの 率先 this year to bring the two 味方するs to the 交渉するing （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する in Moscow fizzled quickly after the main 対立 人物／姿／数字s ボイコット（する）d.
The 現在の U.N. （外交）使節／代表 to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, has 始める，決める himself the more modest goal of trying to "凍結する" the fighting in Aleppo, which he 想像するs as a first step toward a wider 緩和 of 敵意s. But even this 計画（する） 直面するs かなりの 障害s and has been 迎える／歓迎するd with 懐疑心. The 政府 has agreed to 停止（させる） airstrikes and 爆撃する in Aleppo for six weeks. De Mistura is still working to 安全な・保証する the support of the multitude of 武装した 対立 groups in the city, many of which 不信 the （外交）使節／代表 and the 政府 and want a 包括的な 解答.
FILE - In this Friday, Feb. 10, 2012 とじ込み／提出する photo, Syrian 反逆者／反逆するs march in a show of strength during a demonstration in Idlib, Syria. It began in March 2011 with a few words spray-painted on a schoolyard 塀で囲む: ?Your turn is coming, doctor.? The doctor in question was Syrian 大統領 Bashar Assad, a trained ophthalmologist whose family has 支配するd the country for more than 40 years. (AP Photo, とじ込み／提出する)
FILE - In this Friday, Sept 7, 2012 とじ込み／提出する photo, 解放する／自由な Syrian Army 闘士，戦闘機s run after attacking a Syrian Army 戦車／タンク during fighting in the Izaa 地区 in Aleppo, Syria. It began in March 2011 with a few words spray-painted on a schoolyard 塀で囲む: ?Your turn is coming, doctor.? The doctor in question was Syrian 大統領 Bashar Assad, a trained ophthalmologist whose family has 支配するd the country for more than 40 years. (AP Photo/ Manu Brabo, とじ込み／提出する)
