By Francesca Collins

An argument could easily be made that the now five-year long Syrian civil war has effectively metastasized into the most pressing and complicated geopolitical conflict in modern human history.

At this point, the gravity of Damascus has sucked players both big and small into convoluted combat, it’s divided support from the UN Security council members, and its victims have breached the walls of Europe en masse.

A recent piece by Washington Post’s Liz Sly, who’s been covering the war since its start, breaks down the war in clear and astounding terms.

She writes:

Russian warplanes are bombing from the sky. Iraqi and Lebanese militias aided by Iranian advisers are advancing on the ground. An assortment of Syrian rebels backed by the United States, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are fighting to hold them back. Kurdish forces allied both to Washington and Moscow are taking advantage of the chaos to extend Kurdish territories. The Islamic State has snatched a couple of small villages, while all the focus was on the other groups.

Residents of Aleppo — home to some of the fiercest turf battles — told reporters that the announcement Feb. 12 of a cease-fire agreement, which calls for a cessation of hostilities to begin within the week, actually increased the intensity of airstrikes.

Moscow’s assertion of its dominance in the Middle East has become ever more bold, resulting in the Obama administration borderline begging Putin to end his bombing runs. As the Kurds expand, friction between Washington and Ankara spills into the public.

Faysal Itani of the Washington-based Atlantic council says that Turkey does not want a war in Syria and that they are “under immense pressure.” He said,”it has a quasi-Kurdish state emerging on its border, and the groups it championed are being destroyed.”

Now, Saudi Arabia has amassed troops in Turkey, prepping for ground operations in Syria.  Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said that the kingdom will only send in forces if the United States determines they’re are needed in fighting the Islamic State.

“The timing is not up to us,” he concluded.

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