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Syrian Civil War
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Syrian Civil War
Part of the Arab Spring, the Arab Winter, the spillover of the Iraq conflict and the Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict

Military situation in March 2018:
Syrian Arab Republic Syrian opposition Democratic Federation of Northern Syria
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Tahrir al-Sham[14]
(For a full list of combatants see order of battle)
(For a more detailed, up-to-date, interactive map, see Template:Syrian Civil War detailed map)
Date
15 March 2011 (2011-03-15) – present
(7 years, 1 month, 1 week and 5 days)
Location
Syria (with spillovers in neighboring countries)
Status
Ongoing
Territorial
changes
As of 1 April 2018:
the Government held 55% of Syrian territories
SDF-held territory constituted 26.6%
12.3% was controlled by rebel groups (including HTS) and Turkey
6.1% was held by ISIL[15]
Main belligerents
Syrian Arab Republic
Allied armed groups
Hezbollah
Iran
Russia
(from 2015)
Support:[show]
Iraq[1]
Syrian Opposition
Free Syrian Army[a]
Turkey[b]
(from 2016)
Allied armed groups
Support:[show]
United States[c]
(2011–17)[2]
Saudi Arabia
Qatar
Ahrar al-Sham[e]
Islamic Front / SIF (2012–15)
Jaysh al-Islam
Support:[show]
Turkey
Saudi Arabia
Qatar
Tahrir al-Sham[d][e]
Al-Nusra Front (2012–17)
Guardians of Religion Organization
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant[d] (from 2013)
Support:[show]
Al-Qaeda
(2013–14)
Democratic Federation of Northern Syria (SDF) (from 2012)
YPG/YPJ
Other armed groups
Support:[show]
United States
(from 2014)[3][4]
Russia
(2015–18)
France
(from 2016)[5][6]
PKK
PUK
(from 2013)[7][8][9]
KDP
(2013–15) [7][10]
CJTF–OIR
(from 2014)[show]
Australia
France[11]
Germany
Jordan
Netherlands
Norway[12]
United Kingdom
United States[c]
Canada[13]
(until 2015)
Belgium
(until 2017)
Until 2016:
Bahrain
Denmark
Morocco
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
UAE
Commanders and leaders
Bashar al-Assad
(President of Syria)
Ali Abdullah Ayyoub
(Minister of Defense)
Issam Hallaq
(Chief of Staff of the Air Force)
Suheil al-Hassan (Commander of Tiger Forces)
Ali Mamlouk
(Director of the National Security Bureau)
Rafiq Shahadah
(Head of the Military Intelligence Directorate)
Ali Khamenei
(Supreme Leader of Iran)
Qasem Soleimani (Commander of Quds Force)
Vladimir Putin
(President of Russia)
Killed in action:[show]
Issam Zahreddine (Major General of the Republican Guard)
Assef Shawkat (Deputy Minister of Defense)[16]
Dawoud Rajiha (Minister of Defense)[17]
Rustum Ghazaleh (Head of Syrian National Intelligence)[18]
Hilal al-Assad[19]
Hossein Hamadani (IRGC Major General)[20]
Hassan Shateri (Senior Commander of IRGC)[21]
Samir Kuntar (Senior Commander of Hezbollah)[22]
Mustafa Badreddine (Military Leader of Hezbollah)[23]
Mohamad Issa (Hezbollah Chief of Operations in Syria)[24]
Jihad Mughniyah (Hezbollah Head of Security)[25]
Ali Reza Tavassoli (Leader of Liwa Fatemiyoun)[26]
Lt. Gen Valery Asapov[27]
Bashar al-Zoubi (Commander of the Southern Front)
Jamal Maarouf
(SRF commander, 2012–14)
Lt. Gen. Zekai Aksakallı (Operations chief commander, 2016–17)[28]
Lt. Gen. İsmail Metin Temel
(Operations chief commander, 2017–18)[29]
Killed in action:[show]
Abdul Qader Saleh (Founder of al-Tawhid Brigade)[30]
Abu Yahia al-Hamawi
(Leader of Ahrar al-Sham)
Ahmed Issa al-Sheikh (Leader of the Islamic Front, 2012–15)[31]
Killed in action:[show]
Hassan Aboud (Leader of Ahrar al-Sham)[32]
Abu Khalid al-Suri (senior al-Qaeda Commander, founding member of Ahrar al-Sham)[33]
Zahran Alloush (Islamic Front Military Chief) [31][34]
Abu Mohammad al-Julani
(Tahrir al-Sham commander)[35]
Abu Jaber Shaykh
(Tahrir al-Sham Shura council head)
Abu Humam al-Shami (Guardians of Religion Organization commander, former al-Nusra Front military chief)[36]
Killed in action:[show]
Abu Firas al-Suri (Spokesperson of al-Nusra Front)[37][38]
Abu Hajer al-Homsi (al-Nusra Front military chief)[39]
Muhsin al-Fadhli (Leader of Khorasan)[40]
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (Leader of ISIL)[41]
Abu Fatima al-Jaheishi
(Deputy Leader)
Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi
(Leader of the Khalid ibn al-Walid Army, since 2016)
Killed in action:[show]
Haji Bakr (Former Deputy leader of ISIL and Head of Military Council)[42]
Abu Ayman al-Iraqi (Former Head of Military Council)[43]
Abu Ali al-Anbari (Deputy, Syria)[44]
Abu Omar al-Shishani (War Minister)[45]
Abu Umar al-Tunisi (Senior Leader)[46]
Abu Sayyaf (Oil Minister)[47]
Abu Muslim al-Turkmani (Deputy Leader)[48]
Abu Abdulrahman al-Bilawi (Head of Military Council)[49]
Gulmurod Khalimov (Minister of War) [50]
Muhammad al-Baridi (Founder of Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade)[51]
Riad Darar
(Co-chairperson of the MSD)
Îlham Ehmed
(Co-chairperson of the MSD)
Salih Muhammad (Co-President of the PYD)
Asya Abdullah
(Co-President of the PYD)
Sipan Hemo (Commander of the YPG)
Stephen J. Townsend (Commander of CJTF-OIR)[52]
Strength
Syrian Armed Forces: 180,000[53]
General Security Directorate: 8,000[54]
National Defense Force: 80,000[55]
Ba'ath Brigades: 7,000 Hezbollah: 6,000–8,000[56]
Liwa Al-Quds: 4,000-8,000 Russia: 4,000 troops[57] and 1,000 contractors[58]
Iran: 3,000–5,000[56][59]
Other allied groups: 20,000+
FSA: 40,000–50,000[60] (2013)
Islamic Front: 40,000–70,000[61] (2014)
Other groups: 12,500[62] (2015)
Turkish Armed Forces: 4,000–8,000[63][64]
Ahrar al-Sham: 18,000–20,000+[65][66] (March 2017)
Tahrir al-Sham: 31,000[67] 15,000–20,000 (U.S. claim, late 2016)[68] 1,000 (U.S. claim, late 2017)[69]
SDF: 50,000+[70][71]
YPG and YPJ: 57,000–60,000[72][73]
(most, not all, part of the SDF)
Syriac Military Council (MFS): 2,000[74]
Al-Sanadid Forces: 4,500+[75]
SDF Military Councils: 10,000+[76][77][78]
Casualties and losses
Syrian Government:
63,820–98,820 soldiers killed[79][80]
48,814–62,814 militiamen killed[79][80]
4,700 soldiers and militiamen and 2,000 supporters captured[79]
Hezbollah:
1,630–1,800 killed[79][81]
Russia:
85 soldiers[82][83] and 208+ contractors killed
Other non-Syrian fighters:
7,686 killed[79] ( 2,062 Iranians)[84]
125,399–166,399 fighters killed[f][79][80]
979 protesters killed[85]
Turkey:
151 soldiers killed (2016–18 ground incursions)[86][87] 24,232+ killed (per SOHR)[88]
20,711+ killed (per YPG and SAA)[89][90]
DFNS:
3,834 killed[91][92][93]
CJTF–OIR:
5 killed[94][95][96][97]
106,390[79]–110,218[98] (3,284 foreign; mostly Palestinian) civilian deaths documented by opposition
100 other foreign soldiers killed
( 60, 17 (pre-'16), 16, 7)
Total killed:
353,593–498,593 (March 2018 SOHR estimate)[79]
470,000 (February 2016 SCPR estimate)[99]
Over 7,600,000 internally displaced (July 2015 UNHCR estimate)
Over 5,116,097 refugees (July 2017 registered by UNHCR)[100]
a Since early 2013, the FSA has been decentralized with their name being arbitrarily used by various rebels.
b Turkey has provided arms support to the Syrian opposition since 2011. Aug. 2016–March 2017, Turkey fought alongside a rebel contingent in Aleppo governorate against the SDF and ISIL but not against the Syrian government. From Jan. 2018, Turkey has fought against the SDF and the Syrian government in Afrin.
c From Sep. to Nov. 2016, the U.S. fought alongside a rebel contingent in Aleppo governorate solely against ISIL, but not against the Syrian government or the SDF.[101][102] In 2017, the U.S. intentionally attacked the Syrian government six times, while it accidentally hit a Syrian base in Sep. 2016, killing over 100 SAA soldiers. The Syrian government maintains that this was an intentional attack.[103]
d HTS's predecessor (the Al-Nusra Front) and ISIL's predecessor (ISI) were allied al-Qaeda branches until April 2013. An ISI-proposed merger of the two into ISIL was rejected by the Al-Nusra Front and al-Qaeda cut all affiliation with ISIL in February 2014.
e Ahrar al-Sham and Tahrir al-Sham's predecessor, the Al-Nusra Front, were allied under the Army of Conquest from March 2015 to January 2017.
f Number includes Kurdish and ISIL fighters, whose deaths are also listed in their separate columns.[104][79]
The Syrian Civil War (Arabic: الحرب الأهلية السورية, Al-ḥarb al-ʼahliyyah as-sūriyyah) is an ongoing multi-sided armed conflict in Syria fought primarily between the Ba'athist Syrian Arab Republic led by President Bashar al-Assad, along with its allies, and various forces opposing both the government and each other in varying combinations.[105]
The unrest in Syria, part of a wider wave of 2011 Arab Spring protests, grew out of discontent with the Assad government and escalated to an armed conflict after protests calling for his removal were violently suppressed.[106] The war is being fought by several factions: the Syrian government and its international allies, a loose alliance of Sunni Arab rebel groups (including the Free Syrian Army), the majority-Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Salafi jihadist groups (including al-Nusra Front), and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), with a number of countries in the region and beyond being either directly involved, or providing support to one or another faction.
Iran, Russia, and Hezbollah support the Syrian government militarily, with Russia conducting air operations since September 2015. On the other hand, the U.S.-led international coalition established in 2014 with a declared purpose of countering ISIL, have conducted airstrikes against ISIL in Syria as well as against government and pro-government targets. Turkey on the other hand has become deeply involved since 2016 and beyond actively supporting the Syrian opposition, occupied large swathes of Northern Syria.
International organizations have accused the Syrian government, ISIL, and Syria rebel groups of severe human rights violations, and of many massacres.[107] The conflict has caused a major refugee crisis. Over the course of the war a number of peace initiatives have been launched, including the March 2017 Geneva peace talks on Syria led by the United Nations, but fighting continues.[108]
[show]
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Syrian Civil War
Timeline
Jan–Apr 2011
May–Aug 2011
Sep–Dec 2011
Jan–Apr 2012
May–Aug 2012
Sep–Dec 2012
Jan–Apr 2013
May–Dec 2013
Jan–July 2014
Aug–Dec 2014
Jan–July 2015
Aug–Dec 2015
Jan–Apr 2016
May–Aug 2016
Sep–Dec 2016
Jan–Apr 2017
May–Aug 2017
Sep–Dec 2017
Jan–April 2018
Casualties
Cities
map
Terrorism
Massacres
[show]
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Civil uprising in Syria (March–August 2011)
Daraa
Baniyas
Homs (May–August 2011)
Talkalakh
Rastan and Talbiseh
1st Jisr ash-Shugur
1st Jabal al-Zawiya
Hama
Latakia
[show]
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Start of insurgency (Sept. 2011 – April 2012)
Homs (2011–14)
Homs offensive
1st Idlib Gov.
Syrian–Turkish border
Jabal al-Zawiya
1st Idlib City
Saraqeb
1st Rastan
Hama Gov.
Shayrat & Tiyas ambush
Daraa Gov.
1st Rif Dimashq
1st Zabadani
Douma
Deir ez-Zor (2011–2014)
Hatla
Aleppo Gov.
Azaz
2nd Rastan
1st al-Qusayr
2nd Idlib Gov.
Taftanaz
[show]
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UN ceasefire; escalation (May 2012 – Dec. 2013)
3rd Rastan
Houla
Al-Haffah
Al-Qubeir
Al-Tremseh
3rd Idlib Gov.
1st Damascus
Bombing
Aleppo
Anadan
Menagh Air Base
Base 46
Khan al-Assal
1st Aleppo offensive
2nd Aleppo offensive
Syrian Kurdistan
Hasaka campaign
Ras al-Ayn
al-Yaarubiyah
Tell Abyad
Kurdish–Islamist conflict
Nubl & Al-Zahraa
2nd Rif Dimashq (1st Darayya)
Abu al-Duhur Airbase
Quneitra Gov.
3rd Rif Dimashq
1st Yarmouk camp
2nd Darayya
Darayya & Muadamiyat
Aqrab
1st Hama offensive
Halfaya
1st Safira
Shadadeh
2nd Damascus
1st Raqqa campaign (1st Raqqa)
1st Daraa offensive
4th Rif Dimashq
Jdaidet al-Fadl
Ghouta
Al-Qusayr offensive
2nd al-Qusayr
Eastern Ghouta
2nd Hama offensive
Bayda and Baniyas
1st Latakia offensive
Ma'loula
Sadad
5th Rif Dimashq
1st Qalamoun
Adra
[show]
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Rise of the Islamists (January – Sept. 2014)
Inter-rebel conflict
Northern Aleppo
Markada
1st Deir ez-Zor offensive
al-Otaiba ambush
Maan
Hosn
Morek
2nd Daraa offensive
2nd Latakia offensive
4th Idlib Gov.
Al-Malihah
2nd Wadi Deif
2nd Qalamoun
Arsal
Deir ez-Zor (2014–2017)
1st Shaer gas field
1st Eastern Syria
Tabqa Air base
3rd Hama offensive
6th Rif Dimashq
1st Quneitra
Kobanî
[show]
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U.S.-led intervention (Sept. 2014 – Sept. 2015)
U.S.-led intervention
3rd Daraa offensive
2nd Safira
2014 Idlib city raid
Nusra–FSA conflict
2nd Shaer gas field
1st Al-Shaykh Maskin
2nd Deir ez-Zor offensive
3rd Aleppo offensive
An-26 crash
4th Daraa offensive
Southern Syria
Eastern al-Hasakah offensive
1st Sarrin
Hama/Homs offensive
Bosra
5th Idlib Gov
2nd Idlib city
Al-Fu'ah-Kafriya
Nasib
2nd Yarmouk camp
1st Northwestern Syria
3rd Qalamoun
1st Palmyra
Western al-Hasakah offensive
1st Al-Hasakah city
Tell Abyad
Daraa/As-Suwayda
2nd Quneitra
2nd Sarrin
5th Daraa
2nd Al-Hasakah city
2nd Kobanî
4th Aleppo offensive
2nd Zabadani
2nd Palmyra
Al-Ghab
1st Al-Qaryatayn
Douma market
7th Rif Dimashq
Kuweires offensive
[show]
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Russian intervention (Sept. 2015–March 2016)
Russian intervention
3rd Quneitra
2nd Northwestern Syria
3rd Latakia offensive
Su-24 shootdown
5th Aleppo offensive
Al-Hawl
Homs offensive
6th Aleppo offensive
4th Hama offensive
Tell Tamer
Tishrin Dam
2nd Al-Shaykh Maskin
al-Qamishli bombings
Orontes River
3rd Deir ez-Zor offensive
1st Sayyidah Zaynab
7th Aleppo offensive
1st Ithriyah-Raqqa
Al-Shaddadi
Homs bombings
2nd Sayyidah Zaynab
Khanasir
2nd Tel Abyad
Al-Tanf
2nd Al-Qaryatayn
3rd Palmyra
2nd Maarat al-Nu'man
[show]
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Aleppo escalation and Euphrates Shield (March–December 2016)
8th Aleppo offensive
6th Daraa
9th–11th Aleppo offensives
Al-Dumayr
1st East Ghouta inter-rebel conflict
Al-Qamishli clashes
Aleppo bombings
8th Rif Dimashq
3rd Shaer gas field
Northern Raqqa
Jableh & Tartus
Manbij
Tokhar
2nd Ithriyah-Raqqa
9th Rif Dimashq
12th–14th Aleppo offensives
12th
13th
14th
4th Latakia offensive
1st Abu Kamal
3rd Qamishli
Atmeh
al-Rai
3rd Al-Hasakah City
Operation Euphrates Shield
Northern al-Bab
Dabiq
al-Bab
5th Hama offensive
1st Western al-Bab
1st Eastern Qalamoun
September bombings
4th Quneitra
Deir ez-Zor airstrike
Aleppo aid convoy attack
15th Aleppo offensive
Khan al-Shih
1st Idlib inter-rebel conflict
2nd Western al-Bab
16th Aleppo offensive
2nd Raqqa campaign
17th Aleppo offensive
4th Palmyra
[show]
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Southern and Central Desert,
ISIL collapse in Syria (Dec. 2016 – Nov. 2017)
Wadi Barada
1st Syrian Desert
Azaz bombings
5th Palmyra
4th Deir ez-Zor offensive
18th Aleppo offensive
2nd Idlib inter-rebel conflict
7th Daraa
Qaboun
8th Daraa
Eastern Homs offensive
al-Jina mosque
6th Hama offensive
Tabqa
Khan Shaykhun
US Shayrat strike
Aleppo bus bombing
Post-intervention Turkish airstrikes
2nd East Ghouta inter-rebel conflict
2nd Syrian Desert
Maskanah
East Hama
2nd Raqqa
9th Daraa
Southern Raqqa
Iranian Deir ez-Zor strike
Jobar
5th Quneitra
Central Syria
3rd Idlib inter-rebel conflict
4th Qalamoun
5th Deir ez-Zor
2nd Eastern Syria
6th Deir ez-Zor
Euphrates Crossing
Mayadin
2nd Abu Kamal
7th Hama offensive
Turkish operation in Idlib
[show]
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Idlib escalation and
Afrin operation
(Nov. 2017–present)
3rd Northwestern Syria
Atarib
Harasta
Beit Jinn
1st Southern Damascus
Afrin
Khasham
Feb. 2018 Israel–Syria incident
10th Rif Dimashq (Douma)
JTS–HTS conflict
2nd Southern Damascus
US-led missile strikes
Northern Homs
2nd Eastern Qalamoun
3rd Southern Damascus
[show]
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Syrian War spillover and international incidents
Lebanon spillover
Lebanese–Syrian border
Sidon
Iranian embassy bombing
North Lebanon clashes
Syrian–Turkish border incidents
Turkish F4 shootdown
Reyhanlı bombings
Kurdish riots
Russo-Turkish confrontation
Russian Su-24 shootdown
Andrei Karlov
Jordanian–Syrian border incidents
Israeli–Syrian ceasefire line
February 2018 incident
Iraqi–Syrian border incidents
Akashat
al-Shabah
Western Nineveh
Western Iraq
Spillover in Europe
Spillover in Iran
2017 Tehran attacks
2017 Deir ez-Zor missile strike
[show]
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Foreign involvement in the Syrian Civil War
Turkish involvement
Turkey–ISIL conflict
Tomb of Suleyman Shah relocation
Euphrates Shield
2017 airstrikes
Idlib Governorate operation
Afrin operation
Russian involvement
military intervention
Iranian involvement (2017 missile strike)
Hezbollah involvement
Iran–Israel conflict
U.S.-led Intervention
Timeline of raids
2014 rescue operation
May 2015 raid
2017 missile strikes
2018 bombing
Dutch involvement
German intervention
French intervention
Australian intervention
UK intervention
Jordanian intervention
Operation Martyr Muath
Qatari support
Saudi support
Foreign rebel fighters
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Contents
[hide]
1 Background
1.1 Assad government
1.2 Demographics
1.3 Socioeconomic background
1.4 Drought
1.5 Human rights
2 Timeline
2.1 Civil uprising (March–July 2011)
2.2 Early armed insurgency (July 2011 – April 2012)
2.3 Ceasefire and escalation (April 2012 – December 2013)
2.4 Rise of the Islamist groups
2.4.1 Fighting between ISIL and other rebel groups (January–March 2014)
2.4.2 Government offensives and Presidential election (March–June 2014)
2.4.3 ISIS–government conflict intensifies
2.4.4 US intervention in Raqqa and Kobani
2.4.5 The Southern Front and northern Army of Conquest (October 2014 – June 2015)
2.4.6 Resurgent ISIL advance (May 2015 – September 2015)
2.5 Russian intervention and Aleppo offensive (30 September 2015 – February 2016)
2.6 Partial ceasefire (26 February–July 2016)
2.7 SDF advances and Turkish military intervention (August 2016 – October 2016)
2.8 Russian/Iranian/Turkish backed ceasefire (December 2016 – April 2017)
2.9 Syrian-American Conflict, De-Escalation Zones (April 2017 – June 2017)
2.10 Halt to CIA program, ISIL declared defeated, Russian forces in Syria permanent (July 2017–December 2017)
2.11 Army advance in Hama province and in Ghouta, Turkish intervention in Afrin (January 2018–March 2018)
2.12 Douma chemical attack, U.S.-led missile strikes (April 2018–present)
3 Advanced weaponry and tactics
3.1 Chemical weapons
3.2 Cluster bombs
3.3 Thermobaric weapons
3.4 Anti-tank missiles
3.5 Ballistic missiles
4 Belligerents
4.1 Syrian Arab Republic and allies
4.1.1 Syrian Armed Forces
4.1.2 National Defense Force
4.1.3 Shabiha
4.1.4 Hezbollah
4.1.5 Iran
4.1.6 Foreign Shia militias
4.1.7 Russia
4.2 Syrian Opposition and allies
4.2.1 Political groups
4.2.1.1 Syrian National Coalition
4.2.1.2 National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change
4.2.2 Military rebel groups
4.2.2.1 Free Syrian Army and affiliate groups
4.2.2.2 Islamist factions
4.3 Salafist factions
4.3.1 Al-Nusra Front / Jabhat Fateh al-Sham / Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham
4.3.2 Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)
4.4 North Syria Federation (Rojava)
4.4.1 Syrian Democratic Council
4.4.2 Syrian Democratic Forces
4.5 U.S.-led coalition against ISIL
4.6 Foreign involvement
5 Reporting, censoring and propaganda
6 International reactions
6.1 Humanitarian aid
7 Impact
7.1 Deaths
7.2 Disease
7.3 Refugee migration
7.4 Human rights violations
7.5 ISIL and al-Qaeda executions
7.6 Sectarian threats
7.7 Crime wave
7.8 Cultural heritage
7.9 Spillover
8 Peace efforts
9 Depictions
9.1 Films
9.1.1 Documentaries
9.2 Video games
10 See also
11 References
12 Further reading
13 External links
Background
Main article: Modern history of Syria
Assad government
See also: Al-Assad family
Syria became an independent republic in 1946 following years of French rule after World War II, although democratic rule ended with a coup in March 1949, followed by two more coups the same year.[109] A popular uprising against military rule in 1954 saw the army transfer power to civilians. From 1958 to 1961, a brief union with Egypt replaced Syria's parliamentary system with a centralized presidential government.[110] The secular Ba'ath Syrian Regional Branch government came to power through a successful coup d'état in 1963. For the next several years Syria went through additional coups and changes in leadership.[111]
In March 1971, Hafez al-Assad, an Alawite, declared himself President, a position that he held until his death in 2000. Since 1970, the secular Syrian Regional Branch has remained the dominant political authority in what had been a one-party state until the first multi-party election to the People's Council of Syria was held in 2012.[112] On 31 January 1973, Hafez al-Assad implemented a new constitution, which led to a national crisis. Unlike previous constitutions, this one did not require that the President of Syria be a Muslim, leading to fierce demonstrations in Hama, Homs and Aleppo organized by the Muslim Brotherhood and the ulama. They labelled Assad the "enemy of Allah" and called for a jihad against his rule.[113][citation not found] The government survived a series of armed revolts by Islamists, mainly members of the Muslim Brotherhood, from 1976 until 1982.
Upon Hafez al-Assad's death in 2000, his son Bashar al-Assad was elected as President of Syria. Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma, a Sunni Muslim born and educated in Britain,[114] initially inspired hopes for democratic reforms. The Damascus Spring, a period of social and political debate, took place between July 2000 and August 2001.[115] The Damascus Spring largely ended in August 2001 with the arrest and imprisonment of ten leading activists who had called for democratic elections and a campaign of civil disobedience.[116] In the opinion of his critics, Bashar al-Assad had failed to deliver on promised reforms.[117] President Bashar Al-Assad maintains that no 'moderate opposition' to his rule exists, and that all opposition forces are jihadists intent on destroying his secular leadership. In an April 2017 interview with Croatian newspaper Vecernji List he reasserted his view that terrorist groups operating in Syria are 'linked to the agendas of foreign countries'.[118]
Demographics
Syrian Arabs, together with some 600,000 Palestinian Arabs, make up roughly 74 percent of the population (if Syriac Christians are excluded).[119] Syria's Muslims are 74 percent Sunnis (including Sufis), and 13 percent Shias (including 8–12 percent Alawites from which about 2 percent are Mershdis), 3 percent are Druze, while the remaining 10 percent are Christians. Not all of Syria's Sunnis are Arabs. The Assad family is mixed. Bashar is married to a Sunni, with whom he has several children. He is affiliated with the sect that his parents belong to: the minority Alawite sect.[120] Alawites control Syria's security apparatus.[121][122]
The majority of Syria's Christians belong to the Eastern Christian churches, such as the branches of the Eastern Catholic Churches, Syriac Orthodox Church, Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch, Assyrian Church of the East, and Armenian Orthodox Church, which have existed in the region since the first century AD.[123]
Syrian Kurds, an ethnic minority making up approximately 9 percent of the population, have endured ethnic discrimination and the denial of their cultural and linguistic rights, as well as the frequent denial of their citizenship, for the history of the Syrian state.[124] Turkmen are estimated to be 3-5% of the population.
Assyrians, an indigenous Eastern Aramaic-speaking Christian Semitic people, numbering approximately 400,000,[125] are found mainly in northeast Syria. A larger population lives over the border in northern Iraq. Other ethnic groups include Armenians, Circassians, Turkmens, Greeks, Mhallami, Kawliya, Yezidi, Shabaks, and Mandeans.[126]
Socioeconomic background
Socioeconomic inequality increased significantly after free market policies were initiated by Hafez al-Assad in his later years, and it accelerated after Bashar al-Assad came to power. With an emphasis on the service sector, these policies benefited a minority of the nation's population, mostly people who had connections with the government, and members of the Sunni merchant class of Damascus and Aleppo.[127] In 2010, Syria's nominal GDP per capita was only $2,834, comparable to Sub-Saharan African countries such as Nigeria and far lower than its neighbors such as Lebanon, with an annual growth rate of 3.39%, below most other developing countries.[128]
The country also faced particularly high youth unemployment rates.[129] At the start of the war, discontent against the government was strongest in Syria's poor areas, predominantly among conservative Sunnis.[127] These included cities with high poverty rates, such as Daraa and Homs, and the poorer districts of large cities.
Drought
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This coincided with the most intense drought ever recorded in Syria, which lasted from 2006 to 2011 and resulted in widespread crop failure, an increase in food prices and a mass migration of farming families to urban centers.[130] This migration strained infrastructure already burdened by the influx of some 1.5 million refugees from the Iraq War.[131] The drought has been linked to anthropogenic global warming.[132][133] Adequate water supply continues to be an issue in the ongoing civil war and it is frequently the target of military action.[134]
Human rights
Main article: Human rights in Syria
The human rights situation in Syria has long been the subject of harsh critique from global organizations.[135] The rights of free expression, association and assembly were strictly controlled in Syria even before the uprising.[136] The country was under emergency rule from 1963 until 2011 and public gatherings of more than five people were banned.[137] Security forces had sweeping powers of arrest and detention.[138]
Authorities have harassed and imprisoned human rights activists and other critics of the government, who were often detained indefinitely and tortured while under prison-like conditions.[136] Women and ethnic minorities faced discrimination in the public sector.[136] Thousands of Syrian Kurds were denied citizenship in 1962 and their descendants were labeled "foreigners".[139] A number of riots in 2004 prompted increased tension in Syrian Kurdistan,[140] and there have been occasional clashes between Kurdish protesters and security forces ever since.
Despite hopes for democratic change with the 2000 Damascus Spring, Bashar al-Assad was widely regarded as having failed to implement any improvements. A Human Rights Watch report issued just before the beginning of the 2011 uprising stated that he had failed to substantially improve the state of human rights since taking power.[141]
Timeline
See also: Course of events of the Syrian Civil War, Timeline of the Syrian Civil War, and Cities and towns during the Syrian Civil War
Anti-Assad protests in Baniyas, April 2011
Civil uprising (March–July 2011)
Main article: Civil uprising phase of the Syrian Civil War
See also: Arab Spring
The protests began on 15 March 2011, when protesters marched in the capital of Damascus, demanding democratic reforms and the release of political prisoners. Security forces retaliated by opening fire on the protesters,[142] and according to witnesses who spoke to the BBC, the government forces detained six.[143] The protest was triggered by the arrest of a boy and his friends by the government for writing in graffiti, "The people want the fall of the government", in the city of Daraa.[142][144] A 13-year-old boy, Hamza al-Khateeb, was tortured and killed.[145] The government claims that the boys weren't attacked, and that Qatar incited the majority of the protests.[146] Writer and analyst Louai al-Hussein, referencing the Arab Spring ongoing at that time, wrote that "Syria is now on the map of countries in the region with an uprising".[144] On 20 March, the protesters burned down a Ba'ath Party headquarters and "other buildings". The ensuing clashes claimed the lives of seven police officers[147] and 15 protesters.[148] Ten days later in a speech, President Bashar al-Assad blamed "foreign conspirators" pushing Israeli propaganda for the protests.[149]
Pro-Assad demonstration in Latakia, June 2011
A colonel (left) and a first lieutenant (right) in the FSA announce the formation of the Conquest Brigade, part of the FSA in Tell Rifaat, north of Aleppo, 31 July 2012.
Until 7 April, the protesters predominantly demanded democratic reforms, release of political prisoners, an increase in freedoms, abolition of the emergency law and an end to corruption. After 8 April, the emphasis in demonstration slogans shifted slowly towards a call to overthrow the Assad government. Protests spread. On Friday 8 April, they occurred simultaneously in ten cities. By Friday 22 April, protests occurred in twenty cities. By the end of May 2011, 1,000 civilians[150] and 150 soldiers and policemen[151] had been killed and thousands detained;[152] among the arrested were many students, liberal activists and human rights advocates.[153]
Significant armed resistance against the state security took place on 4 June 2011 in Jisr al-Shugur. Unverified reports claim that a portion of the security forces in Jisr defected after secret police and intelligence officers executed soldiers who had refused to fire on civilians.[154] Later, more protesters in Syria took up arms, and more soldiers defected to protect protesters.
Early armed insurgency (July 2011 – April 2012)
Main article: Early insurgency phase of the Syrian Civil War
See also: List of Syrian defectors
The Early insurgency phase of the Syrian Civil War lasted from late July 2011 to April 2012, and was associated with the rise of armed oppositional militias across Syria and the beginning of armed rebellion against the authorities of the Syrian Arab Republic. The beginning of the insurgency is typically marked by formation of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) on 29 July 2011, when a group of defected officers declared the establishment of the first organized oppositional military force. Composed of defected Syrian Armed Forces personnel, the rebel army aimed to remove Bashar al-Assad and his government from power.
This period of the war saw the initial civil uprising take on many of the characteristics of a civil war, according to several outside observers, including the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, as armed elements became better organized and began carrying out successful attacks in retaliation for the crackdown by the Syrian government on demonstrators and defectors.[155]
The Arab League monitoring mission, initiated in December 2011, ended in failure by February 2012, as Syrian troops and oppositional militants continued to do battle across the country and the Syrian government prevented foreign observers from touring active battlefields, including besieged oppositional strongholds.
In early 2012, Kofi Annan acted as the UN–Arab League Joint Special Representative for Syria. His peace plan provided for a ceasefire, but even as the negotiations for it were being conducted, the rebels and the Syrian army continued fighting even after the peace plan.[156]:11 The United Nations-backed ceasefire was brokered by special envoy Kofi Annan and declared in mid-April 2012.
Ceasefire and escalation (April 2012 – December 2013)
Main article: Siege of eastern Ghouta
A destroyed tank on a road in Aleppo, October 2012
The 2012–13 escalation of the Syrian Civil War was the third phase of the Syrian Civil War, which gradually evolved from U.N.-mediated cease fire attempt during April–May 2012, deteriorating into radical violence in June, escalating the conflict level to a full-fledged civil war.
Following the Houla massacre of 25 May 2012, in which 108 people were summarily executed, and the subsequent FSA ultimatum to the Syrian government, the ceasefire practically collapsed, as the FSA began nationwide offensives against government troops. On 1 June 2012, President Assad vowed to crush the anti-government uprising.[157] On 12 June 2012, the UN for the first time officially proclaimed Syria to be in a state of civil war.[158] The conflict began moving into the two largest cities, Damascus and Aleppo.
Following October 2012 cease-fire failure, during winter of 2012–13 and early spring of 2013, the rebels continued advances on all fronts. In mid-December 2012, American officials said that the Syrian military began firing Scud ballistic missiles at rebel fighters inside Syria. On 11 January 2013, Islamist groups, including al-Nusra Front, took full control of the Taftanaz air base in the Idlib Governorate, after weeks of fighting. In mid-January 2013, as clashes re-erupted between rebels and Kurdish forces in Ras al-Ayn, YPG forces moved to expel government forces from oil-rich areas in Hassakeh Province.[159] By 6 March 2013, the rebels had captured the city of Raqqa, effectively making it the first provincial capital to be lost by the Assad government.
The advances of rebels were finally arrested in April 2013, as Syrian Arab Army could reorganize and initiate offensives. On 17 April 2013, government forces breached a six-month rebel blockade in Wadi al-Deif, near Idlib. Heavy fighting was reported around the town of Babuleen after government troops attempt to secure control of a main highway leading to Aleppo. The break in the siege also allowed government forces to resupply two major military bases in the region which had been relying on sporadic airdrops.[160] In April 2013, government and Hezbollah forces, who have increasingly become involved in the fighting, launched an offensive to capture areas near al-Qusayr. On 21 April, pro-Assad forces captured the towns of Burhaniya, Saqraja and al-Radwaniya near the Lebanese border.[161]
Aleppo, Karm al Jabal neighborhood, March 2013
From July 2013, however the situation became a stalemate, with fighting continuing on all fronts between various factions with numerous casualties, but without major territorial changes. On 28 June 2013, rebel forces captured a major military checkpoint in the city of Daraa.[162] Shortly after, Syrian opposition factions declared war on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant which turned increasingly dominant throughout the war zone with indiscriminate killing of all – whether loyalist Assad or rebels. A major advance took place on 6 August 2013, as rebels captured Menagh Military Airbase after a 10-month siege. On 21 August a chemical attack took place in the Ghouta region of the Damascus countryside, leading to thousands of casualties and several hundred dead in the opposition-held stronghold. The attack was followed by a military offensive by government forces into the area, which had been hotbeds of the opposition.[163] The attack, largely attributed to Assad forces caused the international community to seek disarmanent of the Syrian Arab Army from chemical weapons.
In late 2013, the period was marked by increased initiative of the Syrian Arab Army, which led offensives against opposition fighters on several fronts. The Syrian Arab Army along with its allies, Hezbollah and the al-Abas brigade, launched an offensive on Damascus and Aleppo in November.[164] Fighting between Kurdish forces, rebels and al-Nusra front continued in other locations.
Rise of the Islamist groups
Fighting between ISIL and other rebel groups (January–March 2014)
Main article: Inter-rebel conflict during the Syrian Civil War
Tension between moderate rebel forces and ISIS had been high since ISIS captured the border town of Azaz from FSA forces on 18 September 2013.[165] Conflict was renewed over Azaz in early October[166] and in late November ISIS captured the border town of Atme from an FSA brigade.[167] On 3 January 2014, the Army of the Mujahideen, the Free Syrian Army and the Islamic Front launched an offensive against ISIS in Aleppo and Idlib governorates. A spokesman for the rebels said that rebels attacked ISIS in up to 80% of all ISIS held villages in Idlib and 65% of those in Aleppo.[168]
By 6 January, opposition rebels managed to expel ISIS forces from the city of Raqqa, ISIS's largest stronghold and capital of the Raqqa Governorate.[169] On 8 January, opposition rebels expelled most ISIS forces from the city of Aleppo, however ISIS reinforcements from the Deir ez-Zor Governorate managed to retake several neighborhoods of the city of Raqqa.[170] By mid January ISIS retook the entire city of Raqqa, while rebels expelled ISIS fighters fully from Aleppo city and the villages west of it.
On 29 January, Turkish aircraft near the border fired on an ISIS convoy inside the Aleppo province of Syria, killing 11 ISIS fighters and 1 ISIS emir.[171] In late January it was confirmed that rebels had assassinated ISIS's second in command, Haji Bakr, who was al-Qaeda's military council head and a former military officer in Saddam Hussein's army.[172] By mid-February, the al-Nusra Front joined the battle in support of rebel forces, and expelled ISIS from the Deir Ezzor Governorate.[173] By March, the ISIS forces fully retreated from the Idlib Governorate.[174] On 4 March, ISIS retreated from the border town of Azaz and other nearby villages, choosing instead to consolidate around Raqqa in an anticipation of an escalation of fighting with al-Nusra.[175]
Government offensives and Presidential election (March–June 2014)
Further information: Syrian presidential election, 2014
On 4 March, the Syrian Army took control of Sahel in the Qalamoun region.[176] On 8 March, government forces took over Zara, in Homs Governorate, further blocking rebel supply routes from Lebanon.[177] On 11 March, Government forces and Hezbollah took control of the Rima Farms region, directly facing Yabrud.[178] On 16 March, Hezbollah and government forces captured Yabrud, after Free Syrian Army fighters made an unexpected withdrawal, leaving the al-Nusra Front to fight in the city on its own.[179] On 18 March, Israel used artillery against a Syrian Army base, after four of its soldiers had been wounded by a roadside bomb while patrolling Golan Heights.[180]
On 19 March, the Syrian Army captured Ras al-Ain near Yabrud, after two days of fighting and al-Husn in Homs Governorate, while rebels in the Daraa Governorate captured Daraa prison, and freed hundreds of detainees.[181][182] On 20 March, the Syrian Army took control of the Krak des Chevaliers in al-Husn.[182] On 29 March, Syrian Army took control of the villages of Flitah and Ras Maara near the border with Lebanon.[183]
On 22 March, rebels took control of the Kesab border post in the Latakia Governorate.[184] By 23 March, rebels had taken most of Khan Sheikhoun in Hama.[185] During clashes near the rebel-controlled Kesab border post in Latakia, Hilal Al Assad, NDF leader in Latakia and one of Bashar Al Assad's cousins was killed by rebel fighters.[186] On 4 April, rebels captured the town of Babulin, Idlib.[187] On 9 April, the Syrian Army took control of Rankous in the Qalamoun region.[188] On 12 April, rebels in Aleppo stormed the government-held Ramouseh industrial district in an attempt to cut the Army supply route between the airport and a large Army base. The rebels also took the Rashidin neighbourhood and parts of the Jamiat al-Zahra district.[189] On 26 April, the Syrian Army took control of Al-Zabadani.[190] According to SOHR, rebels took control of Tell Ahrmar, Quneitra.[191] Rebels in Daraa also took over Brigade 61 Base and the 74th battalion.[192]
On 26 April, the FSA announced they had begun an offensive against ISIS in the Raqqa Governorate, and had seized five towns west of Raqqa city.[193] On 29 April, activists said that the Syrian Army captured Tal Buraq near the town of Mashara in Quneitra without any clashes.[194] On 7 May, a truce went into effect in the city of Homs, SOHR reported. The terms of the agreement include safe evacuation of Islamist fighters from the city, which would then fall under government control, in exchange for release of prisoners and safe passage of humanitarian aid for Nubul and Zahraa, two Shiite enclaves besieged by the rebels.[195] On 18 May, the head of Syria's Air Defense, General Hussein Ishaq, died of wounds sustained during a rebel attack on an air defense base near Mleiha the previous day. In Hama Governorate, rebel forces took control of the town of Tel Malah, killing 34 pro-Assad fighters at an army post near the town. Its seizure marked the third time rebels have taken control of the town.[196]
Syria held a presidential election in government-held areas on 3 June 2014. For the first time in the history of Syria more than one person was allowed to stand as a presidential candidate.[197] More than 9,000 polling stations were set up in government-held areas.[198] According to the Supreme Constitutional Court of Syria, 11.63 million Syrians voted (the turnout was 73.42%).[199] President Bashar al-Assad won the election with 88.7% of the votes. As for Assad's challengers, Hassan al-Nouri received 4.3% of the votes and Maher Hajjar received 3.2%.[200] Allies of Assad from more than 30 countries were invited by the Syrian government to follow the presidential election,[201] including Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador, India, Iran, Iraq, Nicaragua, Russia, South Africa and Venezuela.[202] The Iranian official Alaeddin Boroujerdi read a statement by the group saying the election was "free, fair and transparent".[203] The Gulf Cooperation Council, the European Union and the United States all dismissed the election as illegitimate and a farce.[204]
State employees were told to vote or face interrogation.[205] On the ground there were no independent monitors stationed at the polling stations.[206] It is claimed in an opinion piece that as few as 6 million eligible voters remained in Syria.[207][208] Due to rebel, Kurdish and ISIS control of Syrian territories there was no voting in roughly 60% of the country.[209]
ISIS–government conflict intensifies
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, on 17 July 2014 ISIL took control of the Shaar oil field, killing 90 pro-government forces while losing 21 fighters. In addition, 270 guards and government-aligned fighters were missing. About 30 government persons managed to escape to the nearby Hajjar field.[210] On 20 July, the Syrian Army secured the field, although fighting continued in its outskirts.[211] On 25 July, the Islamic State took control of the Division 17 base near Raqqa.[212]
On 7 August 2014, ISIL took the Brigade 93 base in Raqqa using weapons captured from their offensive in Iraq. Multiple suicide bombs also went off before the base was stormed.[213] On 13 August, ISIL forces took the towns of Akhtarin and Turkmanbareh from rebels in Aleppo. ISIL forces also took a handful of nearby villages. The other towns seized include Masoudiyeh, Dabiq and Ghouz. On 14 August, after being captured by the Al Nusra Front, the Free Syrian Army commander Sharif As-Safouri admitted to working with Israel and receiving anti-tank weapons from Israel and FSA soldiers also received medical treatment. It is possible this confession was obtained under duress.[214] On 14 August, the Syrian Army as well as Hezbollah militias retook the town of Mleiha in Rif Dimashq Governorate. The Supreme Military Council of the FSA denied claims of Mleiha's seizure, rather the rebels have redeployed from recent advances to other defensive lines.[215] Mleiha has been held by the Islamic Front. Rebels had used the town to fire mortars on government held areas inside Damascus.[216][217]
Meanwhile, ISIL forces in Raqqa were launching a siege on Tabqa airbase, the Syrian government's last military base in Raqqa. Kuwaires airbase in Aleppo also came under fierce attack by ISIL.[218] On 16 August 2014, there were reports that 22 people were killed in the village of Daraa by a car bomb outside a mosque. The bomb was thought to be detonated by ISIS. Also on 16 August, the Islamic State seized the village of Beden in Aleppo Governorate from rebels.[219]
On 17 August 2014, SOHR said that in the past two weeks ISIL jihadists had killed over 700 tribal members in oil-rich Deir ez-Zor Governorate.[220] On 19 August, Abu Abdullah al-Iraqi, a senior figure in ISIL who had helped prepare and plan car and suicide bombs across Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq was killed. Some reports said that he was killed by Hezbollah fighters. There were also several reports that he was killed by the Syrian Army in the Qalamoun region, near the border with Lebanon.[221]
In Raqqa, the Syrian Army took control of the town of Al-Ejeil.[222] ISIL reportedly sent reinforcements from Iraq to the governorate of Raqqa. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 400 ISIL fighters had also been wounded in the previous five days in clashes with the Syrian Army and National Defense Force in Raqqa alone.[222][223] At the same time, several senior UK and US figures urged Turkey to stop allowing ISIL to cross the border to Syria and Iraq.[224] It was around this time that the Americans realized that the Turks had no intention of sealing their side of the border, and so Washington decided to work with the Syrian Kurds to close off the border on the Syrian side.[225] A year later, with the Kurds in control of most of the Turkey–Syria border, and the Syrian army advancing under Russian air support to seal the remainder, the situation was causing great ructions in Ankara.[226]
On 26 August 2014, the Syrian Air Force carried out airstrikes against ISIL in the Governorate of Deir ez-Zor. This was the first time the Syrian Army attacked them in Deir ez-Zor as the Syrian Army pulled out of Raqqa and shifted to Deir ez-Zor for its oil and natural gas resources as well as strategically splitting ISIL territories.[227] American jets began bombing ISIL in Syria on 23 September 2014, raising U.S. involvement in the country. At least 20 targets in and around Raqqa were hit, the opposition group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Foreign partners participating in the strikes with the United States were Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Jordan. The U.S. and "partner nation forces" began striking ISIL using fighters, bombers and Tomahawk missiles, Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby said.[228]
US intervention in Raqqa and Kobani
Main articles: Timeline of the Syrian Civil War (August–December 2014) and 2014 American intervention in Syria
Coalition airstrike in Kobanî on ISIL position, October 2014
U.S. aircraft include B-1 bombers, F-16s, F-18s and Predator drones, with F-18s flying missions off the USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) in the Persian Gulf. Tomahawk missiles were fired from the destroyer USS Arleigh Burke (DDG-51) in the Red Sea. Syria's Foreign Ministry told the Associated Press that the U.S. informed Syria's envoy to the U.N. that "strikes will be launched against the terrorist group in Raqqa".[229] The United States informed the Free Syrian Army beforehand of the impending airstrikes, and the rebels said that weapons transfers to the Free Syrian Army had begun.[230] The United States also attacked a specific faction of al-Nusra called the Khorasan Group, who according to the United States had training camps and plans for attacking the United States in the future.[231] For its part, Turkey launched an official request to the U.N. for a no-fly zone over Syria.[232] The same day, Israel shot down a Syrian warplane after it entered the Golan area from Quneitra.[233]
By 3 October 2014, ISIL forces were heavily shelling the city of Kobanî and were within a kilometer of the town.[234] Within 36 hours from 21 October, the Syrian air force carried out over 200 airstrikes on rebel-held areas across Syria and US and Arab jets attacked IS positions around Kobanî. Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said the YPG forces in Kobanî had been provided with military and logistical support.[235] Syria reported its air force had destroyed two fighter jets operated by IS.[236] By 26 January, the Kurdish YPG forced ISIL to retreat from Kobanî,[237] thus fully recapturing the city.[238] The U.S. later confirmed that the city had been cleared of ISIL forces,[239] and ISIL admitted defeat in Kobanî city three days later, although they vowed to return.[240]
The Southern Front and northern Army of Conquest (October 2014 – June 2015)
In February 2014, the Southern Front of the Free Syrian Army formed in southern Syria. Six months later, they started a string of victories in Daraa and Quneitra during the 2014 Quneitra offensive, the Daraa offensive, the Battle of Al-Shaykh Maskin, the Battle of Bosra (2015) and the Battle of Nasib Border Crossing. A government counter-offensive (the 2015 Southern Syria offensive) during this period, that included the IRGC and Hezbollah, recaptured 15 towns, villages and hills,[241] but the operation slowed soon after[242] and stalled.[243] Since early 2015, opposition military operations rooms based in Jordan and Turkey began increasing cooperation,[244] with Saudi Arabia and Qatar also reportedly agreeing upon the necessity to unite opposition factions against the Syrian government.[245]
In late October 2014, a conflict erupted between the al-Nusra Front on one side and the Western-backed SRF and Hazzm Movement on the other (Al-Nusra Front–SRF/Hazzm Movement conflict). By the end of February 2015, al-Nusra had defeated both groups, captured the entire Zawiya Mountain region in Idlib province and several towns and military bases in other governorates, and seized weapons supplied by the CIA to the two moderate groups.[246] The significant amount of weapons seized included a small number of BGM-71 anti-tank missiles similar to weapons systems al-Nusra Front had previously captured from government stockpiles such as French MILANs, Chinese HJ-8s and Russian 9K111 Fagots.[247] Reuters reported that this represented al-Nusra crushing pro-Western rebels in the north of the country.[248] According to FSA commanders in northern Syria, however, the elimination of Harakat Hazm and the SRF was a welcome development due to the leaders of those factions allegedly involved in corruption.[249] The Western-backed 30th Division of the FSA remained active elsewhere in Idlib.[250]
By 24 March 2015, the al-Nusra Front dominated most of Idlib province, except for the government-held provincial capital, Idlib, which they had encircled on three sides along with their Islamist allies.[251] Therefore, they joined together to form the Army of Conquest on this day.[252] On 28 March, a joint coalition of Islamist forces, the Army of Conquest, captured Idlib.[253] This left the north largely taken over by Ahrar ash-Sham, al-Nusra Front and other Islamist rebels, with the south of the country becoming the last significant foothold for the mainstream, non-jihadist opposition fighters.[254]
Main articles: Northwestern Syria offensive (April–June 2015) and Second Battle of Idlib
On 22 April, a new rebel offensive was launched in the north-west of Syria and by 25 April, the rebel coalition Army of Conquest had captured the city of Jisr al-Shughur.[255] At the end of the following month, the rebels also seized the Al-Mastumah military base,[256] and Ariha, leaving government forces in control of tiny pockets of Idlib, including the Abu Dhuhur military airport.[257] In addition, according to Charles Lister (Brookings Doha Center), the Army of Conquest coalition was a broad opposition effort to ensure that the Al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front was contained, with the rearguard involvement of Western-backed factions being regarded as crucial.[249] Still, according to some, the FSA in northern Syria had by this point all but dissipated. Many of the moderate fighters joined more extremist organizations, such as Ahrar ash-Sham, the largest faction in the Army of Conquest, which led to the subsequent rise of the Islamist Army of Conquest coalition.[258]
Rebel advances led to government and Hezbollah morale plunging dramatically.[259] In north-west Syria these losses were countered by a Hezbollah-led offensive in the Qalamoun mountains north of Damascus, on the border with Lebanon, that gave Hezbollah effective control of the entire area.[260]
Resurgent ISIL advance (May 2015 – September 2015)
Main articles: Palmyra offensive (May 2015) and Palmyra offensive (July–August 2015)
On 21 May, ISIL took control of Palmyra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, after eight days of fighting.[261] The jihadists also captured the nearby towns of Al-Sukhnah and Amiriya, as well as several oil fields.[262] Following the capture of Palmyra, ISIL conducted mass executions in the area, killing an estimated 217–329 government civilian supporters and soldiers, according to opposition activists.[263] Government sources put the number of killed at 400–450.[264] By early June, ISIL reached the town of Hassia, which lies on the main road from Damascus to Homs and Latakia, and reportedly took up positions to the west of it, creating a potential disaster for the government and raising the threat of Lebanon being sucked further into the war.[265]
On 25 June, ISIL launched two offensives. One was a surprise diversionary attack on Kobanî, while the second targeted government-held parts of Al-Hasakah city.[266] The ISIL offensive on Al-Hasakah displaced 60,000 people, with the UN estimating a total of 200,000 would be displaced.[267] In July 2015, a raid by U.S. special forces on a compound housing the Islamic State's "chief financial officer", Abu Sayyaf, produced evidence that Turkish officials directly dealt with ranking ISIS members.[268]
ISIS captured Qaryatayn city from the government on 5 August 2015.[269] Australia joined the bombing of ISIL in Syria in mid September, an extension of their efforts in Iraq for the last year.[270] On 2 August, U.S. officials informed Reuters that the United States had decided to "allow air strikes to help defend against any attack on the U.S.-trained Syrian rebels, even if the attackers come from forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad." The following day the Pentagon announced that it would begin flying its first unmanned, armed drone missions in Syria.[271]
Russian intervention and Aleppo offensive (30 September 2015 – February 2016)
[hide]Russian military facilities involved in the war in Syria
Caspian Flotilla Russian Navy (Astrakhan)
Caspian Flotilla Russian Navy (Makhachkala)
Caspian Flotilla Russian Navy (Kaspiysk)
Aircraft group (ru) ASF RF
720th PL of the Russian Navy
Russian Navy[272] | Russian Aerospace Forces[273] | Group Special forces (ru)[274]
See also: Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War, Northwestern Syria offensive (October 2015), and Aleppo offensive (October–December 2015)
On 30 September 2015,[275] in response to an official request by the Syrian government,[276] the Russian Aerospace Forces began a sustained campaign of air strikes against both ISIL and the anti-Assad FSA.[277] Initially, the raids were conducted solely by Russian aircraft stationed in the Khmeimim base in Syria. Shortly after the start of the Russian operation, U.S. president Barack Obama was reported to have authorized the resupply of Syrian Kurds and the Arab-Syrian opposition, Obama reportedly emphasizing to his team that the U.S. would continue to support the Syrian opposition now that Russia had joined the conflict.[278]
On 7 October 2015, Russian officials said the ships of the Caspian Flotilla had earlier that day fired 26 sea-based cruise missiles at 11 ISIL targets in Syria destroying those and causing no civilian casualties.[272] That day, the Syrian government launched the northwest Syrian offensive[279] that in the following few days succeeded in recapturing some territory in northern Hama Governorate, close to the government's coastal heartland in the west of the country.[280] On 8 October 2015, the U.S. officially announced the end of the Pentagon’s half-billion dollar program to train and equip Syrian rebels and acknowledged that it had failed[281] However, other covert and significantly larger[282] CIA programs to arm anti-government fighters in Syria continued.[283]
The foreign ministers of Russia, the U.S., Saudi Arabia, and Turkey in Vienna, before a four-way discussion focused on Syria, 29 October 2015
Two weeks after the start of the Russian campaign in Syria, The New York Times opined that with anti-government commanders receiving for the first time bountiful supplies of U.S.-made anti-tank missiles and with Russia raising the number of airstrikes against the government’s opponents that had raised morale in both camps, broadening war objectives and hardening political positions, the conflict was turning into an all-out proxy war between the U.S. and Russia.[282] Despite multiple top-ranking casualties incurred by the Iranian forces advising fighters in Syria,[284] in mid-October the Russian-Syrian-Iranian-Hezbollah offensive targeting rebels in Aleppo went ahead.[285]
At the end of October 2015, the U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter signalled a shift in the strategy of the U.S.-led campaign saying there will be more air strikes and ruling in the use of direct ground raids, the fight in Syria concentrating mostly on Raqqa.[286] On 30 October and two weeks later, Syria peace talks were held in Vienna, initiated by the United States, Russia, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, in which on 30 October Iran participated for the first time in negotiations on Syrian settlement.[287] The participants disagreed on the future of Bashar Assad.
On 10 November 2015, the Syrian government forces completed the operation to break through the Islamic State insurgents' blockade of the Kweires air base in Aleppo Province, where government forces had been under siege since April 2013.[288] In mid-November 2015, in the wake of the Russian plane bombing over Sinai and the Paris attacks, both Russia[289][290] and France significantly intensified their strikes in Syria, France closely coordinating with the U.S. military.[291] On 17 November, Putin said he had issued orders for the cruiser Moskva that had been in eastern Mediterranean since the start of the Russian operations to "work as with an ally",[290][292][293] with the French naval group led by flagship Charles De Gaulle that had been on her way to eastern Mediterranean since early November.[294] Shortly afterwards, a Russian foreign ministry official criticised France's stridently anti-Assad stance as well as France's air strikes at oil and gas installations in Syria[295] as apparently designed to prevent those from returning under the Syrian government's control; the Russian official pointed out that such strikes by France could not be justified as they were carried out without the Syrian government's consent.[296] In his remarks to a French delegation that included French parliamentarians, on 14 November, President Bashar Assad sharply criticised France's as well as other Western States' actions against the Syrian government suggesting that French support for Syrian opposition forces had led to the Islamic State-claimed attacks in Paris.[297]
On 19 November 2015, U.S. President Barack Obama, speaking of the Vienna process, said he was unable to "foresee a situation in which we can end the civil war in Syria while Assad remains in power"; he urged Russia and Iran to stop supporting the Syrian government.[298] On 20 November 2015, the U.N. Security Council, while failing to invoke the UN's Chapter VII, which gives specific legal authorisation for the use of force,[299] unanimously passed Resolution 2249 that urged UN members to "redouble and coordinate their efforts to prevent and suppress terrorist acts committed specifically by ISIL also known as Da’esh as well as ANF, and all other individuals, groups, undertakings, and entities associated with Al-Qaida, and other terrorist groups, as designated by the United Nations Security Council, and as may further be agreed by the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) and endorsed by the UN Security Council".[300] The adopted resolution was drafted by France and co-sponsored by the UK[301] the following day after Russia introduced an updated version of its previously submitted draft resolution that was blocked by the Western powers as seeking to legitimise Assad’s authority.[302][303]
On 24 November 2015, Turkey shot down a Russian warplane that allegedly violated Turkish airspace and crashed in northwestern Syria, leading to the Russian pilot's death.[304] Following the crash, it was reported that Syrian Turkmen rebels from Syrian Turkmen Brigades attacked and shot down a Russian rescue helicopter, killing a Russian naval infantryman.[304] A few days after, Russian aircraft were reported to have struck targets in the Syrian town of Ariha in Idlib province that was controlled by the Army of Conquest causing multiple casualties on the ground.[305][306] On 2 December 2015, the Parliament of the United Kingdom voted to expand Operation Shader into Syria with a majority of 397–223.[307] That day, two British Tornado aircraft took off from RAF Akrotiri immediately at 22:30, each carrying three Paveway bombs. Two further aircraft were deployed at 00:30 on 3 December, and all aircraft returned by 06:30 without their bombs.[308] Defense Secretary Michael Fallon said that the strikes hit the Omar oil fields in eastern Syria, and that eight more jets (two Tornados and six Typhoons) were being sent to RAF Akrotiri to join the eight already there.[309]
On 7 December 2015, the government of Syria announced that US-led coalition warplanes had fired nine missiles at its army camp near Ayyash, Deir al-Zour province, on the evening prior, killing three soldiers and wounding 13 others; three armoured vehicles, four military vehicles, heavy machine-guns and an arms and ammunition depot were also destroyed.[310] The government condemned the strikes, the first time the government forces would be struck by the coalition,[311] as an act of "flagrant aggression"; the coalition spokesman denied it was responsible.[310] Anonymous Pentagon officials alleged later in the day that the Pentagon was "certain" that a Russian warplane (presumably a TU-22 bomber) had carried out the attack.[312][313] The claim was denied by the Russian military spokesman.[314] On 14 December 2015, Russia's government news media reported that the Syrian government forces retook a Marj al-Sultan military airbase east of Damascus that had been held by Jaysh al-Islam.[315]
The UN resolution 2254 of 18 December 2015 that endorsed the ISSG's transitional plan but did not clarify who would represent the Syrian opposition, while condemning terrorist groups like ISIL and al-Qaeda; it made no mention of the future role of Syrian President Bashar Assad.[316]
On 12 January 2016, the Syria government announced that its army and allied forces had established "full control" of the strategically situated town of Salma, whose pre-war population was predominantly Sunni,[317] in the northwestern province of Latakia, and continued to advance north.[318] On 16 January 2016, ISIL militants launched raid on government-held areas in the city of Deir ez-Zor and killed up to 300 people.[319] Counter-strikes by Russian Air Force fighter jets, in support of Syrian army forces, were reported to take back the areas.[320]
On 21 January 2016, Russia's activity presumably aimed at setting up a new base in the government-controlled Kamishly Airport was first reported;[321][322] the northeastern town of Qamishli in the Al-Hasakah Governorate had been largely under the Syrian Kurds' control since the start of the Syrian Kurdish–Islamist conflict in the governorate of Al-Hasakah in July 2013. Similar activity by the U.S. forces was suspected in the Rmeilan Airbase in the same province, 50 kilometres (31 miles) away from the Kamishly Airport; the area is likewise controlled by the US-backed Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG).[322][323] On 24 January 2016, the Syrian government announced its forces, carrying on with their Latakia offensive, had seized the predominantly Sunni-populated town of Rabia, the last major town held by rebels in western Latakia province; Russian forces were said to have played an important role in the recapture.[324] The capture of Rabia was said to threaten rebel supply lines from Turkey.[324][325] By 26 January 2016, the Syrian government established "full control" over the town of Al-Shaykh Maskin in the Daraa Governorate,[326] thus completing the operation that had begun in late December 2015. The town's capture by the Syrian government was remarked as a "turning of the tide in the Syrian war" by Al-Jazeera.[327]
Partial ceasefire (26 February–July 2016)
Main article: Syria ceasefire
Defense ministers of Russia, Iran and Syria in a tripartite meeting in Tehran
On 26 February 2016, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 2268 that endorsed a previously brokered U.S.-Russian deal on a "cessation of hostilities".[328] The cease-fire started on 27 February 2016 at 00:00 (Damascus time).[329] The ceasefire does not include attacks on UN-designated terrorist organizations.[330][331] At the close of February 2016, despite individual clashes, the truce was reported to hold.[332] By the end of March, the Syrian government forces with support from Russia and Iran successfully captured Palmyra from the ISIL.[333]
Palmyra offensive in March 2016
By early July 2016, the truce was said to have mostly unraveled, violence again escalated, and the fighting between all the major parties to the conflict continued.[334] At the end of July 2016, the fighting between the government and Islamist rebels in and around Aleppo intensified.
SDF advances and Turkish military intervention (August 2016 – October 2016)
On 12 August 2016, the Syrian Democratic Forces fully captured Manbij from ISIL. Some days later, the SDF announced a new offensive towards Al-Bab, which could eventually connect the Kurdish regions in Northern Syria.[335]
A few days after, the battle of al-Hasakah began. On 22 August, the Kurdish YPG, having captured Ghwairan, the only major Arab neighborhood in Hasaka that had been in government hands, launched a major assault to seize the last government-controlled areas of the northeastern Syrian city of Hasaka, after a Russian mediation team failed to mend the rift between the two sides;[336] the next day the capture of the city was completed.[337] A few days prior, the Pentagon admonished the Syrian government against "interfering with coalition forces or our partners" in that region, adding that the U.S. had the right to defend its troops.[338]
On 24 August 2016, Turkey's armed forces invaded Syria in the Jarabulus area controlled by ISIL starting what the Turkish president called Operation Euphrates Shield, aimed against, according to his statement, both the IS and Kurdish "terror groups that threaten our country in northern Syria".[339] The Syrian government denounced the intervention as a "blatant violation of its sovereignty" and said that "fighting terrorism isn’t done by ousting ISIS and replacing it with other terrorist organizations backed directly by Turkey".[340] The PYD leader Salih Muslim said that Turkey was now in the "Syrian quagmire" and would be defeated like IS.[339][341] Speaking in Ankara the same day, US vice president Joe Biden indirectly endorsed Turkey's move and said that the U.S. had made it clear to the Syrian Kurdish forces that they should move back east across the Euphrates, or lose US support.[342]
As Turkish troops and the Turkish-aligned Syrian rebels took control of Jarablus and moved further south towards the Syrian town of Manbij, they clashed with the Kurdish YPG, which led the U.S. officials to voice concern and issue a warning to both sides.[343] On 29 August, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter specified that the U.S. did not support Turkey's advance south of Jarablus.[344] The warning as well as an announcement made by the U.S. of a tentative ceasefire between the Turkish forces and the Kurds in the area of Jarablus were promptly and angrily dismissed by Turkey's officials.[345] However, combat between the Turkish forces and the SDF died down, and instead Turkish forces moved West to confront IS.[346] In the meantime the SDF, including Western volunteers, continued to reinforce Manbij.[347]
At sunset on 12 September 2016, a U.S.-Russian brokered cease-fire came into effect.[348] Five days later, the U.S. and other coalition members' jets bombed Syrian Army positions near Deir ez-Zor—purportedly by accident, but with Russia contending that it was intentional—killing at least 62 Syrian troops that were fighting ISIL militants.[349] Shortly after, the ceasefire broke down, and on 19 September the Syrian Army declared to no longer observe the truce.[350] Also on 19 September, an aid convoy in Aleppo was attacked with the U.S. coalition blaming the Russian and Syrian governments for the attack and these same governments denying these accusation and instead blaming terrorists for the attack.
On 22 September, the Syrian army declared a new offensive in Aleppo.[351] The offensive succeeded on 14 December, when the final Rebel stronghold in Aleppo was recaptured by the Syrian government followed by a ceasefire agreement.[352]
On 26 October 2016 US Defense Secretary Ash Carter said that an offensive to retake Raqqa from IS will begin within weeks.[353] The SDF proceeded with this effort, in operation Wrath of Euphrates. This operation used up to 30,000 Arab, Christian and Kurdish troops, with support from the Western Coalition. By December 2016 it had captured many villages and land west of Raqqa, previously controlled by IS.[354] By January 2017, much of the land west of Raqqa had been seized, and the second phase of the operation was complete.
Russian/Iranian/Turkish backed ceasefire (December 2016 – April 2017)
A BM-21 Grad rocket artillery truck of the Lions of the East Army during the 2017 southern Syrian Desert campaign
In December 2016, Syrian government forces completely recaptured all of rebel-held parts of Aleppo, ending the 4-year battle in the city.[355] On 15 December, as it was reported government forces were on the brink of retaking all of Aleppo—a "turning point" in the civil war, Assad celebrated the "liberation" of the city, and stated, "History is being written by every Syrian citizen."[356] On 29 December 2016 Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a new ceasefire deal had been reached between the Syrian Government and opposition groups, with Russia and Turkey acting as guarantors, and Iran as a signatory to a trilateral agreement. The ceasefire came into effect at 00:00 Syrian time (02:00 UTC) on 30 December. It does not include UN-designated terrorist groups, such as ISIL and Jabhat Fateh al-Sham. Syrian High Negotiations Committee representatives in Turkey confirmed that they were involved in the deal. Talks were scheduled to be held between the groups in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, on 15 January.[357]
Early reports indicated that despite sporadic fighting incidents, the ceasefire appeared to be holding, with no civilian deaths.[358] Also late on 29 December, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that four million people in Damascus and surrounding areas were without reliable access to water after major supply infrastructure was subject to deliberate targeting on 22 December. They said that although the government had initiated a program of rationing, they were concerned that safe water may not be accessible to everyone and called on parties to reach peaceful agreements to guarantee basic services.[358]
On 2 January 2017, rebel groups said that they would disengage from planned talks after alleged ceasefire violations by Government forces in the Wadi Barada valley near Damascus. The government says the region is excluded from the ceasefire because of the presence of Fatah al-Sham, but some local activists deny that they have a presence there.[359] At the end of January, government forces managed to capture Wadi Barada and the water supply of Damascus was restored.[360][361]
On 14 February 2017, the cease-fire between Assad forces and rebels collapsed throughout the country, leading to fresh clashes in various locations and a fresh rebel offensive in Daraa.[362] A new peace conference in Geneva was held on 23 February.[363]
On 23 February, Turkish forces captured Al-Bab from ISIL north-east of Aleppo.[364] Syrian government forces started an offensive east of Aleppo to conquer Dayr Hafir from ISIL and prevent further Turkish advances.
Syrian rebels in combat against government forces in Qaboun, Damascus, April 2017
On 17 March, Syrian military fired S-200 missiles at Israeli jets over Golan Heights. The Israeli military claimed that the Arrow anti-ballistic system intercepted one missile, while the Syrian military claimed that they had downed an Israeli jet. The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned the Israeli ambassador to clarify the situation.[365]
On 20 March, 150 civilians were killed in the Al-Badia school massacre by a U.S strike.[366]
The Syrian Arab Army entered Dayr Hafir, the last stronghold held by the Islamic State in East Aleppo, on 23 March, and secured it by 23 March. This opened up an opportunity to push south into the Ar-Raqqa governate where the Islamic State's de facto capital resides; however on 23 March, a Syrian Democratic Forces contingent landed on a peninsula west of Raqqa via boats and helicopters, in an effort to cut off the Syrian Arab Army from entering the Islamic State's de facto capital, Raqqa. On 28 March, an agreement was reportedly brokered by Qatar and Iran for the evacuation for four besieged towns in Syria, where around 60,000 people live. The deal involved evacuating the residents of al-Fu'ah and Kafriya, two towns in the Idlib Governorate besieged by rebel forces, in exchange for the evacuation of residents and rebels in Zabadani and Madaya, two towns under siege by government forces in the Rif Dimashq Governorate.[367]
Syrian-American Conflict, De-Escalation Zones (April 2017 – June 2017)
Main articles: Khan Shaykhun chemical attack, 2017 Shayrat missile strike, and 2017 Hama offensive
U.S. armored vehicle in Al-Hasakah, northeastern Syria, May 2017
From April 2017, the United States took on a more confrontational strategy in Syria. After the chemical attack on Khan Shaykhun, which American officials blamed on the Syrian government, warships of the Us Navy launched 59 Tomahawk missiles at the Syrian government’s Shayrat Air Base which was said the be the source of the chemical attack. The American attack, taking place on the 7th of April, was the first officially announced deliberate attack on Syrian government forces.[368][369] Due to being launched without authorisation from United States Congress or the United Nations Security Council, the strike triggered an emergency UNSC meeting, intially requested by Bolivia and supported by Russia.[370] A spokesman of Vladimir Putin stated that that Russian President viewed the U.S. attack as ″an act of aggression against a sovereign country violating the norms of international law, and under a trumped-up pretext at that″.[371] This view was shared by Deborah Pearlstein, who has suggested that US military strikes against Syrian government forces violate the UN Charter, a cornerstone of international law which has been ratified by the US and is thus binding on the US.[372] In response, the U.S representative at the UNSC emergency meeting said that ″the moral stain of the Assad regime could no longer go unanswered.″[373] American forces would struck the Syrian military again on the 18th of May, when a Syrian army convoy advancing in the vicinity of the border town of al-Tanf, which hosted a US-controlled airbase used for training of anti-government forces, came under attack by US fighter jets.[374] Nevertheless, the Syrian government′s desert offensive continued and on 9 June government forces secured a part of Syrian-Iraqi border for the first time since 2015.[375] This isolated the Al-Tanf rebel area from Daesh held territory, the capture of which was stated as an official objective by both the rebels and US forces.
Meanwhile, intense fighting between government forces and rebel groups that began north of Hama on 21 March, continued.[376] By the 29th of March, the SAA, which had halted the rebel offensive at the outskirts of Hama, began a counterstroke, and on the 16th of April, had reversed all rebel gains. They proceeded to launch a smaller assault of their own, and by the end of April had captured the towns of Halfaya and Taybat al-Imam. [377]
On 12 April, the agreement to exchange the inhabitants of the rebel-held towns of Zabadani and Madaya with the inhabitants of the pro-government towns of Al-Fu'ah and Kafraya began to be implemented.[378] On 15 April, a convoy of buses carrying evacuees from Al-Fu'ah and Kafriya was attacked by a suicide bomber in Aleppo, killing more than 126 people.[379]
On 24 April, the Turkish Air Force conducted several airstrikes on YPG and YPJ positions near al-Malikiyah, killing at least 20 of their fighters. The attacks were condemned by the US.[380]
On 4 May 2017, Russia, Iran, and Turkey signed an agreement in Astana to create four "de-escalation zones" in Syria. The four zones include the Idlib Governorate, the northern rebel-controlled parts of the Homs Governorate, the rebel-controlled eastern Ghouta, and the Jordan–Syria border. The agreement was rejected by some rebel groups,[381] and the Democratic Union Party also denounced the deal, saying that the ceasefire zones are "dividing Syria up on a sectarian basis". The ceasefire came into effect on 6 May.[382]
Halt to CIA program, ISIL declared defeated, Russian forces in Syria permanent (July 2017–December 2017)
Iranian convoy delivering aid to Deir ez-Zor in September 2017
On 7 July 2017, the U.S., Russia, and Jordan agreed to a ceasefire in part of southwestern Syria. Russia gave assurances that Assad would abide by the agreement.[383]
On 19 July 2017, it was reported that the Donald Trump administration had decided to halt the CIA program to equip and train anti-government rebel groups, a move sought by Russia.[384]
On 5 September 2017, the government′s Central Syria offensive culminated in the breaking of the three-year ISIL siege of Deir ez-Zor, with active participation of Russian aviation and navy.[385][386][387] This was followed shortly thereafter by the lifting of the siege of the city′s airport.[388]
On 17 October 2017, after over four months of fierce fighting and the U.S.-led coalition′s bombardment, the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces announced they had established full control of the city of Raqqa in northern Syria, previously the de facto capital of ISIL.[389][390][391] At the end of October, the government of Syria said that it still considered Raqqa to be an occupied city that can ″only be considered liberated when the Syrian Arab Army enter[ed] it.″[392]
By mid-November 2017, the government forces and allied militia established full control over Deir ez-Zor and captured the town of Abu Kamal in eastern Syria, near the border with Iraq and Iraq′s town of al-Qaim, which was concurrently captured from ISIL by the Iraqi government.[393][394]
On 28 November 2017, it was reported that China will deploy troops to aid Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.[395]
On 6 December 2017, Russian government declared Syria to have been “completely liberated” from ISIL; on 11 December Russian president Vladimir Putin visited the Russian base in Syria, where he announced that he had ordered the partial withdrawal of the forces deployed to Syria.[396][397][398][399] On 26 December, Russian defence minister Sergey Shoigu said that Russia had set about ″forming a permanent grouping" at its naval facility at Tartus and Hmeymim airbase.[400][401] Two days later, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said that Russia believed that the U.S. forces must leave Syrian territory completely once remnants of the terrorists were completely eliminated and that would happen very soon.[402][403]
Army advance in Hama province and in Ghouta, Turkish intervention in Afrin (January 2018–March 2018)
See also: Northwestern Syria campaign (October 2017–February 2018), Turkish military operation in Afrin, Rif Dimashq offensive (February 2018), and February 2018 Israel–Syria incident
In January—February 2018, the Syrian Army and its allies continued to advance against the forces of Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and other rebels in the Hama Governorate. Meanwhile, on 20 January, the Turkish military began a cross-border operation in the Kurdish-majority Afrin Canton and the Tel Rifaat Area of Shahba Canton in Northern Syria, against the Kurdish-led Democratic Union Party in Syria (PYD),[404] its armed wing People's Protection Units (YPG),[405] and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) positions.[406]
On 10 February 2018, the Syrian Air Defense shot down an Israeli F-16 fighter jet in response to a cross border raid conducted by Israel on Iranian targets near Damascus through Lebanese airspace.[407][408] The pilots survived the crash, but have been transported for treatment.[409]
On 21 February 2018, the government began an operation to capture rebel-held Ghouta east of Damascus; the operation started with an intensive air campaign.[410]
On 18 March 2018, on the 58th day of the Turkish military operation in Afrin, the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (TFSA) and the Turkish Armed Forces captured Afrin from the YPG and the YPJ, with the Kurds putting up little resistance.[411] Shortly after the capture, TFSA militants looted parts of the city and destroyed numerous pro-Kurdish symbols as Turkish Army troops solidified control by raising Turkish flags and banners over the city.[412]
Douma chemical attack, U.S.-led missile strikes (April 2018–present)
See also: Douma chemical attack
On 7 April 2018, a chemical attack was reported in the city of Douma, with 70 people killed[413][414] and 500 injured. On-site medics stated the cause of those deaths was exposure to chlorine and sarin gas.[415] The Syrian government denied any use of chemical weapons.[416] Following the incident in Douma, the UN Security Council failed to adopt three competing resolutions on an inquiry into the alleged chemical attack, with Russia and the U.S. clashing over the issue.[417][418][419][420][421] Following the incident, Syrian government forces entered and established control over the city of Douma, ending the five year Siege of Ghouta. The militants of Jaysh al-Islam that had previously occupied the pocket were transported to Jarabalus.[422]
On 14 April 2018, the United States, United Kingdom, and France launched missile strikes on multiple government targets in Syria as a response to the suspected chemical attack in Douma.
Advanced weaponry and tactics
See also: Equipment of the Syrian Army and List of military equipment used by Syrian opposition forces
Chemical weapons
Main articles: Syria and weapons of mass destruction and Use of chemical weapons in the Syrian Civil War
See also: Syria chemical weapons program and Destruction of Syria's chemical weapons
Sarin, mustard agent and chlorine gas have been used during the conflict. Numerous casualties led to an international reaction, especially the 2013 Ghouta attacks. A UN fact-finding mission was requested to investigate alleged chemical weapons attacks. In four cases the UN inspectors confirmed use of sarin gas.[423] In August 2016, a confidential report by the United Nations and the OPCW explicitly blamed the Syrian military of Bashar al-Assad for dropping chemical weapons (chlorine bombs) on the towns of Talmenes in April 2014 and Sarmin in March 2015 and ISIS for using sulfur mustard on the town of Marea in August 2015.[424]
The United States and the European Union have accused the Syrian government of conducting several chemical attacks. Following the 2013 Ghouta attacks and international pressure, the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons began. In 2015 the UN mission disclosed previously undeclared traces of sarin compounds in a "military research site".[425] After the April 2017 Khan Shaykhun chemical attack, the United States launched its first attack against Syrian government forces.
Cluster bombs
Many nations including but not limited to Syria, the United States, Russia, China, Israel and India are not parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions and do not recognize the ban on the use of cluster bombs. The Syrian Army is alleged to have begun using cluster bombs in September 2012. Steve Goose, director of the Arms Division at Human Rights Watch said "Syria is expanding its relentless use of cluster munitions, a banned weapon, and civilians are paying the price with their lives and limbs", "The initial toll is only the beginning because cluster munitions often leave unexploded bomblets that kill and maim long afterward."[426]
Thermobaric weapons
Russian thermobaric weapons, also known as "fuel-air bombs", have been used by the government side during the war. One Buratino thermobaric rocket launcher "can obliterate a roughly 200 by 400 metres (660 by 1,310 feet) area with a single salvo".[427] Since 2012, rebels have said that the Syrian Air Force (government forces) is using thermobaric weapons against residential areas occupied by the rebel fighters, such as during the Battle of Aleppo and also in Kafr Batna.[428] A panel of United Nations human rights investigators reported that the Syrian government used thermobaric bombs against the strategic town of Qusayr in March 2013.[429] In August 2013, the BBC reported on the use of napalm-like incendiary bombs on a school in northern Syria.[430] On 2 December 2015, The National Interest reported that Russia was deploying the TOS-1 Buratino multiple rocket launch system to Syria, which is "designed to launch massive thermobaric charges against infantry in confined spaces such as urban areas."[431]
Anti-tank missiles
Several types of anti-tank missiles are in use in Syria. Russia has sent 9M133 Kornet, third-generation anti-tank guided missiles to the Syrian Government whose forces have used them extensively against armour and other ground targets to fight Jihadists and rebels.[432] U.S.-made BGM-71 TOW missiles are one of the primary weapons of rebel groups and have been primarily provided by the United States and Saudi Arabia.[433] The U.S. has also supplied many Eastern European sourced 9K111 Fagot launchers and warheads to Syrian rebel groups under its Timber Sycamore program.[434]
Ballistic missiles
Main article: 2017 Deir ez-Zor missile strike
In June 2017, Iran attacked ISIL targets in the Deir ez-Zor area in eastern Syria with Zolfaghar ballistic missiles fired from western Iran,[435] in the first use of mid-range missiles by Iran in 30 years.[436] According to Jane's Defence Weekly, the missiles travelled 650–700 kilometres.[435]
Belligerents
Main article: List of armed groups in the Syrian Civil War
See also: Foreign involvement in the Syrian Civil War
It has been suggested that portions of this section be split out and merged into the article titled List of armed groups in the Syrian Civil War, which already exists. (Discuss) (March 2017)
Illustration of the main factions involved in the Syrian Civil War and affiliations by 2018
Syrian Arab Republic and allies
Main articles: Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region and Syrian Arab Republic
A number of sources have emphasized that as of at least late 2015/early 2016 the Syrian government was dependent on a mix of volunteers and militias rather than the Syrian Armed Forces.[437][438]
Syrian Armed Forces
Main article: Syrian Armed Forces
Two destroyed Syrian Army tanks in Azaz, August 2012
The funeral procession of Syrian General Mohammed al-Awwad who was assassinated in Damascus in 2012
Before the uprising and war broke out, the Syrian Armed Forces were estimated at 325,000 regular troops and 280,000–300,000 reservists.[citation needed] Of the regular troops, 220,000 were 'army troops' and the rest in the navy, air force and air defense force. Following defections as early as June 2011, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimated that by July 2012, tens of thousands of soldiers had defected, and a Turkish official estimated 60,000.[citation needed]
National Defense Force
Main article: National Defence Forces (Syria)
The Syrian NDF was formed out of pro-government militias. They receive their salaries and military equipment from the government,[439] and number around 100,000 troops.[440] The force acts in an infantry role, directly fighting against rebels on the ground and running counter-insurgency operations in coordination with the army, who provides them with logistical and artillery support. The force has a 500-strong women's wing called "Lionesses of National Defense" which operates checkpoints.[441] NDF members, like regular army soldiers, are allowed to loot the battlefields (but only if they participate in raids with the army), and can sell the loot for extra money.[439] Sensing that they depend on the largely secular government,[442] many of the militias of Syrian Christians (like Sootoro in Al-Hasakah) fight on the Syrian government's side[443] and seek to defend their ancient towns, villages and farmsteads from ISIL (see also Christian Militias in Syria).
Shabiha
Main article: Shabiha
The Shabiha are unofficial pro-government militias drawn largely from Syria's Alawite minority group. Since the uprising, the Syrian government has been accused of using shabiha to break up protests and enforce laws in restive neighborhoods.[444] As the protests escalated into an armed conflict, the opposition started using the term shabiha to describe civilians they suspected of supporting Bashar al-Assad and the Syrian government and clashing with pro-opposition demonstrators.[445] The opposition blames the shabiha for the many violent excesses committed against anti-government protesters and opposition sympathizers,[445] as well as looting and destruction.[446] In December 2012, the shabiha were designated a terrorist organization by the United States.[447]
Bassel al-Assad is reported to have created the shabiha in the 1980s for government use in times of crisis.[448] Shabiha have been described as "a notorious Alawite paramilitary, who are accused of acting as unofficial enforcers for Assad's government";[449] "gunmen loyal to Assad",[450] and, according to the Qatar-based Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, "semi-criminal gangs comprised of thugs close to the government".[450] Despite the group's image as an Alawite militia, some shabiha operating in Aleppo have been reported to be Sunnis.[451] In 2012, the Assad government created a more organized official militia known as the Jaysh al-Sha'bi, allegedly with help from Iran and Hezbollah. As with the shabiha, the vast majority of Jaysh al-Sha'bi members are Alawite and Shi'ite volunteers.[452]
Hezbollah
Main article: Hezbollah involvement in the Syrian Civil War
In February 2013, former secretary general of Hezbollah, Sheikh Subhi al-Tufayli, confirmed that Hezbollah was fighting for the Syrian Army,[453] which in October 2012, General Secretary Hassan Nasrallah had still denied was happening on a large scale,[454] except to admit that Hezbollah fighters helped the Syrian government "retain control of some 23 strategically located villages [in Syria] inhabited by Shiites of Lebanese citizenship".[455] Nasrallah said that Hezbollah fighters have died in Syria doing their "jihadist duties".[455]
In 2012 and 2013, Hezbollah was active in gaining control of territory in the Al-Qusayr District of Syria,[456] by May 2013 publicly collaborating with the Syrian Army[457][458] and taking 60 percent of the city[which?] by the end of 14 May.[457] In Lebanon, there have been "a recent increase in the funerals of Hezbollah fighters" and "Syrian rebels have shelled Hezbollah-controlled areas."[457] As of 14 May 2013, Hezbollah fighters were reported to be fighting alongside the Syrian Army, particularly in the Homs Governorate.[459] Hassan Nasrallah has called on Shiites and Hezbollah to protect the shrine of Sayida Zeinab.[459] President Bashar al-Assad denied in May 2013 that there were foreign fighters, Arab or otherwise, fighting for the government in Syria.[460]
On 25 May 2013, Nasrallah announced that Hezbollah was fighting in Syria against Islamic extremists and "pledged that his group will not allow Syrian militants to control areas that border Lebanon".[461] In the televised address, he said, "If Syria falls in the hands of America, Israel and the takfiris, the people of our region will go into a dark period."[458] According to independent analysts, by the beginning of 2014, approximately 500 Hezbollah fighters had died in the Syrian conflict.[462] On 7 February 2016, 50 Hezbollah fighters were killed in a clash by the Jaysh al-Islam near Damascus. These fighters were embedded in the SAA formation called Army Division 39.[463]
Iran
Main article: Iranian involvement in the Syrian Civil War
Bodies of Iranian casualties return to Kermanshah, August 2016
Iran continues to officially deny the presence of its combat troops in Syria, maintaining that it provides military advice to Assad's forces in their fight against terrorist groups.[464] Since the civil uprising phase of the Syrian civil war, Iran has provided the Syrian government with financial, technical, and military support, including training and some combat troops.[465][466][467] Iran and Syria are close strategic allies. Iran sees the survival of the Syrian government as being crucial to its regional interests.[467][468] Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, was reported to be vocally in favor of the Syrian government.[466]
By December 2013 Iran was thought to have approximately 10,000 operatives in Syria.[468] But according to Jubin Goodarzi, assistant professor and researcher at Webster University, Iran aided the Syrian government with a limited number of deployed units and personnel, "at most in the hundreds ... and not in the thousands as opposition sources claimed".[469] Lebanese Hezbollah fighters backed by Tehran have taken direct combat roles since 2012.[468][470] In the summer of 2013, Iran and Hezbollah provided important battlefield support for Syrian forces, allowing them to make advances on the opposition.[470] In 2014, coinciding with the peace talks at Geneva II, Iran has stepped up support for Syrian President Assad.[468][470] The Syrian Minister of Finance and Economy stated more than 15 billion dollars had come from the Iranian government.[471] Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps Quds Force commander Qasem Suleimani is in charge of Syrian President Assad's security portfolio and has overseen the arming and training of thousands of pro-government Shi'ite fighters.[472]
328 IRGC troops, including several commanders, have reportedly been killed in the Syrian civil war since it began.[473]
Foreign Shia militias
Liwa Fatemiyoun fighters during the Palmyra offensive in December 2016
Shia fighters from Afghanistan and Pakistan are "far more numerous" than Sunni non-Syrian fighters, though they have received "noticeably less attention" from the media.[474] The number of Afghans fighting in Syria on behalf of the Syrian government has been estimated at "between 10,000 and 12,000", the number of Pakistanis is not known[474] (approximately 15% of Pakistan's population is Shia). The main forces are the liwa’ fatimiyun (Fatimiyun Brigade) – which is composed exclusively of Afghans and fights "under the auspices" of Hezbollah Afghanistan[474]—and the Pakistani liwa’ zaynabiyun (Zaynabiyun Brigade) formed in November 2015.[474] Many or most of the fighters are refugees, and Iran has been accused of taking advantage of their inability to "obtain work permits or establish legal residency in Iran", and using threats of deportation for those who hesitate to volunteer.[474] The fighters are also paid a relatively high salary, and some have told journalists, that “the Islamic State is a common enemy of Iran and Afghanistan … this is a holy war,” and that they wish to protect the Shia pilgrimage site of Sayyida Zaynab, from Sunni jihadis.[474]
Russia
Main article: Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War
See also: Russian naval facility in Tartus
On 30 September 2015, Russia's Federation Council unanimously granted the request by President of Russia Vladimir Putin to permit the use of the Russian Armed Forces in Syria.[475] On the same day, the Russian general Sergey Kuralenko,[476] who represents Russia at the joint information center in Baghdad set up by Russia, Iran, Iraq and Syria to coordinate their operations against Islamic State,[477][478] arrived at the US Embassy in Baghdad and requested that any U.S. forces in the targeted area leave immediately.[479] An hour later, the Russian aircraft based in the government-held territory began conducting airstrikes against the rebel forces.[480]
In response to the downing of a Syrian government Su-22 plane by a U.S. fighter jet near the town of Tabqah in Raqqa province on 18 June 2017, Russia announced that U.S.-led coalition warplanes flying west of the Euphrates would be tracked by Russian anti-aircraft forces in the sky and on the ground and treated as targets; furthermore, the Russian military said they suspended the hotline (the "deconfliction" line) with their U.S. counterparts based in Al Udeid.[481] Nevertheless, a few days later, the U.S. military stated that the deconfliction line remained open and that Russia had given the U.S. a prior notification of its massive cruise missile strike from warships in the Mediterranean that was conducted on 23 June 2017, despite the fact that the U.S. was not among those countries mentioned as being forewarned in Russia′s official report on the strike.[482] On 27 June 2017, U.S. defence minister Jim Mattis told the press: ″We deconflict with the Russians; it's a very active deconfliction line. It's on several levels, from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the secretary of state with their counterparts in Moscow, General Gerasimov and Minister Lavrov. Then we've got a three-star deconfliction line that is out of the Joints Chiefs of Staff out of the J5 there. Then we have battlefield deconfliction lines. One of them is three-star again, from our field commander in Baghdad, and one of them is from our CAOC, our Combined Air Operations Center, for real-time deconfliction.″[483]
Syrian Opposition and allies
Main articles: Syrian opposition and Syrian Interim Government
The armed opposition consists of various groups that were either formed during the course of the conflict or joined from abroad. The Syrian National Coalition formed the Syrian Interim Government.[484] The minister of defense is to be chosen by the Free Syrian Army.[485] Other Islamist factions are independent from the mainstream Syrian opposition.[citation needed]
Political groups
Main article: Syrian opposition
Syrian National Coalition
Main articles: National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces and Syrian National Council
Syrian National Coalition members in Doha, 11 November 2012. In center, president al-Khatib, along with VPs Seif and Atassi, as well as all SNC chairmen Ghalioun, Sieda and Sabra.
Formed on 23 August 2011, the National Council is a coalition of anti-government groups, based in Turkey. The National Council seeks the end of Bashar al-Assad's rule and the establishment of a modern, civil, democratic state. SNC has links with the Free Syrian Army. On 11 November 2012 in Doha, the National Council and other opposition groups united as the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces.[486] The SNC has 22 out of 60 seats of the Syrian National Coalition.[487] The following day, it was recognized as the legitimate government of Syria by numerous Persian Gulf states.
Delegates to the Coalition's leadership council are to include women and representatives of religious and ethnic minorities, including Alawites. The military council will reportedly include the Free Syrian Army.[488] The main aims of the National Coalition are replacing the Bashar al-Assad government and "its symbols and pillars of support", "dismantling the security services", unifying and supporting the Free Syrian Army, refusing dialogue and negotiation with the al-Assad government, and "holding accountable those responsible for killing Syrians, destroying [Syria], and displacing [Syrians]".[489]
National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change
Main article: National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change
Formed in 2011 and based in Damascus, the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change is an opposition bloc consisting of 13 left-wing political parties and "independent political and youth activists".[490] It has been defined by Reuters as the internal opposition's main umbrella group.[491] The NCC initially had several Kurdish political parties as members, but all except for the Democratic Union Party left in October 2011 to join the Kurdish National Council.[492] Some have accused the NCC of being a "front organization" for Bashar al-Assad's government and some of its members of being ex-government insiders.[493]
Relations with other Syrian political opposition groups are generally poor. The Syrian Revolution General Commission, the Local Coordination Committees of Syria or the Supreme Council of the Syrian Revolution oppose the NCC calls to dialogue with the Syrian government.[494] In September 2012, the Syrian National Council (SNC) reaffirmed that despite broadening its membership, it would not join with "currents close to [the] NCC".[495] Despite recognizing the Free Syrian Army on 23 September 2012,[353] the FSA has dismissed the NCC as an extension of the government, stating that "this opposition is just the other face of the same coin".[491]
Military rebel groups
Free Syrian Army and affiliate groups
Main article: Free Syrian Army
Free Syrian Army fighters being transported by pickup truck
The formation of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) was announced on 29 July 2011 by a group of defecting Syrian Army officers, encouraging others to defect in order to defend civilian protesters from violence by the state and effect government change.[496] By December 2011, estimates of the number of defectors to the FSA ranged from 1,000 to over 25,000.[497] The FSA, initially "headquartered" in Turkey, moved its headquarters to northern Syria in September 2012, and functions more as an umbrella organization than a traditional military chain of command.
FSA soldiers plan during the Battle of Aleppo (October 2012).
In March 2012, two reporters of The New York Times witnessed an FSA attack and learned that the FSA had a stock of able, trained soldiers and ex-officers, organized to some extent, but without the weapons to put up a realistic fight.[498]
In April 2013, the US announced it would transfer $123 million in nonlethal aid to Syrian rebels through defected general Salim Idriss, leader of the FSA,[499] who later acknowledged "the rebels" were badly fragmented and lacked military skill. Idriss said he was working on a countrywide command structure, but that a lack of material support was hurting that effort. "Now it is very important for them to be unified. But unifying them in a manner to work like a regular army is still difficult", Idriss said. He acknowledged common operations with Islamist group Ahrar ash-Sham but denied any cooperation with Islamist group al-Nusra Front.[499]
Abu Yusaf, a commander of the Islamic State (IS), said in August 2014 that many of the FSA members who had been trained by United States' and Turkish and Arab military officers were actually joining IS,[500] but by September 2014 the Free Syrian Army was joining an alliance and common front with Kurdish militias including the YPG to fight ISIS.[501]
In October 2015, shortly after the start of Russia's military intervention in Syria, a senior ex-US official was paraphrased as saying "the "moderates” had collapsed long ago" in a piece by Robert Fisk, who added that many fighters had defected to other rebel groups,[502] while Russia's foreign minister Sergey Lavrov called the FSA "an already phantom structure",[503] but later proclaimed that Russia was ready to aid the FSA with airstrikes against ISIS.[504] On the other hand, in December 2015, according to the American Institute for the Study of War, groups that identify as FSA were still present around Aleppo and Hama and in southern Syria, and the FSA was still “the biggest and most secular of the rebel groups.”[505]
By March 2017, the FSA backed by Turkey finished clearing the Islamic State from the north of Syria. [506] After this, they turned to attempting to take over Afrin canton from the YPG.
Syrian opposition campaign in support of Syria in 2012
Islamist factions
Main article: Islamic Front (Syria)
The Islamic Front (Arabic: الجبهة الإسلامية, al-Jabhat al-Islāmiyyah) was a merger of seven rebel groups involved in the Syrian civil war[31] that was announced on 22 November 2013.[507] The group had about 40,000 fighters.[508] An anonymous spokesman for the group had stated that it will not have ties with the Syrian National Coalition,[509] though a member of the political bureau of the group, Ahmad Musa, has stated that he hopes for recognition from the Syrian National Council in cooperation for what he suggested "the Syrian people want. They want a revolution and not politics and foreign agendas."[510] The group is widely seen as backed and armed by Saudi Arabia.[511]
Salafist factions
In September 2013, US Secretary of State John Kerry stated that extremist Salafi jihadist groups make up 15–25% of rebel forces.[512] According to Charles Lister, about 12% of rebels are part of groups linked to al-Qaeda, 18% belong to Ahrar ash-Sham, and 9% belong to Suqour al-Sham Brigade.[513] These numbers contrast with a report by Jane's Information Group, a defense outlet, claiming almost half of all rebels being affiliated to Islamist groups.[514] British think-tank Centre on Religion and Geopolitics, linked to former British PM Tony Blair, says that 60% of the rebels could be classified as Islamist extremists.[515]
In September 2013, leaders of 13 powerful salafist brigades rejected the Syrian National Coalition and called Sharia law "the sole source of legislation". In a statement they declared that "the coalition and the putative government headed by Ahmad Tomeh does not represent or recognize us". Among the signatory rebel groups were al-Nusra Front, Ahrar ash-Sham and Al-Tawheed.[516]
Al-Nusra Front / Jabhat Fateh al-Sham / Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham
Main article: Al-Nusra Front
The scene of the October 2012 Aleppo bombings, for which al-Nusra Front claimed responsibility[517]
The al-Qaeda-linked[518] al-Nusra Front, being the biggest jihadist group in Syria, is often considered to be the most aggressive and violent part of the opposition.[519] Being responsible for over 50 suicide bombings, including several deadly explosions in Damascus in 2011 and 2012, it is recognized as a terrorist organization by the Syrian government and was designated as such by United States in December 2012.[520] It has been supported by the Turkish government for years, according to a US intelligence adviser quoted by Seymour Hersh.[521] In April 2013, the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq released an audio statement announcing that al-Nusra Front is its branch in Syria.[522] The leader of al-Nusra, Abu Mohammad al-Golani, said that the group would not merge with the Islamic State of Iraq but would still maintain allegiance to Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of al-Qaeda.[523] The estimated manpower of al-Nusra Front is approximately 6,000–10,000 people, including many foreign fighters.[524]
The relationship between the al-Nusra Front and the indigenous Syrian opposition is tense, even though al-Nusra has fought alongside the FSA in several battles and some FSA fighters defected to the al-Nusra Front.[525] The Mujahideen's strict religious views and willingness to impose sharia law disturbed many Syrians.[526] Some rebel commanders have accused foreign jihadists of "stealing the revolution", robbing Syrian factories and displaying religious intolerance.[527] Al-Nusra Front has been accused of mistreating religious and ethnic minorities since their formation.[528] On 10 March 2014, al-Nusra released 13 Christian nuns captured from Ma'loula, Damascus, in exchange for the release of 150 women from the Syrian government's prisons. The nuns reported that they were treated well by al-Nusra during their captivity, adding that they "were giving us everything we asked for" and that "no one bothered us".[529]
The al-Nusra Front renamed itself to Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (JFS) in June 2016, and later became the leading member of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in 2017.
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)
Main article: Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
Much of Raqqa suffered extensive damage during the battle of Raqqa in June–October 2017.
Called Dā'ash or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (abbrv. ISIL or ISIS [Islamic State of Iraq and Syria]) made rapid military gains in Northern Syria starting in April 2013 and as of mid-2014 controls large parts of that region, where the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights describes it as "the strongest group".[530] It has imposed strict Sharia law over land that it controls. The group was, until 2014, affiliated with al-Qaeda, led by the Iraqi fighter Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and has an estimated 7,000 fighters in Syria, including many non-Syrians. It has been praised as less corrupt than other militia groups and criticized for abusing human rights[531] and for not tolerating non-Islamist militia groups, foreign journalists or aid workers, whose members it has expelled, imprisoned,[532] or executed. According to Michael Weiss, ISIL has not been targeted by the Syrian government "with quite the same gusto" as other rebel factions.[472]
By summer 2014, ISIL controlled a third of Syria. It established itself as the dominant force of Syrian opposition, defeating Jabhat al-Nusra in Deir Ezzor Governorate and claiming control over most of Syria's oil and gas production.[533]
The Syrian government did not begin to fight ISIL until June 2014 despite its having a presence in Syria since April 2013, according to Kurdish officials.[534] According to IHS Markit, between April 2016 and April 2017, ISIL offensively fought the Syrian government 43% of times, Turkish-backed rebel groups 40% of times, and the Syrian Democratic Forces 17% of times.[535]
ISIL was able to recruit more than 6,300 fighters in July 2014 alone.[536] In September 2014, reportedly some Syrian rebels signed a "non-aggression" agreement with ISIL in a suburb of Damascus, citing inability to deal with both ISIL and the Syrian Army's attacks at once.[537] Some Syrian rebels have, however, decried the news on the "non-aggression" pact.
ISIL have also planted bombs in the ancient city area of Palmyra, a city with population of 50,000. Palmyra is counted as a UNESCO World Heritage Site as it is home to some of the most extensive and best-preserved ancient Roman ruins in the world.[538] Having lost nearly half of their territory in Iraq since 2014, many more Islamic State leaders have begun to sell their property and sneak into Syria, further destabilizing the region.[539]
North Syria Federation (Rojava)
Main article: Democratic Federation of Northern Syria
Syrian Democratic Council
Main article: Syrian Democratic Council
The Syrian Democratic Council was established on 10 December 2015 in al-Malikiyah. It was co-founded by prominent human rights activist Haytham Manna and was intended as the political wing of the Syrian Democratic Forces. The council includes more than a dozen blocs and coalitions that support federalism in Syria, including the Movement for a Democratic Society, the Kurdish National Alliance in Syria, the Law–Citizenship–Rights Movement, and since September 2016 the Syria's Tomorrow Movement. The last group is led by former National Coalition president and Syrian National Council Ahmad Jarba. In August 2016 the SDC opened a public office in al-Hasakah.[540]
The Syrian Democratic Council was invited to participate in the international Geneva III peace talks on Syria in March 2016. However, it rejected the invitation.
Syrian Democratic Forces
Main articles: Syrian Democratic Forces and Rojava conflict
Kurds showing their support for the PYD in Afrin during the conflict
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are an alliance of mainly Kurdish but also Arab, Syriac-Assyrian, and Turkmen militias with mainly left-wing and democratic confederalist political leanings. They are opposed to the Assad government, but have directed most of their efforts against Al-Nusra Front and ISIL.
The group formed in December 2015, led primarily by the predominantly Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG). Estimates of its size range from 55,000[541] to 80,000 fighters.[542] While largely Kurdish, it's estimated that about 40% of the fighters are non-Kurdish.[543] Kurds – mostly Sunni Muslims, with a small minority of Yezidis – represented 10% of Syria's population at the start of the uprising in 2011. They had suffered from decades of discrimination and neglect, being deprived of basic civil, cultural, economic, and social rights.[544]:7 When protests began, Assad's government finally granted citizenship to an estimated 200,000 stateless Kurds, in an effort to try and neutralize potential Kurdish opposition.[545] Despite this concession, most Kurds remain opposed to the government, hoping instead for a more decentralized Syria based on federalism.[546] The Syriac Military Council, like many Christian militias (such as Khabour Guards, Nattoreh, and Sutoro), originally formed to defend Christian villages, but joined the Kurdish forces to retake Hasakah from ISIS in late 2015[547] The Female Protection Forces of the Land Between the Two Rivers is an all-female force of Assyrian fighters in north east Syria fighting ISIS alongside other Assyrian and Kurdish units.[548] Before the formation of the SDF, the YPG was the primary fighting force in the DFNS, and first entered this Syrian civil war as belligerent in July 2012 by capturing a town, Kobanî, that until then was under control of the Syrian Assad-government (see Syrian Kurdistan campaign).
On 17 March 2016 the Syrian Democratic Council, the political wing of the SDF,[549] declared the creation of an autonomous federation in northern Syria.[550]
U.S.-led coalition against ISIL
See also: Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve, American-led intervention in Syria, and Turkish involvement in the Syrian Civil War
A number of countries, including some individual NATO members, have since September 2014 participated in air operations in Syria that came to be overseen by the Combined Joint Task Force, set up by the US Central Command to coordinate military efforts against ISIL pursuant to their collectively undertaken commitments, including those of 3 December 2014.[551] Those who have conducted airstrikes in Syria include the United States, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, France, Jordan, The Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom.[552] Some members are involved in the conflict beyond combating ISIL; Turkey has been accused of fighting against Kurdish forces in Syria and Iraq, including intelligence collaborations with ISIL in some cases.[553] According to one intelligence adviser quoted by controversial journalist Seymour Hersh, the conclusion of a "highly classified assessment" carried out by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 2013 was that Turkey had effectively transformed the secret US arms program in support of moderate rebels, who no longer existed, into an indiscriminate program to provide technical and logistical support for all elements of the opposition, including Jabhat al-Nusra and Islamic State.[521]
Foreign involvement
Main articles: Foreign involvement in the Syrian Civil War and Foreign rebel fighters in the Syrian Civil War
Map of countries surrounding Syria (red) with military involvement
Syria
Countries that support the Syrian government
Countries that support the Syrian rebels
Countries that are divided in their support
Both the Syrian government and the opposition have received support, militarily and diplomatically, from foreign countries leading the conflict to often be described as a proxy war.[554] The major parties supporting the Syrian Government are Russia, Iran and Hezbollah. The main Syrian opposition body – the Syrian coalition – receives political, logistic and military support from the United States, Britain and France.[555]
The pro-government countries are involved in the war politically and logistically by providing military equipment, training and battle troops. The Syrian government has also received arms from Russia and SIGINT support directly from GRU,[556] in addition to significant political support from Russia.[557]
Some Syrian rebels get training from the CIA at bases in Qatar, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.[558] Under the aegis of operation Timber Sycamore and other clandestine activities, CIA operatives and U.S. special operations troops have trained and armed nearly 10,000 rebel fighters at a cost of $1 billion a year since 2012.[559] The Syrian coalition also receives logistic and political support from Sunni states, most notably Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia; all the three major supporting states however have not contributed any troops for direct involvement in the war, though Turkey was involved in border incidents with the Syrian Army. The Financial Times and The Independent reported that Qatar had funded the Syrian rebellion by as much as $3 billion.[560] It reported that Qatar was offering refugee packages of about $50,000 a year to defectors and family.[560] Saudi Arabia has emerged as the main group to finance and arm the rebels.[561] According to Seymour Hersh, US intelligence estimates that the opposition is financed by Saudi Arabia to the tune of $700 million a year (2014).[521] The designation of the FSA by the West as a moderate opposition faction has allowed it, under the CIA-run programmes,[282][283] to receive sophisticated weaponry and other military support from the U.S., Turkey and some Gulf countries that effectively increases the total fighting capacity of the Islamist rebels.[562][563]
French television France 24 reported that the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, with perhaps 3,000 foreign jihadists among its ranks,[564] "receives private donations from the Gulf states."[565] It is estimated ISIL has sold oil for between $1m-4m per day principally to Turkish buyers, during at least six months in 2013, greatly helping its growth.[566] The Turkish government has been also accused of helping ISIL by turning a blind eye to illegal transfers of weapons, fighters, oil and pillaged antiquities across the southern border.[567] As of 2015[update], Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are openly backing the Army of Conquest, an umbrella rebel group that reportedly includes an al-Qaeda linked al-Nusra Front and another Salafi coalition known as Ahrar ash-Sham, and Faylaq Al-Sham, a coalition of Muslim Brotherhood-linked rebel groups.[568][569]
On 21 August 2014, two days after US photojournalist James Foley was beheaded, the U.S. military admitted a covert rescue attempt involving dozens of US Special Operations forces had been made to rescue Americans and other foreigners held captive in Syria by ISIL militants. The rescue attempt is the first known US military ground action inside Syria. The resultant gunfight resulted in one US soldier being injured. The rescue was unsuccessful as the captives were not in the location targeted. On 11 September 2014 the US Congress expressed support to give President Obama the $500 million he wanted to arm and train moderate Syrian rebels. The question of whether the president has authority to continue airstrikes beyond the 60-day window granted by the War Powers Resolution remained unresolved.[570][needs update] On 12 September, US Secretary of State John Kerry met Turkish leaders to secure backing for US-led action against ISIL, but Ankara showed reluctance to play a frontline role. Kerry stated that it was "not appropriate" for Iran to join talks on confronting ISIL.[571]
The plans revealed in September also involve Iraq in targeting ISIL. US warplanes have launched 158 strikes in Iraq over the past five weeks while emphasizing a relatively narrow set of targets. The Pentagon's press secretary, John Kirby, said the air campaign in Iraq, which began 8 Aug, will enter a more aggressive phase.[572] On the other hand, according to Fanack, initial refusal from the West to support the Syrian liberal opposition has contributed to the emergence of extremist Sunni groups. These include ISIL and the Nusra Front, linked to al-Qaeda.[573] American and Turkish militaries announced a joint plan to remove Islamic State militants from a 100-kilometre (60 mi) strip along the Turkish border.[574]
Foreign fighters have joined the conflict in opposition to Assad. While most of them are jihadists, some individuals, such as Mahdi al-Harati, have joined to support the Syrian opposition.[575]
The ICSR estimates that 2,000–5,500 foreign fighters have gone to Syria since the beginning of the protests, about 7–11 percent of whom came from Europe. It is also estimated that the number of foreign fighters does not exceed 10 percent of the opposition armed forces.[576] Another estimate puts the number of foreign jihadis at 15,000 by early 2014.[577]
In October 2012, various Iraqi religious groups join the conflict in Syria on both sides. Radical Sunnis from Iraq have traveled to Syria to fight against President Bashar al-Assad and the Syrian government.[578] In December 2015, the Soufan Group estimated a total of 27,000–31,000 foreign fighters from 86 countries had travelled to Syria and Iraq to join extremist groups.[579]
Reporting, censoring and propaganda
Main article: Media coverage of the Syrian Civil War
The Syrian Civil War is one of the most heavily documented wars in history, despite the extreme dangers that journalists face while in Syria.[580]
International reactions
Main article: International reactions to the Syrian Civil War
See also: Vetoed UN resolutions on Syria
Esther Brimmer (U.S.) speaks at a United Nations Human Rights Council urgent debate on Syria, February 2012
During the early period of the civil war, The Arab League, European Union, the United Nations,[581] and many Western governments quickly condemned the Syrian government's violent response to the protests, and expressed support for the protesters' right to exercise free speech.[582] Initially, many Middle Eastern governments expressed support for Assad, but as the death toll mounted, they switched to a more balanced approach by criticizing violence from both government and protesters. Both the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation suspended Syria's membership. Russia and China vetoed Western-drafted United Nations Security Council resolutions in 2011 and 2012, which would have threatened the Syrian government with targeted sanctions if it continued military actions against protestors.[583]
Humanitarian aid
Main article: Humanitarian aid during the Syrian Civil War
The conflict holds the record for the largest sum ever requested by UN agencies for a single humanitarian emergency, $6.5 billon worth of requests of December 2013.[584] The difficulty of delivering humanitarian aid to people is indicated by the statistics for January 2015: of the estimated 212,000 people during that month who were besieged by government or opposition forces, 304 were reached with food.[585]
The international humanitarian response to the conflict in Syria is coordinated by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) in accordance with General Assembly Resolution 46/182.[586] The primary framework for this coordination is the Syria Humanitarian Assistance Response Plan (SHARP) which appealed for USD $1.41 billion to meet the humanitarian needs of Syrians affected by the conflict.[587] Official United Nations data on the humanitarian situation and response is available at an official website managed by UNOCHA Syria (Amman).[588] UNICEF is also working alongside these organizations to provide vaccinations and care packages to those in need.
US aid to Syrian opposition forces, May 2013
USAID and other government agencies in US delivered nearly $385 million of aid items to Syria in 2012 and 2013. The United States has provided food aid, medical supplies, emergency and basic health care, shelter materials, clean water, hygiene education and supplies, and other relief supplies.[589] Islamic Relief has stocked 30 hospitals and sent hundreds of thousands of medical and food parcels.[590]
Other countries in the region have also contributed various levels of aid. Iran has been exporting between 500 and 800 tonnes of flour daily to Syria.[591] Israel has provided treatment to 750 Syrians in a field hospital located in Golan Heights. Rebels say that 250 of their fighters received medical treatment there.[592] Syrian refugees make up one quarter of Lebanon's population, mostly consisting of women and children.[593] In addition, Russia has said it created six humanitarian aid centers within Syria to support 3000 refugees in 2016.[594]
The World Health Organization has reported that 35% of the country's hospitals are out of service. Fighting makes it impossible to undertake the normal vaccination programs. The displaced refugees may also pose a risk to countries to which they have fled.[595] 400,000 civilians are isolated by the fighting in eastern Ghouta, resulting in acutely malnourished children according to the United Nations Special Advisor, Jan Egeland, who urges the parties for medical evacuations. 55,000 civilians are also isolated in Berm where they have last seen humanitarian relief in the early summer.[596] 494 individuals are awaiting medical evacuations.[597]
Financial information on the response to the SHARP and assistance to refugees and for cross-border operations can be found on UNOCHA's Financial Tracking Service. As of 19 September 2015, the top ten donors to Syria were United States, European Commission, United Kingdom, Kuwait, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Japan, UAE, and Norway.[598]
Impact
Deaths
Main article: Casualties of the Syrian Civil War
Total deaths over the course of the conflict in Syria (18 March 2011 – 18 October 2013) based on data from the Syrian National Council[599]
On 2 January 2013, the United Nations stated that 60,000 had been killed since the civil war began, with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay saying "The number of casualties is much higher than we expected, and is truly shocking."[600] Four months later, the UN's updated figure for the death toll had reached 80,000.[601] On 13 June 2013, the UN released an updated figure of people killed since fighting began, the figure being exactly 92,901, for up to the end of April 2013. Navi Pillay, UN high commissioner for human rights, stated that: "This is most likely a minimum casualty figure." The real toll was guessed to be over 100,000.[602][603] Some areas of the country have been affected disproportionately by the war; by some estimates, as many as a third of all deaths have occurred in the city of Homs.[604]
One problem has been determining the number of "armed combatants" who have died, due to some sources counting rebel fighters who were not government defectors as civilians.[605] At least half of those confirmed killed have been estimated to be combatants from both sides, including 52,290 government fighters and 29,080 rebels, with an additional 50,000 unconfirmed combatant deaths.[79] In addition, UNICEF reported that over 500 children had been killed by early February 2012,[606] and another 400 children have been reportedly arrested and tortured in Syrian prisons;[607] both of these claims have been contested by the Syrian government. Additionally, over 600 detainees and political prisoners are known to have died under torture.[608] In mid-October 2012, the opposition activist group SOHR reported the number of children killed in the conflict had risen to 2,300,[609] and in March 2013, opposition sources stated that over 5,000 children had been killed.[610] In January 2014, a report was released detailing the systematic killing of more than 11,000 detainees of the Syrian government.[611]
Wounded civilians arrive at a hospital in Aleppo, October 2012
On 20 August 2014, a new U.N. study concluded that at least 191,369 people have died in the Syrian conflict.[612] The UN thereafter stopped collecting statistics, but a study by the Syrian Centre for Policy Research released in February 2016 estimated the death toll to be 470,000, with 1.9m wounded (reaching a total of 11.5% of the entire population either wounded or killed).[613]
Disease
Formerly rare infectious diseases have spread in rebel-held areas brought on by poor sanitation and deteriorating living conditions. The diseases have primarily affected children. These include measles, typhoid, hepatitis, dysentery, tuberculosis, diphtheria, whooping cough and the disfiguring skin disease leishmaniasis. Of particular concern is the contagious and crippling Poliomyelitis. As of late 2013 doctors and international public health agencies have reported more than 90 cases. Critics of the government complain that, even before the uprising, it contributed to the spread of disease by purposefully restricting access to vaccination, sanitation and access to hygienic water in "areas considered politically unsympathetic".[614]
Refugee migration
Main article: Refugees of the Syrian Civil War
Syrian refugees in Lebanon living in cramped quarters (6 August 2012)
The violence in Syria caused millions to flee their homes. As of March 2015, Al-Jazeera estimate 10.9 million Syrians, or almost half the population, have been displaced.[615] 3.8 million have been made refugees.[615] As of 2013[update], 1 in 3 of Syrian refugees (about 667,000 people) sought safety in Lebanon (normally 4.8 million population).[616] Others have fled to Jordan, Turkey, and Iraq. Turkey has accepted 1,700,000 (2015) Syrian refugees, half of whom are spread around cities and a dozen camps placed under the direct authority of the Turkish Government. Satellite images confirmed that the first Syrian camps appeared in Turkey in July 2011, shortly after the towns of Deraa, Homs, and Hama were besieged.[617] In September 2014, the UN stated that the number of Syrian refugees had exceeded 3 million.[618] According to the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Sunnis are leaving for Lebanon and undermining Hezbollah's status. The Syrian refugee crisis has caused the "Jordan is Palestine" threat to be diminished due to the onslaught of new refugees in Jordan. Additionally, "the West Bank is undergoing emigration pressures which will certainly be copied in Gaza if emigration is allowed".[619] Greek Catholic Patriarch Gregorios III Laham claims more than 450,000 Syrian Christians have been displaced by the conflict.[620] As of September 2016, the European Union has reported that there are 13.5 million refugees in need of assistance in the country.[621]
Human rights violations
Main article: Human rights violations during the Syrian Civil War
Victims of the Ghouta chemical attack
According to various human rights organizations and United Nations, human rights violations have been committed by both the government and the rebels, with the "vast majority of the abuses having been committed by the Syrian government".[622]
According to three international lawyers,[623] Syrian government officials could face war crimes charges in the light of a huge cache of evidence smuggled out of the country showing the "systematic killing" of about 11,000 detainees. Most of the victims were young men and many corpses were emaciated, bloodstained and bore signs of torture. Some had no eyes; others showed signs of strangulation or electrocution.[624] Experts said this evidence was more detailed and on a far larger scale than anything else that had emerged from the then 34-month crisis.[625]
UN reported also that "siege warfare is employed in a context of egregious human rights and international humanitarian law violations. The warring parties do not fear being held accountable for their acts." Armed forces of both sides of the conflict blocked access of humanitarian convoys, confiscated food, cut off water supplies and targeted farmers working their fields. The report pointed to four places besieged by the government forces: Muadamiyah, Daraya, Yarmouk camp and Old City of Homs, as well as two areas under siege of rebel groups: Aleppo and Hama.[626][627] In Yarmouk Camp 20,000 residents are facing death by starvation due to blockade by the Syrian government forces and fighting between the army and Jabhat al-Nusra, which prevents food distribution by UNRWA.[626][628] In July 2015, the UN quietly removed Yarmouk from its list of besieged areas in Syria, despite not having been able deliver aid there for four months, and declined to explain why it had done so.[629]
ISIS forces have been accused by the UN of using public executions, amputations, and lashings in a campaign to instill fear. "Forces of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham have committed torture, murder, acts tantamount to enforced disappearance and forced displacement as part of attacks on the civilian population in Aleppo and Raqqa governorates, amounting to crimes against humanity", said the report from 27 August 2014.[630]
Enforced disappearances and arbitrary detentions have also been a feature since the Syrian uprising began.[631] An Amnesty International report, published in November 2015, accused the Syrian government of forcibly disappearing more than 65,000 people since the beginning of the Syrian Civil War.[632] According to a report in May 2016 by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least 60,000 people have been killed since March 2011 through torture or from poor humanitarian conditions in Syrian government prisons.[633]
In February 2017, Amnesty International published a report which accused the Syrian government of murdering an estimated 13,000 persons, mostly civilians, at the Saydnaya military prison. They said the killings began in 2011 and were still ongoing. Amnesty International described this as a "policy of deliberate extermination" and also stated that "These practices, which amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, are authorised at the highest levels of the Syrian government."[634] Three months later, the United States State Department stated a crematorium had been identified near the prison. According to the U.S., it was being used to burn thousands of bodies of those killed by the government's forces and to cover up evidence of atrocities and war crimes.[635] Amnesty International expressed surprise at the claims about the crematorium, as the photographs used by the US are from 2013 and they did not see them as conclusive, and fugitive government officials have stated that the government buries those its executes in cemeteries on military grounds in Damascus.[636] The Syrian government denied the allegations.
ISIL and al-Qaeda executions
On 19 August, American journalist James Foley was executed by ISIL, who claimed it was in retaliation for the United States operations in Iraq. Foley was kidnapped in Syria in November 2012 by Shabiha militia.[637] ISIL also threatened to execute Steven Sotloff, who was kidnapped at the Syrian-Turkish border in August 2013.[638] There were reports ISIS captured a Japanese national, two Italian nationals, and a Danish national as well.[639] Sotloff was later executed in September 2014. At least 70 journalists have been killed covering the Syrian war, and more than 80 kidnapped, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.[640] On 22 August 2014, the al-Nusra Front released a video of captured Lebanese soldiers and demanded Hezbollah withdraw from Syria under threat of their execution.[641]
Sectarian threats
Main article: Sectarianism and minorities in the Syrian Civil War
Map of Syria's ethno-religious composition in 1976
The successive governments of Hafez and Bashar al-Assad have been closely associated with the country's minority Alawite religious group,[642] an offshoot of Shia, whereas the majority of the population, and most of the opposition, is Sunni. Alawites started to be threatened and attacked by dominantly Sunni rebel fighting groups like al-Nusra Front and the FSA since December 2012 (see Sectarianism and minorities in the Syrian Civil War#Alawites).
A third of 250,000 Alawite men of military age have been killed fighting in the Syrian civil war.[643] In May 2013, SOHR stated that out of 94,000 killed during the war, at least 41,000 were Alawites.[644]
Many Syrian Christians reported that they had fled after they were targeted by the anti-government rebels.[645] (See: Sectarianism and minorities in the Syrian Civil War#Christians.)
Al Jazeera reported that "The Druze accuse rebels of committing atrocities against their community in Syria ... Syria's Druze minority has largely remained loyal to President Bashar al-Assad since the war began in 2011."[646]
As militias and non-Syrian Shia—motivated by pro-Shia sentiment rather than loyalty to the Assad government—have taken over fighting the opposition from the weakened Syrian Army, fighting has taken on a more sectarian nature. One opposition leader has alleged that the Shia militias often “try to occupy and control the religious symbols in the Sunni community to achieve not just a territorial victory but a sectarian one as well”[647]—allegedly occupying mosques and replacing Sunni icons with pictures of Shia leaders.[647]
According to the Syrian Network for Human Rights human rights abuses have been committed by the militias including "a series of sectarian massacres between March 2011 and January 2014 that left 962 civilians dead".[647]
Crime wave
Doctors and medical staff treating injured rebel fighters and civilians in Aleppo
As the conflict has expanded across Syria, many cities have been engulfed in a wave of crime as fighting caused the disintegration of much of the civilian state, and many police stations stopped functioning. Rates of theft increased, with criminals looting houses and stores. Rates of kidnappings increased as well. Rebel fighters were seen stealing cars and, in one instance, destroying a restaurant in Aleppo where Syrian soldiers had been seen eating.[648] By July 2012, the human rights group Women Under Siege had documented over 100 cases of rape and sexual assault during the conflict, with many of these crimes believed to have been perpetrated by the Shabiha and other pro-government militias. Victims included men, women, and children, with about 80% of the known victims being women and girls.[649]
Local National Defense Forces commanders often engaged "in war profiteering through protection rackets, looting, and organized crime". NDF members were also implicated in "waves of murders, robberies, thefts, kidnappings, and extortions throughout government-held parts of Syria since the formation of the organization in 2013", as reported by the Institute for the Study of War.[650]
Criminal networks have been used by both the government and the opposition during the conflict. Facing international sanctions, the Syrian government relied on criminal organizations to smuggle goods and money in and out of the country. The economic downturn caused by the conflict and sanctions also led to lower wages for Shabiha members. In response, some Shabiha members began stealing civilian properties and engaging in kidnappings.[444] Rebel forces sometimes rely on criminal networks to obtain weapons and supplies. Black market weapon prices in Syria's neighboring countries have significantly increased since the start of the conflict. To generate funds to purchase arms, some rebel groups have turned towards extortion, theft, and kidnapping.[444]
Cultural heritage
Main articles: Tourism in Syria, List of heritage sites damaged during the Syrian Civil War, and Destruction of cultural heritage by ISIL
In January 2018 Turkish air strikes have seriously damaged an ancient Neo-Hittite temple in Syria's Kurdish-held Afrin region. It was built by the Arameans in the first millennium BC.[651]
The Temple of Bel in Palmyra, which was destroyed by ISIL in August 2015
As of March 2015, the war has affected 290 heritage sites, severely damaged 104, and completely destroyed 24. Five of the six UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Syria have been damaged.[615] Destruction of antiquities has been caused by shelling, army entrenchment, and looting at various tells, museums, and monuments.[652] A group called Syrian Archaeological Heritage Under Threat is monitoring and recording the destruction in an attempt to create a list of heritage sites damaged during the war and to gain global support for the protection and preservation of Syrian archaeology and architecture.[653]
UNESCO listed all six Syria's World Heritage sites as endangered but direct assessment of damage is not possible. It is known that the Old City of Aleppo was heavily damaged during battles being fought within the district, while Palmyra and Krak des Chevaliers suffered minor damage. Illegal digging is considered a grave danger, and hundreds of Syrian antiquities, including some from Palmyra, appeared in Lebanon. Three archeological museums are known to have been looted; in Raqqa some artifacts seem to have been destroyed by foreign Islamists due to religious objections.[654]
In 2014 and 2015, following the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, several sites in Syria were destroyed by the group as part of a deliberate destruction of cultural heritage sites. In Palmyra, the group destroyed many ancient statues, the Temples of Baalshamin and Bel, many tombs including the Tower of Elahbel, and part of the Monumental Arch.[655] The 13th-century Palmyra Castle was extensively damaged by retreating militants during the Palmyra offensive in March 2016.[656] ISIL also destroyed ancient statues in Raqqa,[657] and a number of churches, including the Armenian Genocide Memorial Church in Deir ez-Zor.[658]
The war has inspired its own particular artwork, done by Syrians. A late summer 2013 exhibition in London at the P21 Gallery showed some of this work, which had to be smuggled out of Syria.[659]
Spillover
Main article: Spillover of the Syrian Civil War
In June 2014, members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) crossed the border from Syria into northern Iraq, and have taken control of large swaths of Iraqi territory as the Iraqi Army abandoned its positions. Fighting between rebels and government forces also spilled over into Lebanon on several occasions. There were repeated incidents of sectarian violence in the North Governorate of Lebanon between supporters and opponents of the Syrian government, as well as armed clashes between Sunnis and Alawites in Tripoli.[660]
Further information: Iraqi Civil War (2014–present) and Timeline of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant events in 2014
Starting on 5 June 2014, ISIL seized swathes of territory in Iraq. As of 2014, the Syrian Arab Air Force used airstrikes targeted against ISIL in Raqqa and al-Hasakah in coordination with the Iraqi government.[661]
Peace efforts
Main articles: Syrian peace process and Syrian Civil War ceasefires
Syria peace talks in Vienna, 30 October 2015
During the course of the war, there have been several international peace initiatives, undertaken by the Arab League, the United Nations, and other actors.[662] The Syrian government has refused efforts to negotiate with what it describes as armed terrorist groups.[663] On 1 February 2016, the UN announced the formal start of the UN-mediated Geneva Syria peace talks[664] that had been agreed on by the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) in Vienna. On 3 February 2016, the UN Syria peace mediator suspended the talks.[665] On 14 March 2016, Geneva peace talks resumed. The Syrian government insisted that discussion of Bashar-al-Assad's presidency "is a red line", however Syria's President Bashar al-Assad said he hoped peace talks in Geneva would lead to concrete results, and stressed the need for a political process in Syria.[666]
A new round of talks between the Syrian government and some groups of Syrian rebels concluded on 24 January 24, 2017 in Astana, Kazakhstan, with Russia, Iran and Turkey supporting the ceasefire agreement brokered in late December 2016.[667] The Astana Process talks was billed by a Russian official as a complement to, rather than replacement, of the United Nations-led Geneva Process talks.[667] On 4 May 2017, at the fourth round of the Astana talks, representatives of Russia, Iran, and Turkey signed a memorandum whereby four "de-escalation zones" in Syria would be established, effective of 6 May 2017.[668][669]
Depictions
Films
Ladder to Damascus (2013)
Sniper: Legacy (2014)
Phantom (2015)
The Father (2016)
Insyriated (2017)
Documentaries
The Return to Homs (2013)
Red Lines (2014)
Silvered Water, Syria Self-Portrait (2014)
7 Days in Syria (2015)
50 Feet from Syria (2015)
Our War (2016)
The War Show (2016)
The White Helmets (2016), which won the 2017 Oscar for Best Documentary Short.
The battle for Syria. Sources: TV air footage (video documentary + English subtitles The battle for Syria on YouTube, official video documentary and the official text of the [16]).VGTRK
Syrian diary. Sources: TV air footage (video documentary + English subtitles Syrian diary on YouTube), official video documentary of the [17].VGTRK
Last Men in Aleppo (2017), nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 90th Academy Awards.
Video games
Endgame: Syria (2012)
1000 Days of Syria (2014)
Syrian Warfare (2017)
Holy Defence (2018)[670]
See also
Syrian Civil War portal
Terrorism in Syria
Islamist uprising in Syria from 1976 until 1982
Iraqi Civil War (2014 to present)
Yemeni Civil War (2015 to present)
List of modern conflicts in the Middle East
List of ongoing armed conflicts
List of proxy wars
List of wars and battles involving al-Qaeda
List of wars by death toll
List of wars involving Iran
List of wars involving Syria
Syrian Civil War ceasefires
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Further reading
Hinnebusch, Raymond (2012). "Syria: From 'Authoritarian Upgrading' to Revolution?". International Affairs. 88 (1): 95–113. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2346.2012.01059.x.
International Crisis Group (13 July 2011). "Popular Protest in North Africa and the Middle East (VII): The Syrian Regimes Slow-Motion Suicide" (PDF). Middle East/North Africa Report N°109. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 July 2011. Retrieved 22 July 2011.
Landis, Joshua (2012). "The Syrian Uprising of 2011: Why the Asad Regime Is Likely to Survive to 2013". Middle East Policy. 19 (1): 72–84. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4967.2012.00524.x.
Lawson, Fred Haley, ed. (1 February 2010). Demystifying Syria. Saqi. ISBN 978-0-86356-654-7.
Rashdan, Abdelrahman. Syrians Crushed in a Complex International Game. OnIslam.net. 21 March 2012. Retrieved 28 May 2012.
Van Dam, Nikolaos (15 July 2011). The Struggle for Power in Syria: Politics and Society under Asad and the Ba'ath Party. I. B. Tauris. ISBN 1-84885-760-8.
van Dam, Nikolaos (2017). Destroying a Nation: The Civil War in Syria. I.B. Tauris. ISBN 9781786722485.
Malek, Alia (2017). The Home That Was Our Country: A Memoir of Syria. PublicAffairs. ISBN 9781568585321.
Pearlman, Wendy (2017). We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled: Voices from Syria. HarperCollins. ISBN 9780062654458.
Wright, Robin (2008). Dreams and Shadows: The Future of the Middle East. New York: Penguin Press. pp. 212–261. ISBN 1-59420-111-0.
Ziadeh, Radwan (2011). Power and Policy in Syria: Intelligence Services, Foreign Relations and Democracy in the Modern Middle East. London: I. B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1-84885-434-5.
Cordesman, Anthony "Failed State Wars" in Syria and Iraq (III): Stability and Conflict in Syria Center for Strategic and International Studies. 2 March 2016. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
External links
Find more aboutthe Syrian Civil Warat Wikipedia's sister projects
Media from Wikimedia Commons
News from Wikinews
Interviews
Fox News exclusive interview with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad Fox News, 18 September 2013
Interview with Bashar Assad: 'In the End, a Lie Is a Lie' Der Spiegel, 7 October 2013
President Bashar al-Assad’s interview with Agence France Presse AFP 20-01-2014 20 January 2014
A discussion of the causes of the civil war at the United Nations University for Peace.
First ever broadcast interview with Jabhat al Nusra founder Abu Mohammed al-Joulani
Supranational government bodies
FAO – Syria crisis
Human rights bodies
The ICRC in Syria, International Committee of the Red Cross
Media
Syria's war at BBC News
Syrian uprising: A year in turmoil at The Washington Post
Syria Pulse collected news and commentary at Al Monitor
Latest Syria developments at NOW Lebanon
"Syria collected news and commentary". The Guardian.
Syria collected news and commentary at The New York Times
Syria news, all the latest and breaking Syria news at The Daily Telegraph
Syria collected coverage at Al Jazeera English
Syria collected news at Intelligence Online
Interactive Map of the Syrian Civil War
Syria Deeply at News Deeply
Maps of Europe and Syrian Civil War (omniatlas.com)
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Syrian Civil War
Part of the Arab Spring and Arab Winter
[show]
Background
Timeline
Background
1963 coup d'état
1966 coup d'état
1970 "Corrective Revolution"
1979–82 Islamic uprising
1999 Latakia protests
2000–01 Damascus Spring
2004 Qamishli riots
Syrian occupation of Lebanon
2005 Damascus Declaration
Human rights in Syria
2011
(Jan–Apr • May–Aug • Sep–Dec)
Death of Hamza Ali Al-Khateeb
Siege of Daraa
Siege of Baniyas
Talkalakh siege
Siege of Rastan and Talbiseh
Jisr ash-Shugur operation
Siege of Hama
Siege of Homs
Jabal al-Zawiya operation
Siege of Latakia
Deir ez-Zor Clashes
Rif Dimashq clashes
Battle of Zabadani
Battle of Douma
Daraa Governorate clashes
First Battle of Rastan
Shayrat and Tiyas airbase ambush
Idlib Governorate clashes
Jabal al-Zawiya massacres
2012
(Jan–Apr • May–Aug • Sep–Dec)
al-Midan bombing
Second Battle of Rastan
First Idlib operation
First Battle of Idlib
First Battle of al-Qusayr
Second Idlib operation
Battle of Taftanaz
Third Battle of Rastan
Houla massacre
Battle of al-Haffah
Al-Qubeir massacre
Battle of Tremseh
Battle of Damascus
Damascus bombing
Battle of Aleppo
Battle of Anadan
Siege of Base 46
Al-Hasakah Governorate campaign (2012–13)
First Rif Dimashq offensive
Darayya massacre
Battle of Khirbet al-Joz
Battle of Maarrat al-Nu'man (2012)
First Siege of Wadi Deif
Battle of Harem
Second Rif Dimashq offensive
Battle of Darayya
Aqrab massacre
First Hama offensive
Halfaya massacre
Battle of Darayya
Quneitra Governorate clashes
Talbiseh bakery massacre
2013
(Jan–Apr • May–Dec)
Battle of Safira
Battle of Shadadeh
Damascus offensive
Raqqa campaign (2012–13) (Battle of Raqqa (March 2013))
Daraa offensive
Third Rif Dimashq offensive
Battle of Jdaidet al-Fadl
Ghouta chemical attack
Al-Qusayr offensive
Second Battle of al-Qusayr
Bayda and Baniyas massacres
Second Hama offensive
Hatla massacre
Khan al-Assal chemical attack
Khan al-Assal massacre
Adra massacre
Battle of Ras al-Ayn
Battle of Tell Abyad
Fourth Rif Dimashq offensive
Aleppo offensive
2014
(Jan–Jul • Aug–Dec)
First Inter-Rebel Conflict
Battle of Markada
First Deir ez-Zor Offensive
Battle of Mork
2nd Daraa Offensive
Maan massacre
Al-Otaiba ambush
4th Idlib Offensive
Battle of Hosn
2nd Latakia Offensive
Battle of Al-Malihah
Kafr Zita chemical attack
Second Siege of Wadi Deif
2nd Qalamoun Offensive
Battle of Arsal
First Battle of the Shaer gas field
Eastern Syria Offensive
Battle for Tabqa Air base
Northern Aleppo offensive (February–July 2014)
3rd Hama Offensive
Quneitra Offensive
6th Rif Dimashq offensive
Siege of Kobanî
3rd Daraa offensive
2nd Al-Safira offensive
Idlib Raid
Second Inter-Rebel Conflict
Second Battle of the Shaer gas field
Battle of Al-Shaykh Maskin
2nd Deir ez-Zor offensive
2015
(Jan–Jul • Aug–Dec)
An-26 crash
4th Daraa Offensive
Southern Syria Offensive
Eastern al-Hasakah offensive
1st Battle of Sarrin
2nd Battle of Sarrin
Battle of Bosra
5th Idlib Offensive
Second Battle of Idlib
Battle of Nasib Border Crossing
2nd Battle of Yarmouk Camp
Western al-Hasakah offensive
Palmyra offensive (May 2015)
2015 Qamishli bombings
Tell Abyad offensive
Kobanî massacre
Quneitra offensive
Palmyra offensive (July–August 2015)
7th Rif Dimashq offensive
Northwestern Syria offensive
2015 Aleppo offensive
2015 Al-Hawl offensive
Homs offensive (November–December 2015)
East Aleppo offensive (2015–16)
Latakia offensive (2015–2016)
Tishrin Dam offensive
2015 Russian Sukhoi Su-24 shootdown
2016
(Jan–Apr • May–Aug • Sep–Dec)
Second Battle of Al-Shaykh Maskin
3rd Deir ez-Zor offensive
Sayyidah Zaynab bombings
Northern Aleppo offensive (February 2016)
Ithriyah-Raqqa offensive (February–March 2016)
Al-Shaddadi offensive (2016)
February Homs bombings
February Sayyidah Zaynab bombings
2016 Khanasir offensive
Battle of Tel Abyad
Battle of Maarrat al-Nu'man (2016)
Battle of Qamishli (April 2016)
Northern Aleppo offensive (March–June 2016)
Palmyra offensive (March 2016)
East Ghouta inter-rebel conflict (April–May 2016)
8th Rif Dimashq offensive
Northern Raqqa offensive (May 2016)
May 2016 Jableh and Tartous bombings
Ithriyah-Raqqa offensive (June 2016)
9th Rif Dimashq offensive
Manbij offensive
Tokhar
2016 Southern Aleppo campaign
Battle of al-Rai (August 2016)
2016 Aleppo summer campaign
Western al-Bab offensive (September 2016)
5 September 2016 Syria bombings
September 2016 Deir ez-Zor air raid
September 2016 Urum al-Kubra Aid Convoy attack
September Aleppo offensive
2016 Dabiq offensive
Western al-Bab offensive (October–November 2016)
Aleppo offensive (September–October 2016)
Khan al-Shih offensive (October–November 2016)
Raqqa campaign (2016–present)
Battle of al-Bab
Aleppo offensive (November–December 2016)
Palmyra offensive (December 2016)
2017
(Jan–Apr • May–Aug • Sep–Dec)
Wadi Barada offensive (2016–17)
January 2017 Azaz bombing
Syrian Desert campaign (December 2016–April 2017)
Idlib Governorate clashes (2017)
Deir ez-Zor offensive (January–February 2017)
Daraa offensive (February–June 2017)
Southwestern Daraa offensive (February 2017)
Qaboun offensive (2017)
Palmyra offensive (2017)
East Aleppo offensive (January–April 2017)
March 2017 Damascus bombings
2017 al-Jinah airstrike
Hama offensive (March–April 2017)
Battle of Tabqa (2017)
Khan Shaykhun chemical attack
2017 Shayrat missile strike
2017 Aleppo suicide car bombing
April 2017 Turkish airstrikes in Syria and Iraq
East Ghouta inter-rebel conflict (April–May 2017)
Syrian Desert campaign (May–July 2017)
Maskanah Plains offensive
East Hama offensive
Battle of Raqqa (2017)
9th Daraa
Southern Raqqa offensive (June 2017)
2017 Jobar offensive
Quneitra offensive (June 2017)
Idlib Governorate clashes (July 2017)
Central Syria campaign (2017)
4nd Qalamoun
Deir ez-Zor offensive (September 2017–March 2018)
Hama offensive (September 2017)
Northwestern Syria campaign (October 2017–February 2018)
Turkish military operation in Idlib Governorate
Battle of Harasta (2017–18)
Eastern Syria campaign (September–December 2017)
2017 Euphrates Crossing offensive
2017 Mayadin offensive
Battle of Deir ez-Zor (September–November 2017)
2017 Abu Kamal offensive
Beit Jinn offensive
2018
(Jan–Apr • May–Aug • Sep–Dec)
Turkish military operation in Afrin
Battle of Khasham
Tenth Rif Dimashq offensive
Southern Damascus offensive (January–February 2018)
Syrian Liberation Front–Tahrir al-Sham conflict
Southern Damascus offensive (March 2018)
Douma chemical attack
2018 missile strikes against Syria
Southern Damascus offensive (April 2018)
Spillover
Spillover into Lebanon
Lebanese–Syrian border clashes
Battle of Sidon
Iranian Embassy Bombing
Northern Lebanon Clashes
3nd Qalamoun
Syrian-Turkish border clashes
December 2011 Syrian–Turkish border clash
Turkish aircraft shootdown
October 2012 Syrian-Turkish border clashes
Reyhanlı bombings
January 2014 Turkish airstrike in Syria
Israeli–Syrian ceasefire line incidents
March 2017 incident
February 2018 incident
Jordanian-Syrian border clashes
April 2014 Jordanian–Syrian border airstrike
Spillover into Iraq
Akashat ambush
Operation al-Shabah
April 2014 Iraqi–Syrian border airstrike
Assassination of Andrei Karlov
Turkish military intervention in Syria (August 2016–March 2017)
2017 Russian Air Force Al-Bab incident
2017 Deir ez-Zor missile strike
[show]
Involved parties
Syria
Ba'ath Government
Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region
Syrian Social Nationalist Party
Arab Socialist Movement
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Military & Militias
Syrian Armed Forces
Syrian Resistance
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Support for the government
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medical facility targeting
military intervention
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Syrian opposition, Al-Qaeda
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Smaller groups
al-Qaeda affiliates and allies
Tahrir al-Sham
Turkistan Islamic Party in Syria
Caucasus Emirate
Ajnad al-Kavkaz
Junud al-Makhdi
Malhama Tactical
Ansar al-Islam splinter faction
Smaller groups
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Muslim Brotherhood of Syria
Grey Wolves
Smaller groups
Support for the Opposition
American-led intervention
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Qatar
Saudi Arabia
Turkey
Rojava (SDF)
Rojava government
Democratic Union Party
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People's Protection Units
Women's Protection Units
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Army of Revolutionaries
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Syriac Military Council (Bethnahrain Women's Protection Forces
Jabhat Thuwar al-Raqqa
Raqqa Hawks Brigade
Northern Democratic Brigade
Free Officers Union
Liberation Brigade faction
Shahba Forces
Liwa Owais al-Qorani remnants
Martyr Amara Arab Women's Battalion
Battalion of Karachok Martyrs
Revolutionary Forces
Khabour Guards
Nattoreh
Smaller groups
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Patriotic Union of Kurdistan
Kurdistan Workers' Party
International Freedom Battalion
International Anti-Fascist Battalion
Sinjar Resistance Units
Êzîdxan Women's Units
Smaller groups
ISIL
Islamic State of
Iraq and the Levant
Military of ISIL
Dokumacılar
Khalid ibn al-Walid Army
Liwa al-Aqsa
Group of the One and Only
Liwa Dawud
[show]
People
Ammar Abdulhamid
Ali al-Abdallah
Adnan al-Aroor
al-Assad family
Bashar
Maher
Rifaat
Rami Makhlouf
Hafez Makhlouf
Riad al-Asaad
Anwar al-Bunni
Fahd Jassem al-Freij
Haitham al-Maleh
Moaz al-Khatib
Kamal al-Labwani
Hamza al-Khateeb
Tal al-Mallohi
Fida al-Sayed
Riad al-Turk
Khaled Khoja
Ammar al-Qurabi
Suheir Atassi
Ali Sadreddine Al-Bayanouni
Aref Dalila
Farid Ghadry
Burhan Ghalioun
Razan Ghazzawi
Ghassan Hitto
Salim Idris
Randa Kassis
Abdul Halim Khaddam
Michel Kilo
Bassma Kodmani
Ali Habib Mahmud
Ali Mahmoud Othman
Ibrahim Qashoush
Dawoud Rajiha
Yassin al-Haj Saleh
Bouthaina Shaaban
Adib Shishakly
Abdulbaset Sieda
Riad Seif
Fadwa Soliman
Mohamad Anas Haitham Soueid
Yaser Tabbara
Razan Zaitouneh
Rami Jarrah
Abdurrahman Mustafa
[show]
Issues
Peace process
Related topics
Elections
Issues
Casualties
Chemical weapons
Cities and towns
Damaged heritage sites
Foreign involvement
Human rights violations
Humanitarian aid
International reactions
International demonstrations and protests
Massacres
Refugees (European migrant crisis)
Sectarianism and minorities
Spillover into Lebanon
Syrian reactions
Peace process
Arab League monitors
Friends of Syria Group
Kofi Annan peace plan
UN Supervision Mission
Lakhdar Brahimi peace plan
U.S.–Russia peace proposals on Syria
39th G8 summit
UN Security Council Resolution 2118
Geneva II Conference
2015 Zabadani cease-fire agreement
2015 Vienna talks
2016 Geneva talks
Related topics
2014 Syrian detainee report
Exclusive mandate
Fourth Extraordinary Session of the Islamic Summit Conference
International recognition of the Syrian National Council
Syria Files
Syrian media coverage
The Return to Homs
Silvered Water, Syria Self-Portrait
Sunnistan
Syrian presidential election, 2014
Elections and referendums
held during the civil war
Syrian local elections, 2011
Syrian constitutional referendum, 2012
Syrian presidential election, 2014
Rojava local elections, 2015
Syrian parliamentary election, 2016
Northern Syria local elections, 2017
Category
[show]
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Arab Spring
"Ash-shab yurid isqat an-nizam"
Events by country
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Groups
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Egypt: April 6 Youth Movement
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The Third Square
Ultras Ahlawy
Libya: National Liberation Army
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Mauritania: February 25th Movement
Saudi Arabia: Women to drive movement
CDHRAP
Society for Development and Change
Syria: Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party
Regional Command
National Command
National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces
Free Syrian Army
Syrian Revolution General Commission
Syrian National Council
National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change
Hizb ut-Tahrir
Foreign fighters
Tunisia: Constitutional Democratic Rally
Ennahda Movement
Popular Front
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Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet
Yemen: Alliance of Yemeni Tribes
Al-Islah
Hashid
Houthis
General People's Congress
Hiraak
Notable people
Women in the Arab Spring
Algeria: Abdelaziz Bouteflika
Ahmed Ouyahia
Bahrain: Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa
Hasan Mushaima
Ali Salman
Ali Jawad al-Sheikh
Egypt: Hosni Mubarak
Omar Suleiman
Mohamed Hussein Tantawi
Ahmed Nazif
Ahmed Shafik
Wael Ghonim
Kamal Ganzouri
Khaled Mohamed Saeed
Gihan Ibrahim
Essam Sharaf
Mohamed ElBaradei
Mohamed Morsi
Hesham Qandil
Bassem Youssef
Jordan: King Abdullah II
Marouf al-Bakhit
Samir Rifai
Libya: Muammar Gaddafi
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi
Mustafa Abdul Jalil
Mahmoud Jibril
Mohammed Nabbous
Mauritania: Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz
Moulaye Ould Mohamed Laghdaf
Morocco: Mohammed VI
Abbas El Fassi
Saudi Arabia: Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud
Khaled al-Johani
Manal al-Sharif
Nimr al-Nimr
Sudan: Omar al-Bashir
Hassan al-Turabi
Syria: Bashar al-Assad
Muhammad Naji al-Otari
Adel Safar
Riyad Farid Hijab
Wael Nader al-Halqi
Maher al-Assad
Burhan Ghalioun
Moaz al-Khatib
Hamza Ali Al-Khateeb
Tunisia: Zine El Abidine Ben Ali
Mohamed Ghannouchi
Moncef Marzouki
Rashid al-Ghannushi
Fouad Mebazaa
Beji Caid Essebsi
Hamadi Jebali
Mohamed Bouazizi
Chokri Belaid
United Arab Emirates:
UAE Five
Yemen: Ali Abdullah Saleh
Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi
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Impact
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1910s
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Mecca massacre
Abu Nidal's executions
1990s
Gulf War (1990–1991)
1991 uprisings in Iraq
Terror campaign in Egypt (1990s)
Yemeni Civil War (1994)
Islamic insurgency in Saudi Arabia (2000–present)
Operation Desert Fox
al-Qaeda insurgency in Yemen
1999 Shia uprising in Iraq
2000s
Iraq War
Balochi insurgency in Iran
2004 al-Qamishli riots
Houthi insurgency in Yemen
Iran–Israel proxy conflict
2006 Lebanon War
Fatah–Hamas conflict
Nahr al-Bared fighting
2008 conflict in Lebanon
South Yemen insurgency
2009–10 Iranian election protests
2010s
Bahraini uprising of 2011
Egyptian Crisis
Sinai insurgency
Insurgency in Egypt (2013–present)
Syrian Civil War
Syrian War spillover in Lebanon
Iraqi insurgency (2011–13)
Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
Yemeni Crisis
Turkish involvement in Syria
This list includes post-Ottoman conflicts (after 1918) of at least 100 fatalities each
Prolonged conflicts are listed in the decade when initiated; ongoing conflicts are marked italic and conflict with +100,000 killed with bold.
[show]
v
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Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
Names of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
Leadership
Current
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
Abu Ahmad al-Alwani
Abu Fatima al-Jaheishi
Abu Muhammad al-Shimali
† Former
Haji Bakr
Abu Abdulrahman al-Bilawi
Abu Mohannad al-Sweidawi
Abdul Rauf Aliza
Abu Sayyaf
Ali Awni al-Harzi
Abu Umar al-Tunisi
Abu Khattab al-Tunisi
Abu Muslim al-Turkmani
Mohammed Emwazi
Abu Nabil al-Anbari
Abu Ali al-Anbari
Abu Waheeb
Abu Omar al-Shishani
Abu Mohammad al-Adnani
Abu Jandal al-Kuwaiti
Ahmad Abousamra
Turki al-Binali
History
Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad (1999–2004)
Tanzim Qaidat al-Jihad fi Bilad al-Rafidayn (2004–06)
Mujahideen Shura Council (2006)
Islamic State of Iraq (2006–13)
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (2013–14)
Islamic State (June 2014–present)
Timeline of events
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
International
branches
Khorasan Province (Afghanistan and Pakistan)
Libyan Provinces (Libya)
Caucasus Province (North Caucasus)
Sinai Province (Sinai)
Algeria Province (Algeria)
Yemen Province (Yemen)
Abnaa ul-Calipha (Somalia)
Abu Sayyaf (Philippines)
Boko Haram (West Africa)
Wars
War on Terror
Iraq War
Iraqi insurgency (2003–11)
Sectarian violence (2006–07)
Iraqi insurgency (2011–14)
Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
Syrian Civil War
Spillover
Spillover in Lebanon
Inter-rebel conflict
Sinai insurgency
Libyan Civil War (2014–present)
War in North-West Pakistan
War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
Moro conflict (Philippines)
al-Qaeda insurgency in Yemen
Yemeni Civil War (2015–present)
Boko Haram insurgency
Military intervention against ISIL
American-led intervention in Iraq
American-led intervention in the Syrian Civil War
Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War
Turkish military intervention in Syria
Battles
2013
Akashat ambush
Hawija clashes
Raqqa campaign (2012–13)
Operation al-Shabah
Battle of Ras al-Ayn
Battle of Tell Abyad
Latakia offensive
Siege of Menagh Air Base
Battle of Sadad
Battle of Qalamoun
Aleppo offensive (October–December 2013)
Anbar campaign (2013–14)
2014
Fall of Fallujah
Northern Aleppo offensive (February–July 2014)
Battle of Markada
Northern Iraq offensive (June 2014)
Fall of Mosul
Salahuddin campaign
First Battle of Tikrit
Northern Iraq offensive (August 2014)
Siege of Kobanî
Sinjar massacre
Derna campaign (2014–16)
Battle of Baiji
Battle of Ramadi (2014–15)
Deir ez-Zor offensive (December 2014)
Battle of Baiji (2014–15)
Sinjar offensive (December 2014)
Battle of Zumar
Siege of Amirli
2015
Fall of Nofaliya
West African offensive
February 2015 Egyptian airstrikes in Libya
Bosso and Diffa raid
Eastern al-Hasakah offensive
Second Battle of Tikrit
Battle of Sirte
Hama and Homs offensive (March–April 2015)
Battle of Sarrin (March–April 2015)
Battle of Yarmouk Camp
Anbar offensive (2015)
Qalamoun offensive (May–June 2015)
Palmyra offensive (May 2015)
Western al-Hasakah offensive
Al-Hasakah city offensive (May–June 2015)
Tell Abyad offensive (May–July 2015)
Battle of Sarrin (June–July 2015)
Battle of al-Hasakah
Kobanî massacre
Palmyra offensive (July–August 2015)
Battle of Ramadi (2015–16)
Battle of Al-Qaryatayn (August 2015)
Al-Hawl offensive
Homs offensive (November–December 2015)
Sinjar offensive (November 2015)
East Aleppo offensive (2015–16)
Nineveh Plains offensive
Tishrin Dam offensive
2016
Deir ez-Zor offensive (January 2016)
Siege of Fallujah (2016)
Nangarhar Offensive
Battle of Ben Guerdane
Ithriyah-Raqqa offensive (February–March 2016)
Al-Shaddadi offensive
2016 Khanasir offensive
Battle of al-Qaryatayn (March–April 2016)
Palmyra offensive (March 2016)
Northern Aleppo offensive (March–June 2016)
Hīt offensive
Battle of Basilan
Battle of Sirte
Ar-Rutbah offensive
Northern Raqqa offensive (May 2016)
Battle of Fallujah
Manbij offensive
Ithriyah-Raqqa offensive (June 2016)
Abu Kamal offensive
Battle of al-Rai (August 2016)
Northern al-Bab offensive (September 2016)
Western al-Bab offensive (September 2016)
2016 Dabiq offensive
Western al-Bab offensive (October–November 2016)
Battle of al-Bab
Aleppo offensive (November–December 2016)
Palmyra offensive (December 2016)
2017
Battle of Mosul (2016–2017)
Raqqa campaign (2016–2017)
Palmyra offensive (2017)
Deir ez-Zor offensive (January–February 2017)
East Aleppo offensive (January–April 2017)
Eastern Homs offensive (2017)
Hama offensive (2017)
Western Nineveh offensive (2017)
Battle of Tabqa (2017)
Syrian Desert campaign (December 2016–April 2017)
Syrian Desert campaign (May–July 2017)
Maskanah Plains offensive
Battle of Marawi
Battle of Raqqa (2017)
Southern Raqqa offensive (June 2017)
Central Syria campaign (2017)
Battle of Tal Afar (2017)
Hawija offensive (2017)
Eastern Syria campaign (September–December 2017)
2017 Abu Kamal offensive
2017 Western Iraq campaign
Attacks
2014
Jewish Museum of Belgium shooting
Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu ramming attack
2015
Porte de Vincennes siege
Beheading of Copts in Libya
Corinthia Hotel attack
Al Qubbah bombings
Bardo National Museum attack
Sana'a mosque bombings
Jalalabad suicide bombing
Curtis Culwell Center attack
Qatif and Dammam mosque bombings
26 June 2015 Islamist attacks
Kobanî massacre
Saint-Quentin-Fallavier attack
Kuwait mosque bombing
Sousse attacks
Khan Bani Saad bombing
Suruç bombing
Baghdad bombing (August)
Ankara bombings
Metrojet Flight 9268
Beirut bombings
Paris attacks (November)
Tunis bombing
Qamishli bombings
2016
Zliten truck bombing
Hurghada attack
Istanbul bombing (January)
Jakarta attacks
Ramadi bombing
Mahasin mosque attack
Sayyidah Zaynab attack (January)
Mosul massacre
Homs bombings (February)
Sayyidah Zaynab bombings (February)
Baghdad bombings (February)
Istanbul bombing (March)
Brussels bombings
Aden car bombing
Iskandariya suicide bombing
Baghdad bombing (April)
Samawa bombing
Gaziantep bombing (May)
Baghdad bombings (11 May)
Real Madrid fan club massacres
Baghdad gas plant attack
Yemen police bombings (15 May)
Baghdad bombings (17 May)
Jableh and Tartous bombings (May)
Yemen bombings (23 May)
Aktobe shootings
Magnanville stabbing
Mukalla attacks (June)
Movida Bar grenade attack
Atatürk Airport attack
Dhaka attack (July)
Karrada bombing
Muhammad ibn Ali al-Hadi Mausoleum attack
Würzburg train attack
Kabul bombing (July)
Ansbach bombing
Normandy church attack
Qamishli bombings (July)
Charleroi stabbing
Shchelkovo Highway police station attack
Aden bombing (August)
Syria bombings (September)
Baghdad bombings (September)
Baghdad bombings (October)
Quetta police training college attack
Hamam al-Alil massacre
Khuzdar bombing
Samarinda church bombing
Kabul suicide bombing (November)
Hillah suicide truck bombing (November)
Aden suicide bombings (December)
Botroseya church bombing
Al-Karak attack
Berlin attack
Baghdad bombings (December)
2017
Istanbul nightclub shooting
Baghdad bombings (January)
Azaz bombing (January)
Kabul Supreme Court attack (February)
Sehwan suicide bombing
Kabul attack (March)
London (Westminster) attack
Saint Petersburg Metro bombing
Egypt church bombings
Mastung suicide bombing
Manchester Arena bombing
Jakarta bombings
Minya attack
Al-Faqma bombing
London (Southwark) attack
Brighton siege
Tehran attacks
Pakistan bombings (June)
Hurghada attack
Attack on the Iraqi embassy in Kabul
Herat mosque attack
Quetta suicide bombing
Barcelona attacks
Brussels attack (August)
Nasiriyah attacks
Sinai mosque attack
Kabul suicide bombing (December)
Saint Menas church attack
2018
Baghdad bombings (January)
Save The Children Jalalabad attack
Kizlyar church shooting
Kabul suicide bombing (March)
Carcassonne and Trèbes attack
Kabul suicide bombing (April)
Politics
Finances
Ideology
Human rights
Genocide of Christians
Genocide of Shias
Genocide of Yazidis
Persecution of queer men
Killing of captives
Beheading incidents
Destruction of cultural heritage
Relations
Iran and ISIL
Philippines and ISIL
United Kingdom and ISIL
Foreign fighters
Name changes due to ISIL
Portrayal of ISIL in American media
Connection with Saddam Regime and Baath Party
Society
Members
Terrorist cell in Brussels
Territorial claims
Media of ISIL
Ahlam al-Nasr
Al-Bayan
Amaq News Agency
Dabiq
Dar al-Islam
Istok
Konstantiniyye
Rumiyah
Related topics
Worldwide caliphate
Defeating ISIS
Islamism
Millenarianism
Sexual violence in the Iraqi insurgency
Shia–Sunni relations
Slavery in 21st-century Islamism
Theocracy
[show]
v
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Iran–Saudi Arabia relations
Diplomatic posts
Ambassadors of Iran to Saudi Arabia
Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Tehran
Conflicts
Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict
Iraqi insurgency
Syrian Civil War
Yemeni Civil War
Saudi-led intervention in Bahrain
Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
Saudi–Yemeni border conflict
Iranian intervention in Iraq
Incidents
1987 Mecca incident
Bahraini uprising of 2011
2011 alleged Iran assassination plot
2011–12 Saudi Arabian protests
2015 Mina stampede
Execution of Nimr al-Nimr
2016 attack on the Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran
Iranian relations
with GCC member states
Iran–Bahrain relations
Iran–Qatar relations
Iran–Oman relations
Iran–Kuwait relations
Iran–United Arab Emirates relations
See also
Arab League–Iran relations
Iran–Saudi Arabia football rivalry
Shia–Sunni relations
2017 Qatar diplomatic crisis
2017 Lebanon–Saudi Arabia dispute
Category
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