system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Syria and Assad, what's going on?

For someone who knows nothing about ME politics.
gpt
LY5: 
Bashar al-Assad is a very mean boy who is in charge of a faraway playground called Syria. He beats up the other kids for no good reason and everybody except the other bullies wants him to go away.


LY20:

Hafez al-Assad was the President of Syria from 1971-2000; when he died in 2000, his son Bashar al-Assad became President after a highly dubious election in which he claims 97% of the vote. He has been running Syria ever since.

His human-rights record is controversial; opponents accuse him of arresting, torturing and killing his critics and suppressing any anti-government speech, while his supporters claim he is honestly defending Syria against insurgents.

After anti-government demonstrations throughout the Middle East in 2011, similar protests began in Syria against Assad, during which time thousands of protesters have been killed by police and military forces. Assad claims these are not legitimate protests but rather covert operations by enemy nations to overthrow his government.