Syria really is one of the oldest regions in matter of civilization. They had a deep history and bonds as the Syrian people. Thats why they were dragged to war, the government wouldn't unite the people and look at them as Syrians, contrarily, they promoted their own ethnicity. Rebels were against this ethnic discrimination at the first time, there wasn't a war as big as the war that is going on currently. The big war, the murder of civil people, bombed hospitals, started when the USA and Russia started to "play" with this region in the name of human rights.