Was Arab Spring the spark that ignited the civil war? The United States, the EU, and the Arab League soon introduced sanctions targeting senior members of the Assad regime. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Opposition fighters had no central leadership. More than 450,000 Syrians have lost their lives in six years of armed conflict, which began with anti-government protests before escalating into a full-scale civil war. Omissions? A diverse mix of characters complicates the situation. Sectarian divisions were initially not as rigid as is sometimes supposed, though; the political and economic elite with ties to the regime included members of all of Syria’s confessional groups—not just ʿAlawites—while many middle- and working-class ʿAlawites did not particularly benefit from belonging to the same community as the Assad family and may have shared some of the protesters’ socioeconomic grievances. A group of children had been arrested and tortured by the authorities for writing antiregime graffiti; incensed local people took to the street to demonstrate for political and economic reforms. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. In April 2011, the Syrian Army fired on demonstrators across the country. Essentially, the Syrian government’s main backers are Russia, Iran and Hezbollah (a militia group based in Lebanon). Hundreds of thousands of farming families were reduced to poverty, causing a mass migration of rural people to urban shantytowns. An anti-Assad bloc consisting of Qatar, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia formed in the last half of 2011. Germany has pledged €1.74 billion in aid for the victims of the Syrian Civil War at a donor conference in Brussels. The Syrian Civil War 1. Several human rights groups have accused the leader of habitually torturing and killing political opponents throughout his presidency. Tensions between the two groups is an ongoing problem throughout Syria and other nations in the Middle East. Although many complicated motives led to the Syrian civil war, one event, known as the Arab Spring, stands out as perhaps the most significant trigger for the conflict. An early indicator of the international divisions and rivalries that would prolong the conflict came in October 2011 when Russia and China cast the first of several vetoes blocking a UN Security Council Resolution that would have condemned Assad’s crackdown. Lizzie Dearden Britain still has questions to answer about Isis members. The depravity of the civil war itself compels the United States to show that it is doing something constructive, but Washington's core interest for the region at the moment is to preserve and advance a negotiation with Iran. Almost all the forces in Syria fighting against each other are also fighting the Islamic State. The outlook is grim, with violence continuing. Since 2012, however, numerous multinational investigations have uncovered Syrian chemical weapons attacks that number in “the low dozens” and have targeted Syrian civilians. A peaceful uprising against the president of Syria 10 years ago turned into a full-scale civil war. Map of Syrian Revolution, Civil war in Syria, Russian war on Syria, ISIS war on Syria. Syria threatened to deploy chemical weapons against foreign aggressors but stressed that it would never use them on civilians. More than 5.6 million refugees have fled the country, and another 6.1 million are displaced within Syria. The last remaining rebel stronghold was the north-western province of Idlib. Pro-Assad forces, Syrian army, NDF, Russia, IRGC from Iran, Hezbollah, Shia groups from Iraq, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon. Bashar al-Assad was asked in an interview with The Wall Street Journal if he expected the wave of popular protest then sweeping through the Arab world—which had already unseated authoritarian rulers in Tunisia and Egypt—to reach Syria. Syrian civil war. Experts estimate that 13.1 million Syrians need humanitarian assistance, such as medicine or food. As the conflict progressed, however, sectarian divisions hardened. Four NGOs have filed a criminal complaint against members of the Syrian government for deadly attacks in 2013 and 2017. Antigovernment protesters wearing Syrian rebel flags during a demonstration in Homs, Syria, December 2011. U.S., International coalition, NATO, Israel, E.U. The Syrian Civil War is an ongoing violent conflict in Syria between pro-democratic insurgents and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s long-standing dynastic regime. Syrian Civil War - Syrian Civil War - Civil war: Although it is impossible to pinpoint when the uprising turned from a predominately peaceful protest movement into a militarized rebellion, armed clashes became increasingly common, and by September 2011 organized rebel militias were regularly engaging in combat with government troops in cities around Syria. Assad’s crackdown is just one of several problems plaguing Syria. Security forces responded harshly, conducting mass arrests and sometimes firing on demonstrators. Insurgent forces include the Southern Front, the Kurdish-dominant Syrian Democratic Forces, and a coalition of SAA defectors. Relevance is automatically assessed so some headlines not qualifying as news for this subject might appear - please feel free to contact us regarding any persistent issues. Syrian civil war 04 02 2020.png 1,450 × 1,199; 744 KB Syrian civil war gallery.jpg 700 × 800; 515 KB Syrian civil war September 2015.png 2,504 × 2,107; 1.04 MB The United States, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and other western countries are described as supporters of moderate rebel groups. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! In early 2011, a series of political and economic protests in Egypt and Tunisia broke out. The Civil War Takes Shape While we know a good deal about the Syrian government because it is much like many other governments around the world, we don’t know much about the rebels. In reality, a variety of long-standing political and economic problems were pushing the country toward instability. By the summer of 2011 Syria’s regional neighbours and the global powers had both begun to split into pro- and anti-Assad camps. Establishing this deterrent is a vital national security interest of the United States. FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. Jan Selby excavates the sources of misleading information and dismantles the simplistic cause and effect argument. The Syrian civil war, which has devastated the entire country of Syria and its neighbors, is a complex conflict that involves several nations, rebel groups and terrorist organizations. In 2011, … Syrian Civil War: Syrian Democratic Forces: Usually shortened as SDF or QSD, are an alliance of Kurdish, Arab, Turkmen, Assyrian and Armenian militias mainly fighting against ISIS, Al-Nusra Front and other Jihadist groups in the Syrian Civil War. Most fled to Turkey and other regional allies, but hundreds of thousands have found asylum in Germany, the United States, and Canada. Shock and anger began to spread throughout Syria, and many demanded that Assad resign. The spillover of the Syrian civil war is the impact of the Syrian civil war in the Arab world and beyond. News analysis. Read more. What started as a nonviolent uprising in 2011 escalated into a full-fledged civil war. Syrian civilians describe the devastating impact 10 years of war has had on them. In January 2011, Syrian Pres. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan are credited with hosting the most Syrian refugees. It was in the impoverished drought-stricken rural province of Darʿā, in southern Syria, that the first major protests occurred in March 2011. World. https://www.britannica.com/event/Syrian-Civil-War, Council on Foreign Relations - Civil War in Syria, Federation of American Scientists - Congressional Research Service Reports - Armed Conflict in Syria: Overview and U.S. Assad became president in 2000 after the death of his father. Syrian Civil War News. Within Syria itself, an estimated 6.5 million civilians have been displaced. The war has been a source of significant instability in the Middle East since 2011, and the resultant civilian displacement and refugee exodus constitute one of the worst humanitarian crises in modern history. Opposition forces were soldiers who had left the Syrian army and civilian volunteers. Divisions between the country’s Sunni majority and the ruling ʿAlawite elite were also a factor. When Assad succeeded his father in 2000, he came to the presidency with a reputation as a modernizer and a reformer. By July 2011, Syrian rebels formed the Free Syrian Army (FSA), and a civil war was imminent. These successful revolts, dubbed the Arab Spring, served as an inspiration for pro-democracy activists in Syria. March 2011 - Violence flares in Daraa after a group of teens and children are arrested for writing … If nothing changes, this war-torn area of the world is likely to be the site of more violence and instability. The rebels and Assad’s forces have both fought separate battles against ISIS, while also waging war against each other. It was originally part of the Ottoman empire, but, when the empire dissolved after World War II, the land area known now as Syria was controlled by the French as mandated by the League of Nations. In March 2011 Syria’s government, led by Pres. Bashar al-Assad, faced an unprecedented challenge to its authority when pro-democracy protests erupted throughout the country. A man stands atop a building looking at the destroyed Syrian town of Kobane, also known as Ain al-Arab, 2015. When the Syrian Civil War began, the four main warring factions were ISIS, Kurdish forces, the Assad government, and other opposition groups. By September 2018, Assad's forces had reclaimed control of most of the country’s biggest cities, although parts of the country were still held by rebel and jihadist groups and the Kurdish-led SDF alliance. In this special feature, Britannica provides a guide to the civil war and explores the historical context of the conflict. N.B. All Rights Reserved. Several human rights organizations have called the Syrian Civil War the worst humanitarian crisis of the 21st century. Citizens demanded the release of the remaining children, along with greater freedoms for all people in the country. Regional support comes from Turkey, Jordan, Israel, and Saudi Arabia. The United States and the European Union were increasingly critical of Assad as his crackdown continued, and U.S. Pres. ISIS’s presence in Syria, meanwhile, has been greatly diminished. The onset of antiregime protests, coming just a few weeks after the interview, made it clear that Assad’s situation had been much more precarious than he was willing to admit. In this article, you can read all about the civil war in Syria, its players, causes and ramifications for the world. Response. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan traveled to Russia in early March, seeking to persuade President Vladimir Putin to help stem disaster in Syria’s Assads’ Rule Breeds Discontent. Syrians, at the time, complained of high unemployment, a lack of political freedom, and government corruption after Assad replaced his father, Hafez al-Assad, in 2000. The goal of the group is to establish and protect the federal region “Rojava – Northern Syria”. From 2006 to 2010 Syria suffered its worst drought in modern history. One of the boys was killed. Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you. Assad also oversaw significant liberalization of Syria’s state-dominated economy, but those changes mostly served to enrich a network of crony capitalists with ties to the regime. The Syrian Civil War began in 2011 out of a desire to remove President Bashar al-Assad from office. The Syrian Arab Republic, more commonly known as Syria, is a country located in the Middle East. Both the Syrian government and rebels appear unwilling to agree on terms of peace. On the eve of the uprising, then, Syrian society remained highly repressive, with increasingly conspicuous inequalities in wealth and privilege. The Syrian Civil War refers to the ongoing armed civil war in Syria.It began in 2011 (you read that right, this has been going on for ten years) during the Arab Spring.Unrest and protests provoked a violent crackdown by the Bashar al-Assad regime, and this action led to an all-out uprising. As the protests increased in strength and size, the regime responded with heavier force. Foreign involvement in the Syrian Civil War refers to political, military and operational support to parties involved in the ongoing conflict in Syria that began in March 2011, as well as active foreign involvement. The hopes that were raised by Assad’s presidency went largely unfulfilled, though. Barack Obama and several European heads of state called for him to step down in August 2011. countries, Western countries. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. Meanwhile, Syria’s long-standing allies Iran and Russia continued their support. 20 Apr 2021 War-torn Syria to hold presidential elections on May 26 Between 2006 and 2010, Syria experienced the worst drought in the country’s modern history. Discontent about the government’s response to the drought that beset Syria from 2006-10 was an underlying cause as well. © 2021 A&E Television Networks, LLC. The arrests sparked outrage and demonstrations throughout Syria. These groups are primarily made up of Sunni militants. Islamist militant organizations such as ISIL and Hayʾat Taḥrīr al-Shām also oppose the Assad regime, but they have clashed with mainstream insurgents. The conflict has spawned a humanitarian and refugee crisis of massive proportions. Nearly 3 million of these people live in hard-to-reach areas. The violence of the regime’s response added visibility and momentum to the protesters’ cause, and within weeks similar nonviolent protests had begun to appear in cities around the country. In politics, a brief turn toward greater participation was quickly reversed, and Assad revived the authoritarian tactics of his late father’s administration, including pervasive censorship and surveillance and brutal violence against suspected opponents of the regime. Since its start in 2011, the Syrian Civil War has created the largest refugee population in the world, constituting over a third of the global refugee population. This manifested in protests in shantytowns outside Damascus and News Syrian Civil War: Germany pledges fresh aid, a decade on. There are several parties involved in the Syrian Civil War. The Syrian government used violence to suppress demonstrations, making extensive use of police, military, and paramilitary forces. NewsNow provides the latest headlines on the Syrian Civil War. The regime also produced propaganda stoking minorities’ fears that the predominately Sunni opposition would carry out violent reprisals against non-Sunni communities. However, in March of that year, 15 Syrian schoolchildren were arrested and tortured for writing graffiti that was inspired by the Arab Spring. But the government, headed by President Bashar al-Assad, responded by killing and arresting hundreds of protestors. Syrians walk amid the rubble of destroyed buildings following air strikes by regime forces in the rebel-held area of Douma on August 30, 2015. Since the fighting began, more than 470,000 people have been killed, with over 1 million injured and millions more forced to flee their homes and live as refugees. When he refused, war broke out between his supporters and his opponents. In 2018 the United Nations recorded 6.7 million Syrian refugees, nearly 40 percent of Syria’s population that year. After negotiations failed in 2014, UN mediator Lakhdar Brahimi apologized to the Syrian people in a statement, saying, "Unfortunately, the government has refused, which raises the suspicion of the opposition that, in fact, the government doesn't want to discuss the (transitional governing body) at all," he said. The idea that the Syrian civil war was partly caused by climate change induced drought is widely repeated and yet deeply flawed. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). The Syrian government strongly denies having used any chemical weapons. After months of military battles, the protests turned into an armed rebellion. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. To further complicate the dynamics, the United States has also led an international bombing campaign against ISIS targets since 2014. Most parties involved in the war in Syria receive various types of support from foreign countries and entities based outside Syria. The regime’s harsh military crackdown escalated tensions, and by September 2011 the peaceful protests had become an armed insurgency. What started as a nonviolent protest in 2011 quickly escalated into full-blown warfare. “Otherwise, President Assad and his regime will continue to be challenged from within and isolated abroad,” Obama said. But it also brought Syrian and Turkish forces into direct clashes – a first during the war, although Turkey has been supporting rebel groups since the beginning of the civil war. Bel Trew How a revolution became an odyssey: Syria’s uprising 10 years on. Another problem was a tense religious atmosphere in the country: Most Syrians are Sunni Muslims, yet Syria’s government is dominated by members of the Shia Alawite sect. These groups have been supported by Western powers such as the United States and Germany. President Bashar al-Assad controls the Syrian Arab Army (SAA), which has fought alongside Hezbollah and numerous Shiʿi militias. The contagion effects of the Arab Spring revolts in Tunisia and Egypt were the proximate cause of the Syrian civil war. Protesters demanded an end to the authoritarian practices of the Assad regime, in place since Assad’s father, Ḥafiz al-Assad, became president in 1971. In his public statements, Assad sought to portray the opposition as Sunni Islamic extremists in the mold of al-Qaeda and as participants in foreign conspiracies against Syria. The combined American, British and French response to these atrocities will integrate all instruments of our national power—military, economic, and diplomatic.”. Since the start of the war, the situation in Syria became much more complicated, as other countries and organized fighters have entered the picture. Even before the Arab Spring-inspired incident, many Syrian citizens were dissatisfied over the government’s incompetency, the people’s lack of freedoms and the general living conditions in their country. The war has displaced millions and thrown the country into political chaos. ʿAlawites also dominated the security forces and the irregular militias that carried out some of the worst violence against protesters and suspected opponents of the regime. “The Syrian government must stop shooting demonstrators and allow peaceful protests; release political prisoners and stop unjust arrests; allow human rights monitors to have access to cities like Dara’a; and start a serious dialogue to advance a democratic transition,” U.S. President Barack Obama stated in a 2011 speech. A lagging economy, high unemployment, government corruption and a severe drought were other issues that generated frustration among people under Assad’s rule. The Syrian civil war started when major conflict broke out March 15, 2011, after a forceful crackdown on peaceful student protests against the government of Bashar al-Assad. Despite this intervention, little progress has been made. The war has been a source of significant instability in the Middle East since 2011, and the resultant civilian displacement and refugee exodus constitute one of the worst humanitarian crises in modern history. Opposition militias began to form in 2011, and by 2012 the conflict had expanded into a full-fledged civil war. Please select which sections you would like to print: While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Conflict continues with insecurity in parts of the country. Hafez al-Assad seized control from a Baathist military junta in … Corrections? The Syrian Civil War Explained 2. Videos of security forces beating and firing at protesters—captured by witnesses on mobile phones—were circulated around the country and smuggled out to foreign media outlets. In response, some groups of protesters began to take up arms against the security forces. Any sort of derailing from the Syrian Civil War or issues directly related to it is not allowed. The ongoing conflict also encouraged terrorist organizations, such as ISIS and al-Qaeda, to join in on the chaos. The consequences are tragic for civilians, particularly children. Environmental crisis also played a role in Syria’s uprising. In 2012 Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime confirmed for the first time its possession of a chemical weapons arsenal. The Syrian civil war, which has devastated the entire country of Syria and its neighbors, is a complex conflict that involves several nations, rebel groups and terrorist organizations. Many of the protesters belonged to the country’s Sunni majority, while the ruling Assad family were members of the country’s ʿAlawite minority. Exceptions will frequently be made for specific events. The Syrian Civil War is an ongoing violent conflict in Syria between pro-democratic insurgents and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s long-standing dynastic regime. Most importantly, he explains the real political and economic reasons behind agricultural crisis in Syria's northeastern breadbasket region. Sides of conflict. He has received foreign support from Russia and Iran. Many newer rebel groups have emerged since the war began. descent into civil war. The combined effects of the drought and preexisting economic disparities under the Assad regime contributed to the first nonviolent pro-reform protests, in 2011, riding the wave of Arab Spring uprisings. In April of 2017 and 2018, the United States launched military attacks against chemical weapons sites in Syria. The deadliest occurred in 2013 in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta. Watch 8 years of war in the Middle East unfold in 10 minutes. Hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees have returned to their homes, often only to be displaced a second or third time. Assad acknowledged that there had been economic hardships for many Syrians and that progress toward political reform had been slow and halting, but he was confident that Syria would be spared because his administration’s stance of resistance to the United States and Israel aligned with the beliefs of the Syrian people, whereas the leaders who had already fallen had carried out pro-Western foreign policy in defiance of their people’s feelings. In some cases this meant encircling cities or neighbourhoods that had become hubs of protest, such as Bāniyās or Homs, with tanks, artillery, and attack helicopters and cutting off utilities and communications. From early on, the uprising and the regime’s response had a sectarian dimension. The Syrian Civil War Infographic 3. This includes the inner Turkey-PKK conflict, inner-US politics (“deep state”, the pro-Israel lobby). Assad’s office spoke out against the 2017 attacks and said in a statement, “What America did is nothing but foolish and irresponsible behavior, which only reveals its short-sightedness and political and military blindness to reality.”, After the 2018 attack, U.S. President Donald Trump told the press: "The purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons. In June, Syrian troops and tanks moved into the northern town of Jisr al-Shugūr, sending a stream of thousands of refugees fleeing into Turkey. Updates? Syrian Civil War [UPSC International Relations Notes] The West Asian country of Syria has been embroiled in a tumultuous civil war since 2011. Since 2014, the United Nations has hosted nine rounds of mediated peace talks, known as the Geneva II process. Particularly children by 2012 the conflict and anti-Assad camps based in Lebanon ) that it would never use them civilians. 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