RE: 7 years of violence in Syria, 7 things you ought to know:
I'm not necessarily sure we can call the Syrian Civil War the largest humanitarian crisis since the second world war, but i do think that it's potentially one of the worst of the current day. Overall it will be interesting to see how different countries, such as the Western powers, Russia, and Iran in particular, respond over the next few years. With Russia backing the Assad regime and deploying advanced weapon systems - the Su-57, S-400, and even the Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, into the country it is unlikely that we will see a resolution to the conflict through diplomatic means for quite some time. This could potentially mean a very bleak future for the Syrian people, as violence in the country is less and less between the government and islamic insurgents and more and more between the government and antigovernment forces. In many ways, the geopolitical conflict in Syria seems to be an attempt by Russia to not only reassert themselves on the international stage, but drive the Western powers into another "frozen conflict", not unlike those in Ukraine, the Caucuses, and Moldova.
Most definitely in terms of the 'Public Health' impact that this regime has had, it will be considered ONE of the biggest humanitarian crisis of all time, especially since the end is nowhere in sight.
More than one third of the pop. is internally displaced with nowhere to go, nearly 14 million are in need of humanitarian and protection assistance, and more than 80% of the pop. is without access to clean water... this is far from what the entirety of this regime has inflicted on the people of Syria, but I think you see my point here.
The crisis may shed a layer of 'civil war' but this is really a war on the people of Syria, carried out by the Assad regime and his allies, like you mention, so can it really be considered a 'Civil War' as you say??