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Complicated situation in Syria with multiple parties involved

Reporter: Ding Siyue 丨 CCTV.com

09-13-2016 12:21 BJT

The situation in Syria is more complicated than ever, as there are multiple parties involved. Besides the various factions within the country, there's also Iran, Turkey, Russia and the US.

This might be the most complicated moment on the Syria battlefield since the war started in 2011.

There are four main forces within the country: the army, terrorists, Kurds, and the opposition.

But who is a terrorist and who is the opposition?

"Whenever you hold machine guns and attack civilians and attack public properties, you are terrorist," said Bahsar Al-Assad, Syrian President.

"Some of these fighters shift their loyalties, some go from fighting in one group to another," said John Kirby, spokesperson, US State Department.

The confusion is having the United States contradict itself.

"We do now the reports that Russia's proposed to place what we believe both opposition groups Jaysh al-Islam and Ahrar al-Sham on the UN sanction list," said Elizabeth Trudeau, director, Press Office, US State Department.

"There are couple of sub-groups underneath the two designated Daesh and Al Nusra, Jaysh al-Islam and Ahrar al-Sham particularly," said John Kerry, US Secretary of State.

Syrian government forces, opposition groups and Kurds all fight the terrorist groups.

Government troops and Kurds also fight opposition forces, but not together.

Last month, things got tense between government forces and the Kurds.

Iran is fighting terrorist groups and opposition forces, while Turkey is striking against terrorists and Kurds.

The US got involved in 2014, and Russia, in 2015.

Russia is helping government forces against the opposition, and attacking terrorists at the same time.

This has often put it at odds with the US, which is forming an anti-terrorism coalition and conducting airstrikes on terrorists.

Region by region, here's how it breaks down.

The situation in southern Syria is relatively calm.

In Hama, government troops are fighting the opposition and the terrorists.

In Idlib, Russian is conducting air strikes on opposition groups.

In Homs, Russian forces and Syrian government forces are confronting terrorist groups.

In Deir ez-Zor, government troops are fighting terrorists.

In Al-Raqqah and Al-Hasakah, Kurdish forces are attacking terrorist groups, backed by US air strikes.

The most complex situation is in Aleppo.  Government forces, opposition groups, terrorists, Kurds, Turkish forces, Iranian troops, and US and Russian airstrikes.

The chaos means negotiators face a tough task in finding a peaceful solution.

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