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

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"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
damaged their respective Syrian embassy. [201] In an attack on buildings used by Syrian military intelligence in Aleppo, at least 28 people died and 235 were injured on 10 February 2012. The Free Syrian Army, through colonel Arif Hamood, claimed responsibility for the attacks in an interview with France 24, saying mortars and RPGs had been used instead of car bombs as was initially reported. [202] However, shortly thereafter another FSA leader, Riad al-Asaad, denied FSA involvement and asserted a false-flag conspiracy in which the Assad government is presented as the perpetrator of the attack on its own buildings. [203] A correspondent for the Dutch public broadcaster NOS described the latter as an unlikely explanation for the attacks, pointing out that the FSA have earlier indicated that one of their targets is military intelligence, which they hold responsible for a major part of the violence against the opposition. [204] Ceasefire attempt Main article: Kofi Annan peace plan for Syria Kofi Annan's peace plan provided for a ceasefire, but even as the negotiations for it were being conducted, Syrian armed forces attacked a number of towns and villages, and summarily executed scores of people. [146]:11 Incommunicado detention, including of children, also continued. [205] On 12 April, both sides, the Syrian Government and rebels of the FSA entered a UN mediated ceasefire period. It was a failure, with infractions of the ceasefire by both sides resulting in several dozen casualties. Acknowledging its failure, Annan called for Iran to be "part of the solution", though the country has been excluded from the Friends of Syria initiative. [206] Renewed fighting Following the Houla massacre and the consequent FSA ultimatum to the Syrian government, the cease fire practically collapsed towards the end of May 2012, as FSA began nation-wide offensives against the government troops. On 1 June, the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad vowed to crush an anti-regime uprising, after the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) announced that it was resuming "defensive operations." [207] On 2 June 57 soldiers were killed in Syria, the largest number of casualties the military has suffered in a single day since the uprising broke out in mid-March 2011. [207] Since 5 June, the Syrian army has been battling rebels around the city of Latakia, using tanks and helicopter gunships. [208] On 6 June 78 civilians were killed in the Al-Qubair massacre. According to activist sources, government forces started by shelling the village before pro-government militia, the Shabiha, moved in. [209] The UN observers rushed to the village in a hope to investigate the alleged massacre but were met with a road-block and small arms fire before the village and were forced to retreat. [210][211] At the same time, the conflict has started moving into the two largest cities (Damascus and Aleppo) that the government claimed were being dominated by the silent majority, which wanted stability, not government change. In both places there has been a revival of the protest movement in its peaceful dimension. Shopkeepers across the capital staged a general strike and in several Aleppo commercial districts mounted a similar but smaller protest. This has been interpreted by some as indicating that the historical alliance between the government and the business establishment in the large cities has become weak. [212] On 22 June, a Turkish F-4 fighter jet was shot down by Syrian government forces. [213] Both pilots were killed. [214] Syria admitted shooting the fighter down, stating that the Turkish fighter was flying over Syrian territorial waters 1 kilometer away from land when it was fired on by anti-aircraft artillery near the village of Om al-Tuyour. [215] Turkey's foreign minister stated the jet was shot down in international airspace after accidentally entering Syrian airspace, while it was on a training flight to test Turkey's radar capabilities. [216] Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed retaliation, saying: "The rules of engagement of the Turkish Armed Forces have changed ... Turkey will support Syrian people in every way until they get rid of the bloody dictator and his gang." [217] Ankara acknowledged that the jet had flown over Syria for a short time, but said such temporary overflights were common, had not led to an attack before, and alleged that Syrian helicopters had violated Turkish airspace five times without being attacked and that a second, search-and-rescue jet had been fired at. [217][218] An anonymous Israeli air force source suggested Russian technicians played a key role in the interception and shooting down of the jet, though no evidence was presented. [219] Assad later expressed regret over the incident. [220] Attempts by the international community to agree a transitional government of national unity failed at the beginning of July after Russia insisted the agreement should not preclude Assad from being part of it. [221] Syrian opposition groups rejected the UN-brokered peace plan, arguing that it was ambiguous, and vowing not to negotiate with President Bashar Assad or members of his regime. [222] In early July, Manaf Tlass, a Brigadier General of the Republican Guard, defected from Syria, making him the highest-level military defector yet since the uprising began. Western diplomats said his flight is a sign of Assad's weakening inner circle. [223] Nawaf al- Fares, the Syrian ambassador to Iraq who has sympathized with the opposition movement since it began in March 2011, defected to the opposition in mid-July 2012. [224] Battles of Damascus and Aleppo By mid-July fighting had spread across the country. Acknowledging this, the International Committee of the Red Cross declared the conflict a civil war. [65] Fighting in Damascus intensified, with a major rebel push to take the city. [225] On 18 July, Syrian Defense Minister Dawoud Rajha, former defense minister Hasan Turkmani, and the president's brother-inlaw General Assef Shawkat were killed by a bomb attack in the city. [226][227] The Syrian intelligence chief Hisham Bekhityar who was injured in the same explosion later succumbed to his wounds. [228] Both the Free Syrian Army and Liwa al-Islam claimed responsibility for the assassination. [229] The fate of the interior minister Mohammad Ibrahim al-Shaar was initially the subject of conflicting reports, [226] variously reporting him as injured but alive, [230] and dead. [231] There were also rumors that President Assad may also have been injured in the attack due to his lack of recent public appearance, but days after images of the President since the attack surfaced. [232] The assassinations were the first of such high-ranking members of Assad's elite in the 17-month revolt. In an interview later that month, General Mohammad Al-Zobi of the rebel forces stated that the explosion had been carried out using 15 kilos of explosives smuggled into the building, then detonated remotely. [233] On 19 July, Russia and China vetoed a U.N. resolution that would add sanctions against the Syrian government, showing again the divide in international opinion towards the conflict. [234] Russia and China, who are major trade allies with Syria, want to see a more balanced resolution calling on both sides to equally halt violence. [235] On the same day, Iraqi officials reported that the Free Syrian Army has gained control of all four border checkpoints between Syria and Iraq, increasing concerns of the safety of Iraqis trying to escape the violence in Syria. [236] At one point during the day, almost all Internet access from Syria was cut off for a period of 40 minutes. [237] The escalating conflict has reached a decisive stage in late July 2012, with the government forces and the armed opposition locked in a high intensity battle over control of the country’s largest city, Aleppo. Fighting over Aleppo is acquiring a greater significance after government troops flushed out most of the fighters from Damascus. [238] On 25 July, multiple sources reported that the Assad government was using fighter jets to attack rebel positions in the cities of Aleppo and Damascus. [239] After driving out the opposition forces from Damascus, the government forces launched assault on Aleppo by tanks and air gunships on 28 July 2012, amid growing world concern about the safety of the civilian population of the country's second city. [240]
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least 100 children. [43] Speaking s
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several areas of the country, accor
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18 December Armed clashes erupted i
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Hamad continued that he has seen pr
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17 January According to the LCC, at
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head of the United Nations, called
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UNGA Resolution A/RES/66/253 green
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eporters that the regime was detain
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leaked by a defector from this cove
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at least 14 people by mid day when
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June 2012 The first weekend of June
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ebels were killed including a defec
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Homs. 28 rebels were slain; 5 defec
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360. ^ http://www.lccsyria.org/9623
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The Syrian government denied respon
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16. ^ Carey, Glen (14 July 2012). "
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sixteen in the district. Thompson c
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3. Damascus bombing 18 July 2012 Fr
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