Discussion Conflicts have arisen between the Middle East and the West for centuries, and as eras change, the reasons for such conflicts change depending on surrounding world events. Historically, the decline of the Ottoman Empire in the nineteenth century paved the way for European colonialism, which was sparked by the desire for extra territory and a gateway to Asia. As a result, World War I broke out and the conflicts were mainly about religion. However, after the war, when all countries left European imperialism, England handed over to the Jewish people a piece of land that originally belonged to the Palestinians in the Belfour Declaration of 1917; Arabs and Middle Easterners in general took a stand against the Jews who later became allies of many Westerners. This was the fire that caused the smoke. In more recent times, after the discovery of fortunes buried beneath parts of the Middle East region, energy resources have interested Westerners. Fossil fuels and oil depletion are the main reasons for Western conflict with the Middle East; starting with the Iraq war in 2003 to the recently planned Syrian intervention at the end of August, and many other focal events in between, the acquisition of power and control over these resources have been the motives behind many relatively recent political encounters . Uses of Oil: To fully understand the West's need to control Middle Eastern oil, it is necessary to recognize the forms in which those energy resources occur; given the importance of oil in almost everything produced, control of the basic component would significantly influence the market. Petroleum products, in all their forms, are used in four major sectors: transportation, industry, including having a base near Israel, strengthening democracy, reasserting security, monopolizing trading currencies and freeing others from dictatorial leaders, but it mainly revolves around wanting to control and have power over the region's energy resources and oil reserves. Crude oil is of great use to any economy mainly in four sectors: industrial, commercial, residential and transportation. The United States has been in conflict with several Middle Eastern countries throughout its relatively short history for reasons that change over time; from religion, to ethnicity, to illegal gun possession and finally to its buried treasures. From Iran in the 1980s, to Afghanistan in 2001, to Iraq in 2003, to Syria in 2013, and many others in between, the West, especially the United States, has sought its own advantage and brought it to incredible measures..