The Syrian civil war in Aleppo is nearing its end and the world seems to have just woken up to the atrocities committed against the civilians in the region.
The Russia-backed Syrian regime's war to prove its sovereignty displaced hundreds and thousands of people in the city of Aleppo and caused a humanitarian crisis, where trapped civilians died of hunger and children perished under rubble of buildings struck down by Russian warplanes. The ruthless war continues for four-long years and the world has got desensitised.
As the evacuation process begins in Aleppo for civilians and the rebels, there are as many as 50,000 people still trapped in the eastern regions of the city, desperately waiting for help.
This isn't the only war we seem to have sidelined in our heads, there are many more ongoing across the world with as many causalties and war atrocities, which demand our immediate attention.
1. Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
The Iraqi Civil War, also known as the Second Iraqi Civil War is an armed conflict in the Middle East which started in 2014 and is currently ongoing. The Iraqi insurgency in 2014 took over Fallujah and Mosul and the scenario escalated when major areas of the norther Iraq were captured by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Various countries have participated in the war to take out ISIS from the region which includes airstrikes from United States, Iran, Syria, France and Russia.
Reports state that almost 19,000 civilians have been killed in this ongoing war between 2014 and 2015, and hundreds have been displaced from their houses. ISIS has also committed genocide of the Yazidi people in the region, killing men and taking women and children as their slaves.
2. Libyan Civil War (2014–present)
The second Libyan Civil War, which started in 2014 is a conflict between rival groups looking to control the Libyan territory. The conflict is mainly between the democratically elected government of the Council of Deputies and the rival General National Congress (GNC)-endorsed government known as the National Salvation Government, based in the capital, Tripoli.
The effects of the war have been significant in the region with reports of the country coming to a standstill. Reports state that more than 4,000 people have died fighting in the battle between the two sides and almost a third of the country's population has reportedly fled to Tunisia seeking refuge from the war and violence in their Libyan state.
3. Yemeni Civil War (2015–present)
The Yemen Civil War started in 2015 between two factions which claimed that they constituted the Yemeni government, the Houthi forces in Sana'a allied with the former president Ali Abdullah Saleh's forces and the government of Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi in Aden. Joining in the war between the two factions, the militant groups of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/ISIS) also carried out attacks in the region with AQAP controlling vast areas of hinterlands in the region.
It was reported in April 2016 by CNN that almost 10,160,000 Yemenis were deprived of water, food, and electricity because of the conflict in Yemen. The report also said that according to UNICEF officials, around 100,000 people across the country were dislocated within a span of 15 days. Oxfam said that the war had left more than 10 million Yemen civilians without food to eat and 850,000 half-starved children.
4. Boko Haram insurgency (2009-present)
The Boko Haram insurgency was initiated in 2009 when the jihadist rebel group Boko Haram began a rebellion against the Nigerian government. Rising tensions within the Boko Haram group in 2012 led to a split between salafist conservative faction led by Abu Usmatul al-Ansari, and the more dominant, violent faction led by Abubakar Shekau. These factions continue torturing, bombing, kidnapping and killing civilians in the region.
Boko Haram has kidnapped hundreds of young schoolgirls in Borno and has physically, psychologically and sexually abused them. The militant group also uses these girls as sex slaves and forcibly marries them with their fighters. Boko Haram also uses child soldiers to carry out suicide attacks. Reports state that around 40 percent of the fighters in the group are underage and they lead a violent war in the ravaged Nigeria.
