U.N. Calls Syria Conflict ‘Civil War’ For The First Time

For the first time since the Arab Spring uprising began against Bashar al-Assad’s government in Syria, a senior United Nations official referred to the conflict as a full-blown “civil war.” U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Herve Ladsous responded in the affirmative when asked if that’s how he classified the conflict. “Clearly what is happening is that the government of Syria lost some large chunks of territory in several cities to the opposition and wants to retake control of these areas,” he said, according to Reuters. “This is really becoming large scale,” he said, citing recent reports that government forces used helicopters to fire indiscriminately on Syrians. The U.N. estimates that more than 9,000 have died in the fighting.