Israel, Palestine, Ukraine and Iraq monopolize a lot of the headlines these days, but they’re
not the only groups at war. So, how many wars are happening right now? Well, currently - there
are 10 active wars and 8 active military conflicts worldwide.
We’re limiting the scope here to wars only. According to American University Professor
Joshua S. Goldstein, wars include any ongoing violent conflict between two or more parties,
in which 1,000 or more people have died within a year.
In Syria, there are numerous groups fighting, including ISIS, Syrian Rebels, and The Syrian
Government. The war started in 2011 as a movement to oust President Bashar Al-Assad and his
Government. It’s currently - by far - the bloodiest conflict on a day by day basis.
According to some reports, Bashar al-Assad (Bah-sharr el-As-saad) and his Government
are committing War Crimes against their own people. A situation that is probably going
to get worse before it gets better.
In Afghanistan, the Afghan Government is fighting the Taliban and has been since the late 90’s,
but violence has slowed recently, and international troops are starting to pull out. If everything
goes well, there could be an end in sight for this conflict.
In Pakistan, the Government is fighting with the Taliban, Al Qaeda and other terrorist
groups in an autonomous tribal region bordering Afghanistan. This is where numerous terrorist
groups have set up training facilities and hideouts. The Pakistani Government has had
some success, but the operation is far from over.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, there has been constant conflict since 1998, with
everyone from Joseph Kony to the perpetrators of the genocide in Rwanda involved. The country
is in turmoil. And there is no end in sight.
South Sudan successfully seceded from Sudan in 2011. Since then, a civil war has broken
out in South Sudan along ethnic lines with the Dinkas fighting on behalf of the current
President, and the Nuers (New-ers) fighting on behalf of the former Vice President. The
area is also experiencing famine, which is making the entire situation worse.
In Libya. The Libyan Government is facing factional violence stemming from the downfall
of longtime dictator Moammar Gaddafi (Gah-daff-fie) in 2011, and the civil war that followed.
They have an interim government in place, but little can be done to stop the fighting.
In Ukraine. The Ukrainian government is currently fighting Russian-backed separatists for the
Eastern part of Ukraine. There are some reports that Russia is also directly involved in the
fighting.
The remaining 3 active wars are in Iraq, Israel/Palestine and Nigeria - and wouldn’t you know, we’ve
already done full videos on each of those. Just click the boxes in front of you to see
those episodes, or click on our World At War Playlist to watch them all. Remember we upload
new videos 5 days a week, so subscribe - and you can get em all right there in your feed.