Syrian Civil War 2011-2012 - Societa italiana di storia militare
Syrian Civil War 2011-2012 - Societa italiana di storia militare
Syrian Civil War 2011-2012 - Societa italiana di storia militare
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Hezbollah 147 killed [2][3]<br />
Foreign Mujahideen 57killed [14]<br />
Iranian Basij 85 killed [2][3]<br />
19,867 [30] –20,198 [34] <strong>Syrian</strong>s killed overall (opposition claims)**<br />
212 foreign civilians (see here) and 2 Turkish F4 Phantom pilots killed<br />
1.5 million <strong>di</strong>splaced and refugees [35]<br />
*Number possibly higher due to the opposition counting rebels that were not defectors as civilians. [36]<br />
**Numbers do not include foreign combatants from both sides or Shabiha militiamen who have been killed.<br />
The <strong>Syrian</strong> civil war, [37][38][39][40] also referred to as the <strong>Syrian</strong> uprising, [41][42] is an ongoing internal armed conflict in Syria. The<br />
conflict began on 15 March <strong>2011</strong> with public demonstrations as part of the wider Arab Spring and developed into a nationwide<br />
uprising, and a civil war in <strong>2012</strong>. Protesters have demanded the end to nearly five decades of Ba’ath Party rule, as well as the<br />
resignation of Bashar al-Assad. In the spring of <strong>2011</strong>, the <strong>Syrian</strong> government deployed the <strong>Syrian</strong> Army to quell the uprising. Several<br />
cities have been besieged, [43][44] and sol<strong>di</strong>ers were reportedly ordered to open fire on civilians. [45] Accor<strong>di</strong>ng to witnesses, sol<strong>di</strong>ers who<br />
refused to open fire on civilians were summarily executed by the <strong>Syrian</strong> Army. [46] <strong>Civil</strong>ians and army defectors began forming<br />
fighting units, and unified under the banner of the Free <strong>Syrian</strong> Army, fighting in an increasingly organized fashion; however, the<br />
civilian component of the armed opposition lacks an organized leadership. The <strong>Syrian</strong> government characterizes the insurgency as<br />
"armed terrorist groups". [47] Accor<strong>di</strong>ng to various sources, inclu<strong>di</strong>ng the United Nations, up to 19,865–27,285 people have been killed,<br />
of which about half were civilians, but also inclu<strong>di</strong>ng 10,140 armed combatants from both the <strong>Syrian</strong> army and rebel forces [30][48][49][50]<br />
and up to 1,765 opposition protesters. [32][33] Accor<strong>di</strong>ng to the UN, between 500,000 and 1 million <strong>Syrian</strong>s have been <strong>di</strong>splaced within<br />
the country. [citation needed] To escape the violence, tens of thousands of <strong>Syrian</strong> refugees have fled the country to neighboring Iraqi<br />
Kur<strong>di</strong>stan, [51] Jordan, [52] Lebanon and Turkey. [53][54] Iraq has closed its border to <strong>Syrian</strong> refugees, while no <strong>Syrian</strong> refugees have yet<br />
arrived at the Israeli border. [55] In ad<strong>di</strong>tion, tens of thousands of protesters have been imprisoned, and there have been reports of<br />
widespread torture in the government's prisons. [56][57] International organizations have also accused the government and Shabiha of<br />
using civilians as human shields, [58][59] and of intentionally targeting civilians. [60] The Arab League, United States, European Union,<br />
GCC states, and other countries have condemned the use of violence against the protesters. China and Russia have thwarted attempts<br />
to agree to a UN resolution condemning Assad's actions, [61] and advised against sanctions, saying that such methods could escalate<br />
into foreign intervention. [62] The Arab League suspended Syria's membership over the government's response to the crisis, [63] but sent<br />
an observer mission in December <strong>2011</strong>, as part of its proposal for peaceful resolution of the crisis. A further attempt to resolve the<br />
crisis has been made through the appointment of Kofi Annan as a special envoy. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had repeatedly<br />
stated that the <strong>Syrian</strong> conflict could emerge into an "all-out civil war". [64] On 15 July <strong>2012</strong> the International Committee of the Red<br />
Cross assessed the <strong>Syrian</strong> conflict as a "non-international armed conflict" (the ICRC's legal term for civil war), thus applying the<br />
international humanitarian law under the Geneva Conventions in Syria. [65][66]<br />
Contents<br />
• 1 Background<br />
o 1.1 History<br />
o 1.2 Socio-economics<br />
o 1.3 Human rights<br />
• 2 Uprising and civil war<br />
o 2.1 Summary<br />
o 2.2 Protests<br />
o 2.3 Domestic response<br />
2.3.1 Concessions<br />
2.3.2 Censorship<br />
2.3.3 Violence and human rights violations<br />
2.3.4 Other<br />
o 2.4 Protests and military sieges<br />
o 2.5 Formation of the Free <strong>Syrian</strong> Army<br />
o 2.6 Protests and armed clashes<br />
o 2.7 Ceasefire attempt<br />
o 2.8 Renewed fighting<br />
o 2.9 Battles of Damascus and Aleppo<br />
• 3 Parties in the conflict<br />
o 3.1 <strong>Syrian</strong> National Council<br />
o 3.2 Local coor<strong>di</strong>nation committees<br />
o 3.3 Free <strong>Syrian</strong> Army and other armed opposition groups<br />
o 3.4 Kur<strong>di</strong>sh stance<br />
o 3.5 Shabiha<br />
o 3.6 Sectarianism<br />
o 3.7 Foreign involvement<br />
3.7.1 Support for the opposition<br />
3.7.2 Support for the <strong>Syrian</strong> government<br />
3.7.2.1 Russia<br />
3.7.2.2 Iran<br />
3.7.2.3 China<br />
3.7.2.4 Other countries<br />
• 4 <strong>Syrian</strong> refugees