Syrian Civil War 2011-2012 - Societa italiana di storia militare

"Ramadan Massacre", in which at least 136 people were killed and hundreds wounded when Syrian forces attacked demonstrators
across the country, employing tanks, artillery and snipers. Most of the deaths occurred in Hama. [174]
Formation of the Free Syrian Army On July 29, a group of defected officers announced the formation of the Free Syrian Army
(FSA), which would become the main opposition army. Composed of defected Syrian Armed Forces personnel and civilian
volunteers, the rebel army seeks to remove Bashar al-Assad and his government from power. This began a new phase in the conflict,
with more armed resistance against the government crackdown. The FSA would grow in size, to about 20,000 by December, and to an
[175] [176]
estimated 40,000 by June, 2012.
Syrian forces continued to bombard Hama in early August 2011, along with attacks in other cities and towns. [177] On the first full
weekend of Ramadan, the Arab League and several Gulf Cooperation Council member states led by Saudi Arabia broke their silence
on the events in Syria to condemn the government's response. [178] Throughout August, Syrian forces stormed major urban centers and
outlying regions, and continued to attack protests.
In August, The Jerusalem Post reported that protesters enraged at Hezbollah's support for Assad's government burned Hezbollah flags
and images of its leader Hassan Nasrallah in several places in Syria. [179] Pro-government protestors have carried posters of Hassan
Nasrallah. [180] Hezbollah states they support a process of reforms in Syria and that they also are against what they term US plots to
destabilize and interfere in Syria. [181]
On 14 August, the Syrian Navy became involved in the military crackdown. Gunboats fired heavy machine guns at waterfront
districts in Latakia as ground troops and security agents backed by armor stormed several neighborhoods. Up to 28 people were
killed. Eight more civilians were killed elsewhere in the country. [182]
Throughout the next few days, the Siege of Latakia dragged on, with government forces and shabiha militia continuing to fire on
civilians in the city, as well as throughout the country over the following days. On 30 August, during the first day of Eid ul-Fitr,
thousands of people demonstrated in Homs, Daraa, and suburbs of Damascus. Nine people were killed when security forces fired on
these demonstrations. Eid celebrations in the country were reportedly muted, with people trying to visit the graves of their loved ones
being killed. [183] Protests continued into the following months, with security forces and militia continuing to fire at demonstrators and
raid towns and neighborhoods across the country.
Six months into the uprising, the inhabitants of Syria's two largest cities, Damascus and Aleppo, remain largely uninvolved in the
anti-government protests. [184] The two cities central squares have seen rallies in the tens of thousands in support of Assad and his
government. [185] Analysts and even opposition activists themselves acknowledge that without mass participation in the protest
movement from these two cities, the government will survive and avoid the fate of its counterparts in Egypt and Tunisia. [185]
The first major confrontation between the FSA and the Syrian armed forces occurred in Rastan. From 27 September to 1 October,
Syrian government forces, backed by tanks and helicopters, led a major offensive on the city of Rastan in Homs province, which had
been under opposition control for a couple weeks. [186][187] There were reports of large numbers of defections in the city, and the Free
Syrian Army reported it had destroyed 17 armoured vehicles during clashes in Rastan, [188] using RPGs and booby traps. [189] The
Harmoush battalion also reported that it killed 80 loyalist soldiers in fighting. [190] A defected officer in the Syrian opposition claimed
that over a hundred officers had defected as well as thousands of conscripts, although many had gone into hiding or home to their
families, rather than fighting the loyalist forces. [189] The Battle of Rastan between the government forces and the Free Syrian Army
was the longest and most intense action up until that time. After a week of fighting, the FSA was forced to retreat from Rastan. [187] To
avoid government forces, the leader of the FSA, Col. Riad Asaad, retreated to the Turkish side of Syrian-Turkish border. [191]
On 7 October, prominent Kurdish rights activist Mishaal al-Tammo was assassinated when masked gunmen burst into his flat, with
the Syrian government blamed for his death. At least 20 other civilians were also killed during crackdowns on demonstrations across
the country. The next day, more than 50,000 mourners marched in Al-Qamishli to mark Tammo's funeral, and at least 14 were killed
when security forces fired on them. [192]
In October, the Free Syrian Army began to get involved in the Siege of Homs, leading to heavy street fighting in several
neighborhoods. [193]
Protests and armed clashes Throughout August, September, and October Syrian forces continued to suppress protests, with
hundreds of killings and arrests reportedly having taken place. The crackdown continued into the first three days of November. On 3
November, the government accepted an Arab League plan that aims to restore the peace in the country. According to members of the
opposition, however, government forces continued their suppression of protests. Throughout the month, there were numerous reports
of civilians taken from their homes turning up dead and mutilated, clashes between loyalist troops and defectors, and electric shocks
and hot iron rods being used to torture detainees.
Since November 14, fighting between armed rebels and security forces began to intensity in Daraa Governorate, in Syria's south. [194]
Rebels engaged in ambushes against Syrian soldiers, and security forces attempted raids on restless towns.
On 14 November, more than 70 people were killed across Syria as the army clashed with defectors and shot at civilians. Some 34
soldiers and 12 defectors were killed, along with 27 civilians. [195]
Activists said security forces killed up to 70 army defectors on 19 December as they were deserting their military posts near the
Turkish border. At least 30 other people died in other violence across the country, the activists said. If accurate, it would be one of the
heaviest daily tolls of the entire revolt up until December. [196]
On 23 December two suicide bombs hit two security facilities in Damascus, killing 30 civilians and soldiers. The government stated
the attack "carried the blueprint of al-Qaeda", whereas opposition members blamed the government, [197] and hinted that the
government itself may have been behind the attacks to make its case to Arab League observers who arrived in the country only the
day before. Government officials brought the advance team of Arab League observers to the scene to see the wreckage. Omar Idilbi, a
member of the Syrian National Council thought the explosions "very mysterious because they happened in heavily guarded areas that
are difficult to be penetrated by a car." [198] Two days earlier, Lebanese authorities had warned that al-Qaeda members were entering
Syria from North Lebanon. [199]
On 1 February, Riad al-Asaad, commander of the Free Syrian army, claimed that "Fifty percent of Syrian territory is no longer under
the control of the regime," and that half of the country was now effectively a no-go zone for the security forces. He said the morale of
government troops was extremely low. "That’s why they are bombing indiscriminately, killing men, women and children," he
said. [200] Protests have drifted abroad to the doorsteps of Syrian embassies. After the opposition had claimed that more than 200 people
perished in the massacre in Homs on 2 February 2012, both Syrian and non-Syrian protesters in Cairo, Kuwait City, and London