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(2011-2012) |
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Bashar
al-Assad, President of
Syria Syrian
Uprising Timeline (2011) Syrian
Flag Syrian
Civil War BEGAN:
March 15, 2011--Protests against the
Assad government began The
Syrian Civil War (2011-Present):
Syria has been a dictatorship run by
the Assad family since 1970. In that year,
Hafez al-Assad, the Defense Minister,
launched a coup that put him in power.
Upon the death of Hafez al-Assad in 2000,
his son, Bashar al-Assad, became President
of Syria. Both Assads used terror and
force to remain in power. The elder Assad
suppressed a rebellion in 1982 in the city
of Hama by unleashing the Syrian military
on that city. At least 10,000 people,
mostly innocent civilians, died in that
uprising. The Assad regimes use
terror, intimidation, and a ruthless
security force to retain power. In
addition to the official security forces,
the Assads employ a militia made up
largely of fellow members of their
religious sect; the Alawites. This
militia, called the Shabiha (Arabic for
apparitions, or ghosts), are described as
armed thugs dressed in civilian clothes.
Early in the street-protest phase of
the Syrian conflict, the Shabiha would be
used to attack demonstrators while the
uniformed police and security would stand
by and allow these attacks. With the
advent of the combat phase of the Syrian
conflict, the Shabiha are used as a
militia to back up the army. In
March, 2011, as part of the "Arab Spring"
rebellions throughout the Middle East,
protests began in Syria, and rose to the
level of an anti-government uprising
resulting in at least hundreds of deaths.
As
the conflict continued, members of the
Syrian military defected and formed the
"Free Syrian Army," which presented itself
as the armed wing of the uprising. The
Syrian government forces typically respond
to attacks and protests with massive
force, bombarding civilian areas
indiscriminately, and causing heavy
casualties. As of March, 2012, the United
Nations estimated that at least 18,000
perished in this conflict, while at least
250,000 had fled their homes. By the
summer of 2013, the number of dead in the
war was estimated to be over
100,000. Syrian
refugees have sought safety across the
borders into Lebanon and Turkey, but their
presence, and armed incursions by Assad
loyalists, have brought the violence in
Lebanon as well. Western sources also note
that Iran is aiding the Assad regime,
possibly with military advisors. Beginning
in February, of 2013, Assad’s Shiite
Lebanese allies, the Hezbollah militia,
openly joined the war, fighting alongside
Syrian government forces in al-Qusayr.
Hezbollah also fought in the Battle
of Zabadani As
the deaths increase, and as Assad's forces
actively fire on presumed rebel positions
to the north in Turkey and also fire on
Israeli forces in the south, Western
concerns over Assad's stockpile of
chemical weapons and what he intends to do
with them drive rhetoric from the U.S.,
Britain, and others regarding possible
intervention to seize or destroy those
weapons of mass destruction. As
the fighting intensified, Syrian forces
are believed to have used chemical weapons
several times against rebels in Homs,
Aleppo, and other areas. These
attacks remained unconfirmed, which was
significant, as American President Obama
had declared that use of chemical weapons
would be a “red line” that could
provoke an American and Western military
response. Then, on August 21, an
incident occurred in the Syrian town of
Ghouta in which some 1,400 people died of
what was clearly a chemical attack of some
kind. United Nations inspectors
investigated and prepared to submit their
report. As the investigation
continued, the United States prepared for
military action, moving several naval
ships armed with cruise missiles nearer to
Syria, while special reconnaissance
aircraft were flown into the region in
preparation for some sort of American
and allied retaliatory
attack. Britain
and France were also preparing for
military action when British Prime
Minister Cameron lost a vote in the
British Parliament over his request to
engage Syria. With Parliament voting
to not go to war with Syria, it appeared
that the United States and France would
have to go it alone against
Syria. Then,
on August 31, 2013, just as the world
expected President Obama to announce an
attack, the President appeared at a White
House press appearance announcing that he
would defer military action until he had a
vote from Congress on whether or not to
attack Syria in response to the Ghouta
Chemical attack. While the world
expected an American attack on Syria, the
Obama Administration cut a deal with Assad
and his Russian backers to stave off an
American attack. The Russians and Syrians
said they would destroy Assad's stocks of
chemical weapons. Obama accepted this and
no U.S. attack on Syria
occurred. As
the Syrian War continued to grind on, the
war shifted, as ISIS laid claim to large
swaths of Syrian territory (and expanded
from Syria into Iraq), prompting
international intervention, first by the
Western allies in Iraq, and then
increasingly, pro-Assad interention by the
Russians, Iranians, and Hezbollah. Israel
began launching more and more air strikes
against Hezbollah and Syrian targets (both
government and rebels). In
the Spring of 2017, the Syrian government
was accused of using chemical weapons
again, but this time, America, under new
president Donald Trump, responded
militarily. On April 6, 2017, President
Trump ordered the U.S. military to attack
the Syrian air base from which the
chemical attack originated. Nearly 60
cruise missiles struck Shayrat, a Syrian
air base. Syria
Uprising Links and
Resources: Timeline:
Syria--BBC
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