Präsentation 10 (2)

The Syrian Civil War
(2011- ongoing)
The "mini world war" in Syria

Structure:
1) Introduction
a) Facts about Syria
b) Terminology
c) Historical context
2) Body
a) The start of the armed conflict
b) Main belligerents with their regional and international supporters
c) Escalation into a full-scale war
d) Weaponry in use
e) Human rights violations and war crimes
3) Outcomes
a) Humanitarian crisis
b) Refugee crisis

Facts about Syria
• Officially: "The Syrian Arab Republic"
• 14 governorates/provinces
• Capital and largest city: Damascus
• Other significant cities: Aleppo, Daraa, Idlib, Hama
• Size: approx. 185,500 sq km (about half the size of Germany)
• Official and most used language: Arabic
• Other spoken languages: Kurdish, Turkish, Aramaic, Armenian, Greek
• Population in 2011: 23 millions
• As of 2020: est. 17 million
• Ethnic groups: 90% Arabs, 10% Kurds, Turkmen and Armenians among others..
• Religions: 74% Sunni Muslim, 12% Alawites , 10% Christians, 3% Druze, 1% various Shia
sects
• Currency: Syrian Lira/Pound (SYP)
• Government type: republic under authoritarian military regime rule since 1963

Syrian
governorates

Terminology
• Alawites: A secretive religious sect closely related to Shia Muslims
‣ Ideology: Assadism, sectarianism
‣ Political aim: Regime preservation
• Kurds: Iranic ethnicity indigenous to Western Asia (including north eastern Syria) largely Sunni
Muslims
‣ Ideology: Kurdish nationalism, separatism, secularism
‣ Political aim: Autonomy and the creation of a Kurdish state
• Sectarianism: Excessive attachment to a particular sect
• Nepotism: Act of providing or receiving opportunities due to a family relationship or friendship
• Pan-Arabism or Arab nationalism: an ideology that espouses the unification of
the Arab world/homeland
• Ba'ath Party: The current ruling political party in Syria and formerly in Iraq until 2003
• Ba'athism: Ba'ath: Arabic for rebirth
‣ Arab nationalist ideology that seeks to establish a unified Arab state under a one-partysystem,
adhering to the principles of Unity, Liberty and Socialism
• Arab Spring: a series of anti-government protests across the Arab world

Historical
context
• 17 April 1946: Evacuation Day (French troops withdraw)
• Pan Arabism led to the creation of the:
‣ United Arab Republic aka UAR between Syria and Egypt from 1958 until the
1961 coup d'etat in Syria
‣ Federation of Arab Republics between Syria, Egypt and Libya which lasted
from 1972 to 1977
• Overall 6 coups between 1947 and 1970, known as years of instability
• With the 1963 coup d'état also known as the 8th of March Revolution, the
Ba'athist rule of Syria begins
‣ Emergency law is in force since then
• General Hafez al-Assad, an Alawite who is the father of the current president
Bashar al-Assad, seizes control of the state and the Ba'ath Party in 1970 through
the so called Glorious Corrective Movement
• Hafez ruled Syria and the dominant Ba'ath Party as a dictator uninterruptedly
until 2000, succeeded then by his son Bashar by an illegitimate election
‣ Applied sectarian and nepotistic methods by building a predominantly Alawite
support base to keep power
‣ Suppressed Kurds e. g. by not granting them citizenship
‣ Up to 40.000 citizens massacred and over 100.000 expelled during the Hama
uprisings of 1982

The start of the armed conflict
• The Arab Spring as the wind of change
‣ March 15 "Day of Rage"
‣ Peaceful protests demanding reforms and an end to government corruptionspread all over Syria by early 2011
‣ Up to 100.000 protesters in Daraa alone
• Government troops responded with shootings and mass detentions
• Demonstartions start calling for Bashar al-Assad to resign
• By late 2011, the Free Syrian Army (FSA) was formed mainly by defectors from the Syrian Arab Army (SAA)
and civilian volunteers
• SAA starts shelling several towns and cities by 2012
• The FSA fights back on all fronts

Escalation into a full-scale war
• Early 2014: Deployment of tens of thousands of Hezbollah militiamen and other Iranian-backed militias
• Rise of the Islamic State (ISIS, ISIL, Daesh) and the declaration of the caliphate in June 2014
• The U.S.-led coalition launches airstrikes on ISIS in retaliation
• Early 2015: the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) gain a boost by capturing strategic points from ISIS in the north
• Mid 2015: ISIS captures Palmyra and proceeds to vandalise World Heritage sites
• Late 2015 the Russian Air Force intervenes to rescue the regime
• Mid 2016: SAA with Russian and Iranian support takes back Palmyra from ISIS
• Late 2016: Operation Euphrates Shield is launched by the Turkish Armed Forces and the Syrian opposition to push back ISIS and the SDF
• Turkish occupationof northwestern Syria
• Late 2016: SAA backed by Russian aerial support and various Shia militas recapture the rebel stronghold Aleppo
• Mid 2017: the United States strikes Shayrat air base to avenge the chemical attack carried out by the SAA against the rebel-held town Khan
Sheikhoun
• The SDF expand to expel ISIS from Raqqa and Deir al-Zour
• Mid 2018: SAA capttures all southern governorates
• Mid 2019 : SAA and allies bomb Idlib
• Early 2020: Russian Air Force bomb Turksh soldiers => direct confrontaion between SAA and the Turksih Armed Forces take place
• Cease fire between Russia and Turkey

Weaponry in use
• Various small arms
• Grenades, grenade launchers and explosives
• Anti-tank (RPG) and anti-aircraft weapons
• Mostly soviet-made tanks by SAA
• Artillery: howitzers, rocket launchers, mortars, SCUD missiles and Hell Cannons
• Syrian Arab Air Force and Russian Air Force: mainly Russian-made jets, transport planes and helicopters
• The US-led counter-ISIS coalition had reportedly dropped more than 41,500 bombs using advanced jets, bombers and drones
• Suicide bombers: central tactic used primarily by ISIS and Al-Qaida affiliated groups
• Indiscriminate weapons including:
‣ 70.000 of the so called barrel bombs used since 2012 by SAA, mainly dropped by helicopters
‣ cluster munitions used routinely by SAA
‣ Nail bombs used by SAA
‣ White phosphorus munitions by SAA, also allegedly by Turkey
‣ 33 chemical attacks between 2013 and 2019 highly likely by SAA
‣ 6 other chemical attacks with unknown perpetrators

Human rights violations
and war crimes
• Rampant looting and confiscation of thousands of homes across Syria since 2011
• Indiscriminate targetting of hospitals, schools, markrts and homes
• Shelling and bombarding densely populated areas
• Frequent usage of internationally controversial weapons
• Mass displacement of millions, especially in rebel-held areas
• Arbitrary detentions of tens of foreign journalists and humanitarian workers
• Mass arrest campaigns carried out by governmant forces
• Mass rape and sexual slavery, especially by ISIS members
• Intentional starvation in some rebel-held towns as a military tactic by SAA
• Systematic mistreatment, torture and rape in Syrian prisons
• Forced disapperances of up to 100.000 persons since 2011
• Complete destruction of infrastructure in many parts of the country

The humanitarian
crisis in numbers
• "..the worst humanitarian crisis since World War II"
United Nations
• Nearly 500.000 people killed since 2011
• Almost 7 million people internally displaced
• Over 6 million people had to flee the country
• Half of the Syrian population in need of
humanitarian aid
• 75% of Syrians live in extreme poverty
• About 3 millions live in besieged or hard to reach
areas

The refugee crisis

Sources:
• https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2020/country-chapters/syria#
• https://sn4hr.org/blog/2019/08/19/54151/
• https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/middle-east-and-north-africa/syria/report-syria/
• https://www.mei.edu/sites/default/files/2019-04/Ford_The_Syrian_Civil_War.pdf
• https://www.britannica.com/event/Syrian-Civil-War/Uprising-in-Syria-2011
• https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-14703995
• https://www.worldvision.org/refugees-news-stories/syrian-refugee-crisis-facts
• https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/world-confronts-largest-humanitarian-crisis-wwii
• https://www.grin.com/document/369469
• https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29702440
• https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/07/1067761
• https://www.defenseone.com/topic/weapons-syrian-war/
• https://www.jstor.org/stable/260659?seq=1
• https://www.syriahr.com/en/192584/
• https://user.iiasa.ac.at/~marek/fbook/04/print/sy.html