 Obama declined to become deeply involved in Syria, which underwent a long, multi-party civil war between the government of Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian opposition, and the Salafi jihadist group known as ISIL.The U.S. supported the opposition throughout the civil war and occasionally executed strikes against ISIL.In 2014, after Russia annexed Crimea and intervened in Ukraine, Obama and other Western leaders imposed sanctions that contributed to a Russian financial crisis.