Most people know that, currently, massive numbers of Syrians are currently fleeing their country and seeking refuge throughout the Middle East and Europe. However, not everyone is up to date on their Middle Eastern history and may not know the story behind this exodus; here is a brief and simple view into their history.

Syria has not been around for very long relative to the rest of Europe. Its borders were defined in the 1920s, but this resulted in a construction of a country based on different people of different ethnicities who just happened to live in the same region.

One of these ethnic groups, the Assads, took control of the country and came into power in the 1970s. Though for a period it seemed like a stable regime, in reality, the Assads have ruled the country with a brutal dictatorship. The Assads are Shia Alwites and the most recent Assad ruler is Bashar al-Assad; he has been ruling since 2000.

In 2001, protests began from the Sunni Arabs which are the largest demographic population in Syria. This group was sick of being treated like second-class citizens and being discriminated against due to their ethnic group. The protests began peacefully, but in March 2001, security forces began shooting protesters in Deraa. This resulted in the death of three protesters and spurred violent actions from both sides. Assad's troops began abducting and torturing activists and even went as far as murdering children. Syrians took arms as well, and by 2012, protests had evolved into a civil war.

Assad's goal was to crush al the rebel insurgents and their supporters by force, and to accomplish this, he targeted the Sunni majority without any regard for civilian or rebel status. He wanted to create a religious conflict and evolve what started as an uprising against his dictatorship into a fanatic war. He wanted to isolate the Sunnis due to their majority status and create feelings of resentment among the minorities so they would side with him. He knew this would cause the extremists to join the Sunni side which in turn would give them bad publicity to the world and make everyone side with Assad.

This strategy worked. By 2013, Sunni Islamists backed by Sunni states, such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar, had become some of the best in fighting the Assad regime. In turn, Iran's Shia government backed Assad with supplies and soldiers. This small civil war had evolved into a Middle East sectarian proxy war of Shia versus Sunni.

While all of this was happening, a Sunni fanatic group known as al-Qaeda in Iraq which had been mostly defeated in 2007 was rebuilding and sweeping Iraq under its new name: ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant).

So, by 2014, the whole country of Syria was divided into Assad government, rebels (Sunni), ISIS and an ethnic minority known as The Kurds. As a result of this division and Assad targeting civilians, these innocent people are suffering because they are caught in a war between ethnic groups that has left entire neighborhoods and cities in ruins. Around 200,000 people have been killed in this war and half of the country's population has fled their homes and 4 million have left the country in search of shelter in other countries.