In Syria , March 2011 news reports of the Arab Spring and subsequent government collapses flashed across television screens. On a whim, a group of young men went to school and painted grafitti on a wall, it read, “Dr Assad , you are next.
- Bashar al-Assad has ruled Syria as president since July 2000. His father, Hafez al-Assad, ruled Syria from 1970-2000.
1. Uprising turns violent
Pro-democracy protests erupted in March 2011 in the southern city of Deraa after the arrest and torture after 15 boys were detained and tortured for writing graffiti in support of the Arab Spring.
One of them a 13-year-old, was killed after having been brutally tortured.
After security forces opened fire on demonstrators, killing several, more took to the streets.
The Syrian government, led by President Bashar al-Assad, responded to the protests by killing hundreds of demonstrators and imprisoning many more.
While lack of freedoms and economic woes drove resentment of the Syrian government, the harsh crackdown on protesters inflamed public anger.
- The unrest triggered nationwide protests demanding President Assad’s resignation.
- By July 2011, hundreds of thousands were taking to the streets across the country.
- Opposition supporters eventually began to take up arms, first to defend themselves and later to expel security forces from their local areas.
- State employees will receive an immediate salary increase.
- The government also plans to study lifting Syria’s long standing emergency law and the licensing of new political parties.
April 21, 2011 – Assad lifts the country’s state of emergency, abolishes the Higher State Security Court , and issues a decree “regulating the right to peaceful protest, as one of the basic human rights guaranteed by the Syrian Constitution.”
2. Descent into civil war
Violence escalated and the country descended into civil war as rebel brigades were formed to battle government forces for control of cities, towns and the countryside. Fighting reached the capital Damascus and second city of Aleppo in 2012.
The conflict now more than just a battle between those for or against Dr Assad.
It has acquired sectarian overtones, pitching the country’s Sunni majority against the Shia Alawite sect, and drew in regional and world powers.
The rise of the jihadist group Islamic State (IS) has added a further dimension.
When the civil war began in 2011, there were four main factions of fighting groups throughout the country:
- Kurdish forces,
- ISIS
- Other Opposition (such as Jaish al Fateh, an alliance of the Nusra Front and Ahrar-al-Sham)
- Assad regime.But as ISIS loses control of most of its territory, combatants are now freer to attack each other.
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In Response: Sanctions
- Sanctions – or restrictive measures, as EU officials like to call them are one of the European Union’s main tools for achieving the objectives of the Common Foreign and Security Policy: peace, respect for the rule of law, human rights and international law.
- Sanctions are supposedly not “punitive “in nature, but designed to encourage a change in policy or activity -detering entities that endanger EU interests or violate international norms and support foreign policy efforts in counter terrorism, counter narcotics and nonproliferation.
May 2011 – United States imposes sanctions against Assad and 6 other senior Syrian officials.
The Treasury Department details the sanctions “As a result of this action, any property in the United States or in the possession or control of US persons in which the individuals listed in the Annex have an interest is blocked, and US persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them.”
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Sanctions can target:
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– governments of countries whose policies violate EU standards
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– companies and other entities that provide the means to conduct such policies
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– organizations such as terrorist groups
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– individuals who support the policies or are involved in terrorist activities or other prohibited acts
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August 2011 – The United States imposes NEW economic sanctions on Syria, freeze Syrian government assets in the US, bars Americans from making new investments in the country and prohibits any US transaction relating to Syrian petroleum products, among other things.
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September 2011 – European Union bans the import of Syrian oil and imposes additional sanctions against due to “the continuing brutal campaign” .
- October 2, 2011 – A new alignment of Syrian opposition groups establishes the Syrian National Council, a framework to end Assad’s government and establish a democratic system.
- October 4, 2011 – Russia and China veto a UN Security Council resolution that would call for an immediate halt to the crackdown in Syria against opponents of Assad.
- November 12, 2011 – The Arab League suspends Syria’s membership
- November 27, 2011 – 19 Arab League countries impose economic sanctions against Syrian’s regime
- November 30, 2011 – Turkey announces a series of measures, with financial sanctions, against Syria.
- December 19, 2011 – Syria signs an Arab League proposal aimed at ending violence between government forces and protesters.
The United NationsGeneral Assembly passes a nonbinding resolution endorsing the Arab League plan for Assad to step down.
- February 2012 – Syrians vote on a constitutional referendum in polling centers across the country. Almost 90% of voters approve the changes to the constitution, which include the possibility of a multi-party system.
- March 2012 – Kofi Annan, the UN special envoy to Syria, meets in Turkey with government officials and Syrian opposition members.
- Annan calls for a ceasefire, the release of detainees and allowing unfettered access to relief agencies to deliver much-needed aid.
3. War crimes Announced by UN Commision
- murder
- torture
- rape
- enforced disappearances
- food
- water
- health services
- Many have been killed by barrel bombs dropped by government aircraft on gatherings in rebel-held areas – attacks which the UN says may constitute massacres.
- IS has also been accused by the UN of waging a campaign of terror inflicting severe punishments on transgressors or refuse to accept its rules, including hundreds of public executions and amputations.
- Its fighters have also carried out mass killings of rival armed groups, members of the security forces and religious minorities, and beheaded hostages, including several Westerners.
March 27, 2012 – The Syrian government accepts Annan’s plan to end violence.
At a conference in Istanbul, the international group Friends of the Syrian People formally recognizes the Syrian National Council ( SNC )as a legitimate representative of the Syrian new council leader, a Kurdish activist living in exile in Sweden.
In Response : July 23, 2012 – Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Jihad Makdissi, threatens use of CHEMICAL and BIOLOGICALWEAPONS
- Hijab and his family are said to have left Syria overnight, arriving in Jordan. Hijab is the highest-profile official to defect.
- Syrian television reports that Assad has appointed Health Minister Wael al-Halki as the new prime minister.
September 2013 – Syria agrees to a Russian proposal to give up control of its chemical weapons.
The US and Russia agree to a plan to eliminate chemical weapons in Syria
-Syrian opposition factions formally unite as the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces.
– Sheikh Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib is elected leader of the Syrian Opposition Collective, the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces.
- May 27, 2013 EU nations end the arms embargo against the Syrian rebels.
- July 6, 2013 Ahmad Assi Jarba is elected the new leader of the Syrian National Coalition.
- August 2, 2013 The UN calls for an investigation into an incident in July in Khan al-Assal in northern Syria.
- August 18, 2013 – UN weapons inspectors arrives in Syria to begin an investigation into whether chemical weapons have been used.
- August 2013 – Medical charity Doctors Without Borders announces that three hospitals near Damascus treated more than 3,000 patients suffering “neurotoxic symptoms”
- UN inspectors reach site of a reported chemical attack in Moadamiyet al-Sham, near Damascus.
- En route to the site, the team’s convoy is hit by sniper fire.
4. Chemical weapons
- Hundreds of people were killed in August 2013 after rockets filled with the nerve agent sarin were fired at several suburbs of Damascus.
- Western powers said it could only have been carried out by Syria’s government, but the government blamed rebel forces.
- Facing the prospect of US military intervention, President Assad agreed to the complete removal and destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal.
- The operation was completed the following year, but the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has continued to document the use of toxic chemicals in the conflict.
- Investigators found chlorine was used “systematically and repeatedly” in deadly attacks on rebel-held areas between April and July 2014.
- IS has also been accused of using homemade chemical weapons, including sulphur mustard. The OPCW said the blister agent was used in an attack on the northern town of Marea
The UN Security Council passes a resolution requiring Syria to eliminate its arsenal of chemical weapons.
Assad says he will abide by the resolution.
Apr 2014 The United States launches a military strike on a Syrian government airbase in response to the chemical weapon attack on civilians.Syria’s state-run media announces government forces have taken full control of Aleppo, ending more than four years of rebel rule there.
US warships launch 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at the airbase which was home to the warplanes that carried out the chemical attacks.
September –The United States and allies launch airstrikes against ISIS targets in Syria, focusing on the city of Raqqa.
A Pentagon spokesperson says the Russian military appears to be attempting to set up a forward operating base in western Syria, in the area around the port city of Latakia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin says that Russia is supporting the Syrian government in its fight against ISIS.
October 30, 2015 – White House spokesman Josh Earnest says that the US will be deploying “less than 50” Special Operations forces, who will be sent to Kurdish-controlled territory in northern Syria to help local Kurdish and Arab forces fighting ISIS with logistics.
February 26, 2016 – A temporary cessation of hostilities goes into effect. The truce calls for the Syrian regime and rebels to give relief organizations access to disputed territories so they can assist civilians.
March 15, 2016 – Russia starts withdrawing its forces from Syria. A spokeswoman for Assad tells CNN the Russian campaign is winding down after achieving goals of helping Syrian troops take back territory claimed by terrorists.
September 2016 – At least 23 people are killed during airstrikes in Syria, with the United States and Russia accusing each other of violating the ceasefire in effect
As government forces take control of most of Aleppo from rebel groups, Turkey and Russia broker a ceasefire for eastern Aleppo so that civilians can be evacuated. The UN Security Council holds an emergency session amid reports of mounting civilian deaths and extrajudicial killings.
The ceasefire collapses less than a day after it is implemented.
– Within minutes of when a five-hour “humanitarian pause” ordered by Russian President Putin — from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. — is meant to start, activists on the ground report shelling and artillery fire from pro-regime positions, killing at least one person in the rebel-held enclave of Eastern Ghouta.
A renewed offensive in Eastern Ghouta has claimed the lives of 568 civilians since mid-February, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
5. Humanitarian crisis
Now having gone on longer than World War II, the war in Syria is causing profound effects beyond the country’s borders, with many Syrians having left their homes to seek safety elsewhere in Syria or beyond.
A further 6.5 million people are internally displaced inside Syria, 1.2 million were driven from their homes in 2015 alone.
The UN says it will need $3.2bn to help the 13.5 million people, including 6 million children, who will require some form of humanitarian assistance inside Syria in 2016.
About 70% of the population is without access to adequate drinking water, one in three people are unable to meet their basic food needs, and more than 2 million children are out of school, and four out of five people live in poverty.
The warring parties have compounded the problems by refusing humanitarian agencies access to civilians in need. Up to 4.5 million people in Syria live in hard-to-reach areas, including nearly 400,000 people in 15 besieged locations who do not have access to life-saving aid.
Registered: As of February 2018, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) had registered over 5.5 million refugees from Syria and estimated that there are over 6,5 million internally displaced persons (IDP) within Syria’s borders.
Lebanon, Turkey, and Jordan are hosting most of the Syrian refugees, many of whom attempt to journey onwards to Europe in search of better conditions.
Returns: In 2017, about 66,000 refugees returned to Syria, according to reports.
According to a Turkish official, 140,000 Syrian refugees in Turkey returned home after Turkish military operations in 2017. More refugees may return to Afrin
6. Rebels and the rise of the jihadists
The armed rebellion has evolved significantly since its inception. Secular moderates are now outnumbered by Islamists and jihadists, whose brutal tactics have caused global outrage.
In September 2014, a US-led coalition launched air strikes inside Syria in an effort to “degrade and ultimately destroy” IS. But the coalition has avoided attacks that might benefit Assad’s forces.
Russia began an air campaign targeting “terrorists” in Syria a year later, but opposition activists say its strikes have mostly killed Western-backed rebels and civilians.
In the political arena, opposition groups are also deeply divided, with rival alliances battling for supremacy.
The most prominent is the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, backed by several Western and Gulf Arab states. However, the exile group has little influence on the ground in Syria and its primacy is rejected by many opponents of Dr Assad.
7. Peace efforts
With neither side able to inflict a decisive defeat on the other, the international community long ago concluded that only a political solution could end the conflict in Syria. The UN Security Council has called for the implementation of the 2012 Geneva Communique, which envisages a transitional governing body with full executive powers “formed on the basis of mutual consent”.
Mr Brahimi’s successor, Staffan de Mistura, focused on establishing a series of local ceasefires. His plan for a “freeze zone” in Aleppo was rejected, but a three-year siege of the Homs suburb of al-Wair was successfully brought to an end in December 2015.
At the same time, the conflict with IS lent fresh impetus to the search for a political solution in Syria. The US and Russia led efforts to get representatives of the government and the opposition to attend “proximity talks” in Geneva in January 2016 to discuss a Security Council-endorsed road map for peace, including a ceasefire and a transitional period ending with elections.
8. Proxy war
What began as another Arab Spring uprising against an autocratic ruler has mushroomed into a brutal proxy war that has drawn in regional and world powers.
Iran and Russia have propped up the Alawite-led government of President Assad and gradually increased their support.
Tehran is believed to be spending billions of dollars a year to bolster Assad, providing military advisers and subsidised weapons, as well as lines of credit and oil transfers.
Russia has meanwhile launched an air campaign against Assad’s opponents.
The Syrian government has had the support of Lebanon’s Shia Islamist Hezbollah movement, whose fighters have provided important battlefield support since 2013.
The Sunni-dominated opposition has, meanwhile, attracted varying degrees of support from its international backers – Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Jordan, along with the US, UK and France.
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Until late 2015, rebel appeals for anti-aircraft weapons to stop devastating government air strikes were rejected by the US and its allies, amid concern that they might end up in the hands of jihadist militants. A US programme to train and arm 5,000 rebels to take the fight to IS on the ground also suffered a series of setbacks before being abandoned.
International involvement
Foreign backing and open intervention have played a large role in Syria’s civil war. Russia entered the conflict in 2015 and has been the Assad government’s main ally since then.
Regional actors:
One of Assad’s key allies is Iran.
Iran needs Syria to move its weapons and proxy militias across the Middle East.
So when Assad seemed threatened, Iran stepped in to support him.
So did Hezbollah, the Lebanese political party and militia that is a close ally of Tehran.
That upset Iran’s rivals in the region, like Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
So they began sending arms and money to anti-Assad rebels, including extremist militias.
Israel’s begun attacking Assad bases with airstrikes.
Since 2016, Turkish troops have launched several operations against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) near its borders, as well as against Kurdish groups armed by the United States.
Anti-ISIL coalition: The US has armed anti-Assad rebel groups and led an international coalition bombing ISIL targets since 2014.
What is Russia doing in Syria?
Russia has long supported Assad’s government.
Russia helped build the modern Syrian military, and Assad is one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’sstrongest allies in the Middle East.
Russia and China often blocked meaningful international action on Syria by vetoing proposals at the U.N. Security Council, Moscow changed the course of the war in Assad’s favor with a military intervention in 2015.
Russia’s campaign: In September 2015, Russia launched a bombing campaign against what it referred to as “terrorist groups” in Syria, which included ISIL as well as anti-Assad rebel groups backed by the USA.
Why is the United States involved?
The United States has been reluctant to become too entangled in Syria, but it has acted for two main reasons.
First, the Islamic State began developing a foothold in the country in 2013.
The next year, the United States launched airstrikes against the militant group.
It eventually sent ground troops into the fight, and about 2,000 U.S. forces are now deployed there.
Second, the United States has acted to punish the Assadgovernment for using chemical weapons such as sarin and chlorine gas on Syrian civilians.
April 2017, the US carried its first direct military action against Assad’s forces, launching 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at a Syrian air force base from which US officials believe a chemical attack on Khan Sheikhoun had been launched.
Israel carried out air raids inside Syria, reportedly targeting
Hezbollah and pro-government fighters and facilities. The first time Syrian air defences shot down an Israeli warplane was in February 2018.
Since the conflict began, as a Syrianrebellion against the Assad government, many new rebel groups have joined the fighting in Syria and have frequently fought one another.
The Free Syrian Army (FSA) is a loose conglomeration of armed brigades formed in 2011 by defectors from the Syrian army and civilians backed by the United States, Turkey, and several Gulf countries.
In December 2016, the Syrianarmy scored its biggest victory against the rebels when it recaptured the strategic city of Aleppo.
Since then, the FSA has controlled limited areas in northwestern Syria.
Since January 2018 it has been fighting with Turkey to capture Afrin from Kurdish fighters seeking self-rule.
ISIL emerged in northern and eastern Syria in 2013 after overrunning large portions of Iraq.
The group quickly gained international notoriety for its brutal executions and its energetic use of social media to recruit fighters from around the world.
Other groups fighting in Syria include Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, Iran-backed Hezbollah, and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) dominated by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).
The situation today
Fighting in Syria continues on two main fronts:
Eastern Ghouta:
In February 2018, Syrian government forces backed by Russian warplanes escalated bombing of Eastern Ghouta, resulting in hundreds of civilians death and has been under siege since 2013 , the last remaining rebel stronghold near the capital, Damascus.
On February 24, the UN passed a resolution calling for a 30-day ceasefire across Syria, but exempted military operations against “terrorist” groups.
Afrin:
Turkey and the Free Syrian Army (FSA) began in January 2018 a military operation against the YPG in northwestern Syria, near Afrin. Pro-government forces have also joined the fight.
Thank you
Good, detailed, recap of events in Syria.
Al