Syrian civil war

TheSyrian civil waris an ongoing multi-sided conflict inSyriainvolving various state andnon-state actors. TheSyrian revolutionbegan in March 2011 when popular discontent with theBa'athist regimeruled byBashar al-Assadtriggered large-scale protests andpro-democracyrallies across Syria, as part of the widerArab Springprotests in the region. After months of crackdown by the government'ssecurity apparatus, various armedrebel groupssuch as theFree Syrian Armybegan forming across the country, marking the beginning of theSyrian insurgency. By mid-2012, the insurgency had escalated into a full-blown civil war.
Rebel forces, which received arms fromGulf Cooperation Councilstates such asQatar,Turkeyand some Western countries, initially made significant advances against the government forces, which were receiving financial and military support fromIranandRussia.Iran launched a military intervention in support of the Syrian government in 2013andRussia followed in 2015, shifting the balance of the conflict. Before Russian intervention, rebels had established theSyrian Interim Governmentas they captured the regional capitals ofRaqqain 2013 andIdlibin 2015.
In 2014, theIslamic Statewon many battles against both the rebel factions and the Syrian government. Combined with simultaneous success inIraq, the group was able to seize control of large parts ofEastern SyriaandWestern Iraq, prompting theUS-ledCJTFcoalition to launch an aerialbombing campaignagainst it, while providingground supportand supplies to theSyrian Democratic Forces(SDF), a Kurdish-dominated coalition led by thePeople's Defense Units(YPG). In August 2016, Turkey launcheda multi-pronged invasionofnorthern Syria, in response to the creation of the Kurdish-ledAutonomous Administration of North and East Syria, also known as Rojava, while alsofighting the Islamic Stateandgovernment forcesin the process. Turkey helped establish theSyrian National Army(SNA) in 2017. The Islamic State was defeated in theRaqqaandDeir ez-Zoroffensives, returning to a weakened insurgency in 2017.
The December 2016 victory of pro-Assad forces in the four-yearBattle of Aleppomarked the recapture of what had been Syria's largest city before the war. InIdlib GovernoratetheHay'at Tahrir al-Sham(HTS) militia formed theSyrian Salvation Government, a technocratic government which governed Idlib from 2017 until 2024. By 2018 this was the only remaining rebel stronghold. Between the March 2020Idlib ceasefireand late 2024, front line fighting mostly subsided but there wereregular skirmishes.
On 27 November 2024, HTS, supported by the SNA, launched a majoroffensive, during whichAleppo,Hama, andHomswere seized.Southern rebelswho had previouslyreconciled with the governmentsubsequently launchedtheir own offensive, capturingDaraaandSuwayda. TheSyrian Free Armyand theSyrian Democratic Forceslaunched their own offensives inPalmyraandDeir ez-Zor, respectively. By 8 December, rebel forces hadseized the capital, Damascus. As a result, theAssad regime collapsed, with al-Assad fleeing toMoscowas his prime minister transferred power to theSyrian transitional government. On the same day,Israellaunchedan invasionof Syria'sQuneitra Governorateand seized theUN buffer zonein theGolan Heights.
At theSyrian Revolution Victory conferenceheld in Damascus on 29 January 2025, the new government announced the dissolution of several armed militias and their integration into theSyrian Ministry of Defense, as well as the appointment of former HTS leaderAhmed al-Shara'aaspresident of Syriaduring the transitional phase. The Syrian transitional government and the SDF continue toclashwith each other during negotiations to dissolve all non-state armed groups in the country.
In March 2011, popular discontent with PresidentBashar al-Assad'sBa'athist governmentled to large-scale protests andpro-democracyrallies across Syria, as part of the widerArab Springprotests in the region.Numerous protests were violently suppressed by security forces indeadly crackdownsordered by Assad, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths anddetentions, many of whom were civilians.TheSyrian revolutiontransformed into aninsurgencywith the formation ofresistance militiasacross the country, developing into a full civil war by 2012.
The war has been fought by several factions. From 2011 to December 2024, theSyrian Arab Armed Forces, alongside its domestic and foreign allies, represented theSyrian Arab RepublicandAssad government. Alternative governments rose inoppositionto Assad's rule, including theSyrian Interim Government, abig-tentalliance of pro-democratic,nationalistopposition groups whose military forces consisted of theSyrian National Army(SNA) and alliedFree Syrian militias. Another is theSyrian Salvation Government, whose armed forces were represented by acoalitionofSunnimilitias led byHay'at Tahrir al-Sham(HTS). Independent of them is theAutonomous Administration of North and East Syria(AANES), also known as Rojava, whose military force is theSyrian Democratic Forces(SDF), a multi-ethnic, Arab-majority force led by the KurdishPeople's Defense Units(YPG). Other competing factions includejihadistorganizations such asal-Qaeda's Syrian branchHurras al-Din(the successor ofAl-Nusra Front) and theIslamic State(IS).
The civil war has also served as aproxy waras a number of foreign countries–includingTurkey,Iran,Russiaand theUnited States–have beendirectly involvedin the conflict, providing support to opposing factions. Iran, Russia andHezbollahsupported Assad's government militarily, with Iranintervening in 2013and Russia conductingairstrikes and ground operationsin the country beginning in September 2015. In 2014 theUS-led international coalitionofficially beganconducting air and ground operations–primarily against the Islamic State, al-Qaeda elements such as Hurras al-Din and theKhorasan group, and occasionallyagainst pro-Assad forces–and has been militarily and logistically supporting factions such as theSyrian Free Armyand the SDF.Turkish forcesoccupied parts of northern Syriaand have fought the SDF, Assad government and Islamic State alike while actively supporting the SNA. Between 2011 and 2017, fighting from the Syrian civil warspilled overintoLebanonas opponents and supporters of the Syrian government traveled to Lebanon to fight and attack each other on Lebanese soil. While officially neutral,Israelexchanged border fireandconducted repeated strikesagainst Hezbollah and Iranian elements inside Syria, whose presence in the country itviewed as a security threat.
Violence in the war peaked during 2012–2017 amid rebel and government offensives andsectarianand Islamist violence.International organizations had accused virtually all sides involved—the Assad government, the Islamic State, opposition groups, Iran, Russia,Turkeyand the US-led coalition—of severehuman rights violationsandmassacres.The conflict had causeda major refugee crisis, with millions of people fleeing to neighboring countries such as Turkey, Lebanon andJordan;however, a sizable minority also sought refuge in countries outside of the Middle East, withGermanyalone accepting over half a million Syrians since 2011.Since 2011 a number of peace initiatives had been launched, including theMarch 2017 Geneva peace talks on Syrialed by theUnited Nations, but fighting continued.
In October 2019, Kurdish leaders of the AANES announced they had reached a major deal with the Assad government, allowing for Syrian Army forces to enter Kurdish-held towns along theSyria–Turkey border. The deal was part of an effort to resist Turkey'scross-border incursioninto AANES territory after US forceswithdrewfrom the area after the collapse of theNorthern Syria Buffer Zone.In November 2019, Russia, Turkey and the Assad government established anew buffer zonein northern Syria that deescalated the Kurdish-Turkish clashes.US-led coalition forces regrouped in eastern Syria in continued support of the SDF against theIslamic State insurgency, amid tensions with local Russian forces and Iranian elements in the region.
By the end of the decade, the war had resulted in an estimated 470,000–610,000 violent deaths, making it the second-deadliest conflict of the 21st century, after theSecond Congo War.
Following the March 2020Idlib ceasefire, frontline fighting between the Syrian government under Assad and opposition groups had mostly subsided. By 2021, the Assad government controlled about two-thirds of the country and was consolidating power.Although, regular flare-ups occurred among factions in northwestern Syria, andlarge-scale protestsemerged in southern Syria and spread nationwide in response to extensive autocratic policies and the economic situation. The protests were noted at the time as resembling the 2011 revolution that preceded the civil war.
The civil war had largely settled into a stalemate by early 2023. TheUnited States Institute of Peacesaid:
The USCouncil on Foreign Relationssaid:
However, major clashes continued between Turkish forces and factions within Syria. In late 2023, Turkish forces continued to attack Kurdish forces in northern Syria.Starting on 5 October 2023, theTurkish Armed Forceslaunched a series of air and ground strikes targeting the Syrian Democratic Forces in northeastern Syria (AANES territory). The airstrikes were launched in response to the2023 Ankara bombing, which the Turkish government alleged was carried out by attackers originating from northeastern Syria.
On 27 November 2024, a coalition of opposition groups called theMilitary Operations Command,led byHay'at Tahrir al-Sham, launcheda major offensiveagainst the Syrian Army and other pro-government forces inAleppo,Idlib,HamaandHoms Governorates. This was followed by other rebel offensives from theSouthern Operations Room, theSDFand theSyrian Free Armywhich all began seizing Syrian government territory in the country's south and east.On 29 November, rebel forcesentered Aleppoas Syrian Army positions collapsed across the country.On 7 December, rebel forcesentered Damascusand the next day, on 8 December, Bashar al-Assad was reported to have fled the capital.The Syrian Army confirmed Assad was no longer in power and had fled the country,resulting in thecollapse of his regimeand ending over 60 years of Ba'athist rule under theAssad dynasty.Assad and his family had fled toMoscowand was granted asylum in Russia.Syrian Prime MinisterMohammad Ghazi al-Jalaliannounced his willingness to cooperate with any new leadership "chosen by the people".
TheSyrian Salvation Governmentestablished atransitional governmentin Damascus, withMohammed al-Bashirserving as the prime minister during the transition, succeeding al-Jalali.Ahmed al-Sharaa, the leader of the Syrian Salvation Government andemirof Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, becamede factoleader of Syria.
On 8 December 2024, Israelinvaded southern Syria, subsuming theGolan Heightsbuffer zoneand capturingQuneitra, the Syrian portion ofMount Hermon, and surrounding towns and villages.Israel also launched a strategic bombing campaign against remnantSyrian Armed Forcesairbases, air defense networks, missile systems, coastal defense installations,naval assets, weapons storage and production facilities andalleged chemical weapons stockpilesto neutralize Assad's former military assets.
TheArab Socialist Ba'ath Partygovernment came to power througha coup d'état in 1963by overthrowing theSecond Syrian Republic. Asecond coup in 1966ousted the old Baathist leadership ofMichel Aflaq, replacing it with a militaristic, hard-left, pro-Soviet regime led bySalah Jadid, causing a split between theSyrian branch of Ba'ath, which supported Jadid, and theIraqi branch, which remained loyal to Aflaq. Jadid was in turnremoved in November 1970by GeneralHafez al-Assad, anAlawitewho declared himselfPresidentin March 1971.This marked the beginning of the domination of personality cults centred around theAssad familythat pervaded all aspects of Syrian daily life and was accompanied by a systematic suppression of civil and political freedoms, becoming the central feature of state propaganda. Authority in Ba'athist Syria was monopolised by three power-centres: Alawite loyalist clans, the Ba'ath Party and theSyrian Armed Forces. All three united by their allegiance to the Assad family.
The Syrian Regional Branch remained the dominant political authority in what had been aone-party stateuntil the firstmulti-partyelectionto thePeople's Council of Syriawas held in 2012.On 31 January 1973, Hafez al-Assad implemented a new constitution, leading to a national crisis. The1973 Constitutionentrusted the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party with the distinctive role as the "leader of the state and society", empowering it to mobilise the civilians for party programmes, issue decrees to ascertain their loyalty and supervise all legal trade unions. Ba'athist ideology was imposed upon children as a compulsory part of school curricula as the Armed Forces became highly monitored by the Party. The constitution removed Islam from being recognised as thestate religionand stripped existing provisions such as the requirement that the president of Syria beMuslim. These measures caused widespread furor amongst the public, leading to fierce demonstrations in Hama, Homs and Aleppo organized by theMuslim Brotherhoodand theulama. The Assad regime violently crushed theIslamic revoltsthat occurred during 1976–1982, waged by revolutionaries from theSyrian Muslim Brotherhood.
The Ba'ath Party carefully constructed Assad as the guiding father figure of the party and modern Syrian nation, advocating the continuation ofAssad dynasticrule of Syria. As part of the publicity efforts to brand the nation and Assad family as inseparable, slogans such as "Assad or we burn the country", "Assad or to hell with the country" and "Hafez Assad, forever" became an integral part of the state and party discourse during the 1980s. Eventually the party organisation itself became a rubber stamp and the power structures became deeply dependent on sectarian affiliation to the Assad family and the central role of armed forces needed to crack down on dissent in the society. Critics of the regime have pointed out that deployment of violence is central to the rule ofBa'athist Syriaand describe it as "a dictatorship withgenocidaltendencies".Hafez al-Assad's nearly three-decade rule was marked by its methods, ranging from censorship to violent measures ofstate terrorsuch asmass murders,forced deportationsand brutal practices such astorture, which were unleashed collectively upon the civilian population.Upon Hafez al-Assad's death in 2000, his son Bashar al-Assad succeeded him as the President of Syria.
Bashar's wifeAsma, aSunni Muslimborn and educated in Britain, was initially hailed in the Western press as a "rose in the desert".The couple once raised hopes amongst Syrian intellectuals and outside Western observers, being seen as a path towards implementing economic and political reforms. However, Bashar failed to deliver on promised reforms, instead cracking down on the civil society groups, political reformists and democratic activists that emerged during the Damascus Spring in the 2000s.Bashar Al-Assad claims that no 'moderate opposition' to his government exists, and that all opposition forces areIslamistsfocused on destroying hissecular leadership; his view was that terrorist groups operating in Syria are "linked to the agendas of foreign countries".
The total Syrian population in July 2018 was estimated at 19,454,263 people. By ethnic groups, Syria was approximatelyArab50%,Alawite15%,Kurd10%,Levantine10% and 15% of other ethnic groups (includesDruze,Ismaili,Imami,Assyrian,TurkmenandArmenian). Its religious breakdown was:Muslim87% (official; includesSunni74% and Alawi, Ismaili andShia13%),Christian10% (mainly ofEastern Christian churches—may now be smaller as a result of Christians fleeing the country),Druze3% andJewish(uncounted in the estimate, but with few remaining in Damascus and Aleppo).
Socioeconomicinequality increased significantly afterfree marketpolicies were initiated by Hafez al-Assad in his later years, and it accelerated after Bashar al-Assad came to power. With an emphasis on theservice sector, these policies benefited a minority of the nation's population, mostly people who had connections with the government, and members of the Sunni merchant class of Damascus and Aleppo.In 2010, Syria's nominal GDP per capita was only $2,834, comparable tosub-Saharan Africancountries such asNigeriaand far lower than its neighbors such as Lebanon, with an annual growth rate of 3.39%, below most other developing countries.
The country also faced particularly highyouth unemploymentrates.At the start of the war, discontent with the government was strongest in Syria's poor areas, predominantly among conservative Sunnis.These included cities with high poverty rates, such asDaraaandHoms, and the poorer districts of large cities.
The unrest coincided with the most intense drought ever recorded in Syria, which lasted from 2006 to 2011 and resulted in widespread crop failure, an increase infood pricesand a mass migration of farming families to urban centers.This migration strained infrastructure already burdened by the influx of some 1.5million refugees from theIraq War.The drought has been linked toanthropogenic global warming.Subsequent analysis, however, has challenged the narrative of the drought as a major contributor to the start of the war.Adequate water supply continues to be an issue in the ongoing civil war and is frequently the target of military action.
The human rights situation in Syria has long been the subject of harsh critique from global organizations.The rights offree expression,associationandassemblywere strictly controlled in Syria even before the uprising.The country remained under astate of emergencyfrom 1963 until 2011 and public gatherings of more than five people were banned.Security forces had sweeping powers of arrest and detention.Despite hopes for democratic change with the 2000Damascus Spring, Bashar al-Assad was widely reported as having failed to implement any improvements. In 2010, he imposed a controversial national ban on femaleIslamic dress codes(such asface veils) across universities, where reportedly over a thousand primary school teachers that wore the niqab were reassigned to administrative jobs.AHuman Rights Watchreport issued just before the beginning of the 2011 uprising stated that Assad had failed to substantially improve the state of human rights since taking power.
There are numerous factions, both foreign and domestic, involved in the Syrian civil war. These can be divided into four main groups.
The Syrian government, the opposition and the SDF have all received support—militarily, logistically and diplomatically—from foreign countries, leading the conflict to often be described as aproxy war.
The major parties that supported the Syrian government wereIran,Russiaand LebanesemilitiaHezbollah. Syrian rebel groups received political, logistic and military support from theUnited States,Turkey,Saudi Arabia,Qatar,Britain, France,Israeland theNetherlands.Under the aegis of operationTimber Sycamoreand other clandestine activities,CIA operativesandUS special operations troopshave trained and armed nearly 10,000 rebel fighters at a cost of $1billion a year since 2012.Iraqhad also been involved in supporting the Syrian government, but mostly againstISIL.
Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shia militant group, was significantly involved in the Syrian Civil War. Starting from the 2011Syrian revolution, Hezbollah provided active support to the Ba'athist government forces.By 2012, the group escalated its involvement, deploying troops across Syria.In 2013, Hezbollah publicly acknowledged its presence in Syria, intensifying its ground commitment. This involvement included an estimated 5,000 to 8,000 fighters at any given time, comprisingSpecial Forces, standing forces from all units, part-time fighters and new recruits with accelerated combat training. Hezbollah's presence, supported by Iranian weaponry and training, further complicated the conflict dynamics, drawing Israeli airstrikes against Hezbollah and Iranian targets in Syria.
In June 2014, members of theIslamic State of Iraq and the Levant(ISIL) crossed the border from Syria into northern Iraq, andtook controlof large swaths of Iraqi territory as theIraqi Armyabandoned its positions. Fighting between rebels and government forces also spilled over into Lebanon on several occasions. There were repeated incidents of sectarian violence in theNorth Governorateof Lebanon between supporters and opponents of the Syrian government, as well as armed clashes between Sunnis and Alawites inTripoli.
Starting on 5 June 2014, ISIL seized swathes of territory in Iraq. As of 2014, theSyrian Arab Air Forceused airstrikes targeted against ISIL inRaqqaandal-Hasakahin coordination with the Iraqi government.
Sarin,mustard agentandchlorine gashave been used during the conflict. Numerous casualties led to an international reaction, especially the 2013Ghouta chemical attack.A UN fact-finding missionwas requested to investigate reported chemical weapons attacks. In four cases, UN inspectors confirmed the use ofsaringas.In August 2016, a confidential report by the UN and theOPCWexplicitly blamed the Syrian military of Bashar al-Assad for dropping chemical weapons (chlorine bombs) on the towns of Talmenes in April 2014 and Sarmin in March 2015 and ISIL for using sulfur mustard on the town of Marea in August 2015.
The United States and the European Union have said the Syrian government has conducted several chemical attacks. Following the 2013 Ghouta attacks and international pressure, thedestruction of Syria's chemical weaponsbegan. In 2015 the UN mission disclosed previously undeclared traces of sarin compounds at a "military research site".After the April 2017Khan Shaykhun chemical attack, the United States launched its first intentional attack against Syrian government forces. An investigation conducted by Tobias Schneider and Theresa Lutkefend of theGPPiresearch institute documented 336 confirmed attacks involving chemical weapons in Syria between 23 December 2012 and 18 January 2019. The study attributed 98% of the total chemical attacks to the Assad regime. Almost 90% of the attacks occurred after Ghouta chemical attack in August 2013.
In April 2020, the UN Security Council briefing was held on the findings of a global chemical weapons watchdog,Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons(OPCW), which found that theSyrian Air Forceused sarin and chlorine during multiple attacks in 2017. Syria's close allies, Russia, and other European countries debated the issue, during which Moscow dismissed the OPCW findings while many Western European countries called for accountability for the government'swar crimes.The UN Deputy ambassador from Britain, Jonathan Allen, stated that the report by the OPCW's Investigation Identification Team (IIT) claimed that the Syrian regime is responsible for usingchemical weaponsin the war on at least four occasions. The information was also noted in two UN-mandated investigations.
In April 2021, Syria was suspended from the OPCW through the public vote of member states for not cooperating with the IIT and for violating theChemical Weapons Convention.Findings of another OPCW investigation report published in July 2021 concluded that the Syrian regime had engaged in confirmed chemical attacks at least 17 times, out of the 77 reported incidents of chemical weapons usage attributed toAssadistforces.
Syria is not a party to theConvention on Cluster Munitionsand does not recognize the ban on the use ofcluster bombs. The Syrian Army is reported to have begun using cluster bombs in September 2012. Steve Goose, director of the Arms Division at Human Rights Watch, said "Syria is expanding its relentless use of cluster munitions, a banned weapon, and civilians are paying the price with their lives and limbs." He adds of the weapons that "The initial toll is only the beginning because cluster munitions often leave unexploded bomblets that kill and maim long afterward."
Russianthermobaric weapons, also known as "fuel-air bombs", were used by the government's side during the war. On 2 December 2015,The National Interestreported that Russia was deploying theTOS-1Buratino multiple rocket launch system to Syria, which is "designed to launch massive thermobaric charges against infantry in confined spaces such as urban areas".OneBuratino thermobaric rocket launcher"can obliterate a roughly 200 by 400 metres (660 by 1,310 feet) area with a single salvo".Since 2012, rebels have said that the Syrian Air Force (government forces) is using thermobaric weapons against residential areas occupied by the rebel fighters, such as during theBattle of Aleppoand also inKafr Batna.A panel of United Nations human rights investigators reported that the Syrian government used thermobaric bombs against the strategic town of Qusayr in March 2013.In August 2013, the BBC reported on the use of napalm-like incendiary bombs on a school in northern Syria.
Several types ofanti-tank missilesare in use in Syria. Russia has sent9M133 Kornet, third-generation anti-tank guided missiles to the Syrian government whose forces have used them extensively against armour and other ground targets to fight jihadists and rebels.US-madeBGM-71 TOWmissiles are one of the primary weapons of rebel groups and have been primarily provided by the United States and Saudi Arabia.The US has also supplied many Eastern European sourced9K111 Fagotlaunchers and warheads to Syrian rebel groups under itsTimber Sycamoreprogram.
In June 2017, Iran attacked ISIL targets in theDeir ez-Zorarea in eastern Syria withZolfagharballistic missilesfired from western Iran,in the first use of mid-range missiles by Iran in 30 years.According toJane's Defence Weekly, the missiles travelled 650–700 kilometres.
The successive governments of Hafez and Bashar al-Assad have been closely associated with the country's minority Alawite religious group, an offshoot of Shia, whereas the majority of the population, and most of the opposition, is Sunni. This resulted in calls for persecution of the Alawites by parts of the opposition.
A third of 250,000 Alawite men of military age have been killed fighting in the Syrian civil war.In May 2013,SOHRstated that out of 94,000 killed during the war, 41,000 of which being Alawites.
According toThe Daily Beastnews website, manySyrian Christiansstated in November 2013 that they had fled after they were targeted by the anti-government rebels.
As militias and non-Syrian Shia—motivated by pro-Shia sentiment rather than loyalty to the Assad government—have taken over fighting the anti-government forces from the weakened Syrian Army, fighting has taken on a more sectarian nature. One opposition leader has said that the Shia militias often "try to occupy and control the religious symbols in the Sunni community to achieve not just a territorial victory but a sectarian one as well"—reportedly occupying mosques and replacing Sunni icons with pictures of Shia leaders. According to the Syrian Network for Human Rights, human rights abuses have been committed by the militias including "a series of sectarian massacres between March 2011 and January 2014 that left 962 civilians dead".
TheAutonomous Administration of North and East Syria(AANES), also known asRojava,is ade factoautonomous regionin northeastern Syria.The region does not claim to pursue full independence but autonomy within a federal and democratic Syria.Rojava consists of self-governingsub-regionsin the areas ofAfrin,Jazira,Euphrates,Raqqa,Tabqa,ManbijandDeir Ez-Zor.The region gained its de facto autonomy in 2012 in the context of the ongoingRojava conflict, in which its official military force, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), has taken part.
While entertainingsome foreign relations, the region is not officially recognized as autonomous by the government of Syria or any state except for theCatalan Parliament.The AANES has widespread support for its universaldemocratic,sustainable,autonomouspluralist,equalandfeministpolicies in dialogues with other political parties and organizations.Northeastern Syria ispolyethnicand home to sizeable ethnic Kurdish, Arab and Assyrian populations, with smaller communities of ethnic Turkmen, Armenians,CircassiansandYazidis.
The supporters of the region's administration state that it is an officiallysecularpolitywithdirect democraticambitions based on ananarchistic, feminist andlibertarian socialist ideologypromotingdecentralization,gender equality,environmentalsustainability, socialecologyand pluralistic tolerance for religious, cultural andpolitical diversity, and that these values are mirrored inits constitution, society and politics, stating it to be a model for afederalized Syriaas a whole, rather than outright independence.The region's administration has also been accused by somepartisanand nonpartisan sources ofauthoritarianism, support of the Syrian government,Kurdificationand displacement.However, despite this the AANES has been the mostdemocraticsystem in Syria, with direct open elections,universal equality, respectinghuman rightswithin the region, as well as defense ofminorityandreligious rightswithin Syria.
In March 2015, the Syrian Information Minister announced that his government considered recognizing Kurdish autonomy "within the law and constitution".While the region's administration was not invited to theGeneva III peace talks on Syria,or any of the earlier talks, Russia in particular called for the region's inclusion and did to some degree carry the region's positions into the talks, as documented in Russia's May 2016 draft for a new constitution for Syria.
An analysis released in June 2017 described the region's "relationship with the government fraught but functional" and a "semi-cooperative dynamic".In late September 2017, Syria's Foreign Minister said that Damascus would consider granting Kurds more autonomy in the region once ISIL was defeated.
On 13 October 2019, the SDF announced that it had reached an agreement with the Syrian Army which allowed the latter to enter the SDF-held cities of Manbij and Kobani in order to dissuade a Turkish attack on those cities as part of the cross-border offensive by Turkish and Turkish-backed Syrian rebels.The Syrian Army also deployed in the north of Syria together with the SDF along the Syrian-Turkish border and entered into several SDF-held cities such as Ayn Issa and Tell Tamer.Following the creation of theSecond Northern Syria Buffer Zonethe SDF stated that it was ready to work cooperatively with the Syrian Army if a political settlement between the Syrian government and the SDF was achieved.
According to information gathered in December 2021, Iraqi authorities have repatriated 100 Iraqi fighters from the ISIL (ISIS) group who were being held by Kurdish forces in northeast Syria.
As of 2022, the main military threat and conflict faced by Rojava's official defense force, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), are firstly, an ongoing conflict with ISIS; and secondly, ongoing concerns of possible invasion of the northeast regions of Syria by Turkish forces, in order to strike Kurdish groups in general, and Rojava in particular.An official report by the Rojava government noted Turkey-backed militias as the main threat to the region of Rojava and its government.
In May 2022 Turkish and opposition Syrian officials said that Turkey's Armed Forces and the Syrian National Army are planning a new operation against the SDF, composed mostly of the YPG/YPJ.The new operation is set to resume efforts to create 30-kilometre-wide (19 mi) "safe zones" along Turkey's border with Syria, President Erdoğan said in a statement.The operation aims at theTal RifaatandManbijregions west of theEuphratesand other areas further east. Meanwhile, Ankara is in talks with Moscow over the operation. President Erdoğan reiterated his determination for the operation on 8 August 2022.
On 5 June 2022, the leader of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Mazloum Abdi, said that forces of the Kurdish government in theAutonomous Administration of North and East Syria(AANES) were willing to work with Syrian government forces to defend against Turkey, saying "Damascus should use its air defense systems against Turkish planes." Abdi said that Kurdish groups would be able to cooperate with the Syrian government, and still retain their autonomy.The joint discussions were a result of the negotiation processes that had begun in October 2019.In early 2023, reports indicated that the forces of Islamic State in Syria had mostly been defeated, with only a few cells remaining in various remote locations.
As of 2023, Turkey was continuing its support for various militias within Syria, consisting mostly of the Syrian National Army, which periodically attempted some operations against Kurdish groups.One stated goal was to create "safe zones" along Turkey's border with Syria, according to a statement by Turkish President Erdoğan.The operations were generally aimed at theTal RifaatandManbijregions west of theEuphratesand other areas further east. President Erdoğan openly stated his support for the operations, in talks with Moscow in mid-2022.
As of December 2022, an estimated 6.7 million refugees have been forced to flee Syria,with approximately 5.5 million Syrian refugees residing across the five nearby countries of Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq andEgypt. Germany hosts the largest refugee population out of any non-neighboring nation with more than 850,000 Syrian refugees.
Over 3.7 million Syrian refugees are in Turkey.Many refugees are housed in a system of a dozenSyrian refugee campsplaced under the direct authority of the Turkish Government. Satellite images confirmed that the first Syrian camps appeared in Turkey in July 2011, shortly after the towns of Deraa, Homs and Hama were besieged.The massive sustained presence of Syrian refugees has fueled resentment from Turkish citizens and figures across the country's political spectrum. They have been employed as scapegoats during periods of crisis within the country. Measures have been put in place to "drive them out" including raised fees on utilities such as water and services such as marriage licences. There has been an increase on attacks targeting Syrian refugees in the country.
In 2013, one in three of Syrian refugees (about 667,000 people) sought safety in Lebanon, which had a population of 5.2 million in 2012.
In September 2014, the UN stated that the number of Syrian refugees had exceeded threemillion.According to theJerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Sunnis are leaving for Lebanon and undermining Hezbollah's status. The Syrian refugee crisis has caused the "Jordan is Palestine" threat to be diminished due to the onslaught of new refugees in Jordan. Greek Catholic PatriarchGregorios III Lahamclaimed in 2014 that more than 450,000Syrian Christianshave been displaced by the conflict.As of September 2016, the European Union has reported that there are 13.5million refugees in need of assistance in the country.Australia is being appealed to rescue more than 60 women and children stuck in Syria's Al-Hawl campahead of a potential Turkish invasion.
A report from NGOACT Alliancefound that refugees in camps in north-eastern Syria have tripled in 2019.Numerous refugees remain in local refugee camps. Conditions there are reported to be severe, especially during the winter.In 2019, 4,000 people were housed at the Washokani Camp. The Kurdish Red Cross was the only organization known to have helped the camp's refugees. Numerous camp residents called for assistance from international groups.
On 30 December 2019, over 50 Syrian refugees, including 27 children, were welcomed in Ireland, where they started afresh in their new temporary homes at the Mosney Accommodation Centre in Co Meath. The migrant refugees were pre-interviewed by Irish officials under the Irish Refugee Protection Programme (IRPP).
Another aspect of the post-war years will be how to repatriate the millions of refugees. The Syrian government has put forward a law commonly known as "law 10", which could strip refugees of property, such as damaged real estate. There are also fears among some refugees that if they return to claim this property they will face negative consequences, such as forced conscription or prison. The Syrian government has been criticized for using this law to reward those who have supported the government. However, the government said this statement was false and has expressed that it wants the return of refugees from Lebanon.In December 2018, it was also reported that the Syrian government has started to seize property under an anti-terrorism law, which is affecting government opponents negatively, with many losing their property. Some people's pensions have also been cancelled.
Erdogan said that Turkey expects to resettle about 1million refugees in the "buffer zone" that it controls.Erdogan claimed that Turkey had spent billions on approximately five million refugees now being housed in Turkey; and called for more funding from wealthier nations and from the EU.This plan raised concerns amongst Kurds about displacement of existing communities and groups in that area.
The violence in Syria caused millions to flee their homes. As of March 2015, Al-Jazeera estimated 10.9million Syrians, or almost half the population, have been displaced.Violence in the ongoing crisis in northwest Syria had forced 6,500 children to flee every day over the last week of January 2020. The recorded count of displaced children in the area has reached more than 300,000 since December 2019.
As of 2022, there are 6.2 million internally displaced persons in Syria according to theUnited Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. 2.5 million of those are children. 2017 alone saw the displacement of at least 1.8 million people, many of them being displaced for the second and third time.
Hundreds of boys are being held hostage by ISIS. As of 25 January 2022,The New York Timesstated that the fight over a prison in northeastern Syria has brought attention to the plight of thousands of foreign children who were brought to Syria by their parents to join the Islamic State caliphate and have been detained for three years in camps and prisons in the region, abandoned by their home countries.
An estimated 40,000 foreigners, including children, travelled to Syria to fight for the caliphate or work for it. Thousands of them had brought their small children with them. There were also other children born there. When ISIS lost control of the last piece of territory in Syria, Baghuz, three years ago, surviving women and young children were detained incamps, while suspected militants and boys, some as young as 10, were imprisoned.
Furthermore, when the boys in the camps reach the age of adolescence, they are usually transferred to Hasaka's Sinaa prison, where they are packed into overcrowded cells with no access to sunlight. According to prison guards in the area, there is insufficient food and medical attention.When the boys reach the age of 18, they are sent to the regular prison population, where wounded ISIS members are placed three to a bed.
On 2 January 2013, the United Nations stated that 60,000 had been killed since the civil war began, with UNHigh Commissioner for Human RightsNavi Pillaysaying "The number of casualties is much higher than we expected, and is truly shocking".Four months later, the UN's updated figure for the death toll had reached 80,000.On 13 June 2013, the UN released an updated figure of people killed since fighting began, the figure being exactly 92,901, for up to the end of April 2013.Navi Pillay, UN high commissioner for human rights, stated that: "This is most likely a minimum casualty figure". The real toll was guessed to be over 100,000.Some areas of the country have been affected disproportionately by the war; by some estimates, as many as a third of all deaths have occurred in the city ofHoms.
One problem has been determining the number of "armed combatants" who have died, due to many sources counting rebel fighters who were not government defectors as civilians.At least half of those confirmed killed have been estimated to be combatants from both sides, including 52,290 government fighters and 29,080 rebels, with an additional 50,000 unconfirmed combatant deaths.In addition,UNICEFreported that over 500 children had been killed by early February 2012,and another 400 children have been reportedly arrested and tortured in Syrian prisons;both of these reports have been contested by the Syrian government. Additionally, over 600 detainees and political prisoners are known to have died under torture.In mid-October 2012, the pro-opposition monitoring groupSOHRreported the number of children killed in the conflict had risen to 2,300,and in March 2013, opposition sources stated that over 5,000 children had been killed.In January 2014,a reportwas released detailing the systematic killing of more than 11,000 detainees of the Syrian government.
On 20 August 2014, a new U.N. study concluded that at least 191,369 people have died in the Syrian conflict.The UN thereafter stopped collecting statistics, but a study by the Syrian Centre for Policy Research released in February 2016 estimated the death toll to be 470,000, with 1.9m wounded (reaching a total of 11.5% of the entire population either wounded or killed).A report by the pro-oppositionSNHRin 2018 mentioned 82,000 victims that had been forcibly disappeared by the Syrian government, added to 14,000 confirmed deaths due to torture.According to various war monitors,Syrian Armed Forcesand pro-Assad forces has been responsible for over 90% of the total civilian casualties in the civil war.
On 15 April 2017, a convoy of buses carrying evacuees from the besieged Shia towns ofal-Fu'ahandKafriya, which were surrounded by theArmy of Conquest,wasattacked by a suicide bomberwest of Aleppo,killing more than 126 people, including at least 80 children.On 1 January 2020, at least eight civilians, including four children, were killed in a rocket attack on a school in Idlib by Syrian government forces, the Syrian Human Rights Observatory (SOHR) said.
In January 2020, UNICEF warned that children were bearing the brunt of escalating violence in northwestern Syria. More than 500 children were wounded or killed during the first three quarters of 2019, and over 65 children fell victim to the war in December alone.
Over 380,000 people have been killed since the war in Syria started nine years ago, war monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on 4 January 2020. The death toll comprises civilians, government soldiers, militia members and foreign troops.
In an airstrike by Russian forces loyal to the Syrian government, at least five civilians were killed, out of which four belonged to the same family. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claimed that the death toll included three children following the attack in the Idlib region on 18 January 2020.
On 30 January 2020, Russian airstrikes on a hospital and a bakery killed over 10 civilians in Syria's Idlib region. Moscow immediately rejected the allegation.
On 23 June 2020,Israeliraids killed seven fighters, including two Syrian in a central province. State media cited a military official as saying the attack targeted posts in rural areas ofHamaprovince.
Just four days after the start of 2022, two children were killed and five others injured in northwest Syria. In 2021 alone, over 70% of violent attacks against children have been recorded in the region.
On 14 January 2022, one person was killed by a car bomb and several others were wounded in the city ofAzazin northwest Syria, three people were wounded at a marketplace in a suspected suicide bombing in the town of al Bab and another suicide bomb went off in the city of Afrin at a roundabout.
United Nationsandhuman rights organizationshave asserted that human rights violations have been committed by both the government and the rebel forces, with the "vast majority of the abuses having been committed by the Syrian government".Numeroushuman rights abuses,political repression,war crimesandcrimes against humanityperpetrated by theAssad governmentthroughout the course of the conflict has led to international condemnation and widespread calls to convict Bashar al-Assad in theInternational Criminal Court(ICC).The unprecedented scale of the atrocities launched by government forces since the outbreak of theSyrian revolutionhas led to international outrage, and Syria's membership was suspended from various international organizations.
According to three international lawyers,Syrian government officials could facewar crimescharges in the light of a huge cache of evidence smuggled out of the country showing the "systematic killing" of about11,000 detainees. Most of the victims were young men and many corpses were emaciated, bloodstained and bore signs of torture. Some had no eyes; others showed signs of strangulation or electrocution.Experts said this evidence was more detailed and on a far larger scale than anything else that had emerged from the then 34-month crisis.Atrocities committed by the Assad regime have been described as the "greatest war crimes of the 21st century", with chilling revelations oftorture,rapes,massacres, and extermination being leaked through the2014 Caesar Report, which contained photographic evidence gathered by a dissidentarmy photographerwho worked in Ba'athistmilitary prisons.According tointernational lawyerStephen Rapp:
The UN reported in 2014 that "siege warfareis employed in a context of egregious human rights and international humanitarian law violations. The warring parties do not fear being held accountable for their acts". Armed forces of both sides of the conflict blocked access to humanitarian convoys, confiscated food, cut off water supplies and targeted farmers working their fields. The report pointed to four places besieged by the government forces:Muadamiyah,Daraya, Yarmouk camp and Old City of Homs, as well as two areas under siege of rebel groups: Aleppo and Hama.InYarmouk Camp20,000 residents faced death by starvation due to blockade by the Syrian government forces and fighting between the army andJabhat al-Nusra, which prevents food distribution by UNRWA.In July 2015, the UN removed Yarmouk from its list of besieged areas in Syria, despite not having been able deliver aid there for four months, and declined to say why it had done so.After intense fighting in April/May 2018, Syrian government forces finally took the camp, its population now reduced to 100–200.
ISIS forces have also been criticized by the UN of using public executions andkilling of captives, amputations, and lashings in a campaign to instill fear. "Forces of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham have committed torture, murder, acts tantamount to enforced disappearance and forced displacement as part of attacks on the civilian population in Aleppo and Raqqa governorates, amounting to crimes against humanity", said the report from 27 August 2014.ISIS alsopersecuted gay and bisexual men.
Enforced disappearances and arbitrary detentions have also been a feature since the Syrian uprising began.AnAmnesty Internationalreport, published in November 2015, stated the Syrian government has forcibly disappeared more than 65,000 people since the beginning of the Syrian civil war.According to a report in May 2016 by theSyrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least 60,000 people have been killed since March 2011 through torture or from poor humanitarian conditions in Syrian government prisons.
In February 2017, Amnesty International published a report which stated the Syrian government murdered an estimated 13,000 persons, mostly civilians, at theSaydnaya military prison. They stated the killings began in 2011 and were still ongoing. Amnesty International described this as a "policy of deliberate extermination" and also stated that "These practices, which amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, are authorised at the highest levels of the Syrian government".Three months later, the United States State Department stated acrematoriumhad been identified near the prison. According to the US, it was being used to burn thousands of bodies of those killed by the government's forces and to cover up evidence of atrocities and war crimes.Amnesty International expressed surprise at the reports about the crematorium, as the photographs used by the US are from 2013 and they did not see them as conclusive, and fugitive government officials have stated that the government buries those its executes in cemeteries on military grounds in Damascus.The Syrian government said the reports were not true.
By July 2012, the human rights groupWomen Under Siegehad documented over 100 cases of rape andsexual assaultduring the conflict, with many of these crimes reported to have been perpetrated by the Shabiha and other pro-government militias. Victims included men, women and children, with about 80% of the known victims being women and girls.
On 11 September 2019, the UN investigators said that air strikes conducted by the US-led coalition in Syria have killed or wounded several civilians, denoting that necessary precautions were not taken leading to potential war crimes.
In late 2019, as the violence intensified in northwest Syria, thousands of women and children were reportedly kept under "inhumane conditions" in a remote camp, said UN-appointed investigators.In October 2019,Amnesty Internationalstated that it had gathered evidence of war crimes and other violations committed byTurkishandTurkey-backed Syrian forceswho are said to "have displayed a shameful disregard for civilian life, carrying out serious violations and war crimes, including summary killings and unlawful attacks that have killed and injured civilians".
According to a 2020 report by UN-backed investigators into the Syrian civil war, young girls aged nine and above have been raped and inveigled into sexual slavery, while boys have been put through torture and forcefully trained to execute killings in public. Children have been attacked by sharpshooters and lured to be bargaining chips for ransoms.
On 6 April 2020, the United Nations published its investigation into the attacks on humanitarian sites in Syria. In its reports, the UN said it had examined six sites of attacks and concluded that theairstrikeshad been carried out by the "Government of Syria and/or its allies." However, the report was criticized for being partial towards Russia and not naming it, despite proper evidence. "The refusal to explicitly name Russia as a responsible party working alongside the Syrian government ... is deeply disappointing", the HRW quoted.
On 27 April 2020, theSyrian Network for Human Rightsreported the continuation of multiple crimes in the month of March and April in Syria. The rights organization claimed that the Syrian regime killed 44 civilians, including six children, during theCOVID-19 pandemic. It also said that Syrian forces held 156 people captive while committing at least of four attacks on vital civilian facilities. The report further recommended that the UN impose sanctions on the Bashar al-Assad regime if it continues to commit human rights violations.
On 8 May 2020, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, raised serious concern that rebel groups, includingISILterrorist fighters, may be using theCOVID-19pandemic as "an opportunity to re-group and inflict violence in the country".
On 21 July 2020, the Syrian government forces carried out an attack and killed two civilians with four Grad rockets in western al-Bab sub-district.
On 14 January 2022, in the rebel-held city of Azaz in northwest Syria, a car bomb went off killing one and wounding several bystanders. According to a rescue worker, an improvised explosive device had been housed inside a car and then the car was planted near a local transport office in the city which is close to the Turkish border. In the town of al Bab, a suicide bomb went off wounding three and in the city of Afrin, another suicide bomb went off at a roundabout. All these three bombings happened in a span of hours and minutes from each other.
According toAl-Jazeera, a rocket attack on a northern Syrian town controlled by Turkey-backed opposition fighters killed six civilians and injured more than a dozen others on 21 January 2022. According to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, it was unclear who fired the artillery shells, but the attack came from a region populated by Kurdish fighters and Syrian government forces.
After an attack on a Syrian jail on 23 January 2022, over 120 individuals were killed in an ongoing conflict between Kurdish-led troops and ISIL (ISIS) fighters. According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, "at least 77 IS members and 39 Kurdish fighters, including internal security forces, prison guards and counter-terrorism forces were killed" in the attack.On 17 December 2023, eight civilians, including a pregnant woman, were killed during bombardments by theSyrian Arab Armyon the town ofDarat Izza. War monitor SOHR reported that pro-Assad forces deliberately perpetrated amassacreby "directly targeting residential areas, using artillery shells and rocket launchers".
In 2022, a German court sentencedAnwar Raslan, 58, a high-ranking official of President Bashar al-Assad's regime to life imprisonment after he sought asylum in Germany and was arrested in 2019. He was charged with being complicit to the murder of at least 27 people coupled with the sexual assault and torture of at least another 4,000 people between 29 April 2011, and 7 September 2012. Raslan was a mid-level officer in Branch 251 and oversaw the torture of detainees. His trial was one of an unprecedented nature because Germany took on a trial of crimes committed in the Syrian war and the human rights lawyers took this on under the principle of "universal jurisdiction". Universal Jurisdiction is a concept in German law that allows for serious crimes to be tried in Germany even if they did not happen in the country. His co-defendant Eyad al-Gharib, 44, a low-level officer inBranch 251was also sentenced to 4 years and 6 months in prison on 24 February 2021. Eyad's duties included the transport of detainees to locations where they would be tortured for days on end. It was his knowledge of the fact that torture was happening there that landed him the sentence.
As the conflict has expanded across Syria, many cities have been engulfed in a wave of crime as fighting caused the disintegration of much of the civilian state, and many police stations stopped functioning. Rates of theft increased, with criminals looting houses and stores. Rates of kidnappings increased as well. Rebel fighters were seen stealing cars and, in one instance, destroying a restaurant in Aleppo where Syrian soldiers had been seen eating.
LocalNational Defense Forcescommanders often engaged "inwar profiteeringthrough protection rackets, looting and organized crime". NDF members were also implicated in "waves of murders, robberies, thefts, kidnappings and extortions throughout government-held parts of Syria since the formation of the organization in 2013", as reported by the Institute for the Study of War.
Criminal networks have been used by both the government and the opposition during the conflict. Facing international sanctions, the Syrian government relied on criminal organizations to smuggle goods and money in and out of the country. The economic downturn caused by the conflict and sanctions also led to lower wages for Shabiha members. In response, some Shabiha members began stealing civilian properties and engaging in kidnappings.Rebel forces sometimes rely on criminal networks to obtain weapons and supplies.Black market weapon pricesin Syria's neighboring countries have significantly increased since the start of the conflict. To generate funds to purchase arms, some rebel groups have turned towards extortion, theft and kidnapping.
Syria has become the chief location for manufacturingCaptagon, an illegalamphetamine. Drugs manufactured in Syria have found their way across the Gulf, Jordan and Europe but have at times been intercepted. In January 2022, a Jordanian army officer was shot and killed and three army personnel injured after a shoot out erupted between drug smugglers and the army. The Jordanian army has said that it shot down a drone in 2021 that was being used to smuggle a substantial amount of drugs across the Jordanian border.
TheWorld Health Organizationhas reported that 35% of the country's hospitals are out of service. Fighting makes it impossible to undertake the normal vaccination programs. The displaced refugees may also pose a disease risk to countries to which they have fled.Four hundred thousand civilians were isolated by theSiege of Eastern Ghoutafrom April 2013 to April 2018, resulting in acutely malnourished children according to the United Nations Special Advisor,Jan Egeland, who urged the parties for medical evacuations. 55,000 civilians are also isolated in theRukbanrefugee camp between Syria and Jordan, where humanitarian relief access is difficult due to the harsh desert conditions. Humanitarian aid reaches the camp only sporadically, sometimes taking three months between shipments.
Formerly rareinfectious diseaseshave spread in rebel-held areas brought on by poorsanitationand deteriorating living conditions. The diseases have primarily affected children. These includemeasles,typhoid,hepatitis,dysentery,tuberculosis,diphtheria,whooping coughand the disfiguringskin diseaseleishmaniasis. Of particular concern is the contagious and cripplingPoliomyelitis. As of late 2013 doctors and international public health agencies have reported more than 90 cases. Critics of the government complain that, even before the uprising, it contributed to the spread of disease by purposefully restricting access tovaccination, sanitation and access to hygienic water in "areas considered politically unsympathetic".
In June 2020, theUnited Nationsreported that after more than nine years of war, Syria was falling into an even deeper crisis and economic deterioration as a result of theCOVID-19 pandemic. As of 26 June, a total of 248 people were infected by COVID-19, out of which nine people died. Restrictions on the importation of medical supplies, limited access to essential equipment, reduced outside support and ongoing attacks on medical facilities left Syria's health infrastructure in peril, and unable to meet the needs of its population. Syrian communities were additionally facing unprecedented levels ofhunger crisis.
In September 2022, the UN representative in Syria reported that several regions in the country were witnessing acholeraoutbreak. UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Imran Riza called for an urgent response to contain the outbreak, saying that it posed "a serious threat to people in Syria". The outbreak was linked to the use of contaminated water for growing crops and the reliance of people on unsafe water sources.
The conflict holds the record for the largest sum ever requested by UN agencies for a single humanitarian emergency, $6.5billion worth of requests of December 2013.The international humanitarian response to the conflict in Syria is coordinated by theUnited Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs(UNOCHA) in accordance withGeneral AssemblyResolution 46/182.The primary framework for this coordination is the Syria Humanitarian Assistance Response Plan (SHARP) which appealed for US$1.41billion to meet the humanitarian needs of Syrians affected by the conflict.Official United Nations data on the humanitarian situation and response is available at an official website managed by UNOCHA Syria (Amman).UNICEF is also working alongside these organizations to provide vaccinations and care packages to those in need. Financial information on the response to the SHARP and assistance to refugees and for cross-border operations can be found on UNOCHA's Financial Tracking Service. As of 19 September 2015, the top ten donors to Syria were United States, European Commission, United Kingdom, Kuwait, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Japan, UAE and Norway.
The difficulty of delivering humanitarian aid to people is indicated by the statistics for January 2015: of the estimated 212,000 people during that month who were besieged by government or opposition forces, 304 were reached with food.USAIDand other government agencies in US delivered nearly $385million of aid items to Syria in 2012 and 2013. The United States has provided food aid, medical supplies, emergency and basic health care, shelter materials, clean water, hygiene education and supplies, and other relief supplies.Islamic Reliefhas stocked 30 hospitals and sent hundreds of thousands of medical and food parcels.
Other countries in the region have also contributed various levels of aid. Iran has been exporting between 500 and 800 tonnes of flour daily to Syria.Israel supplied aid throughOperation Good Neighbor, providing medical treatment to 750 Syrians in a field hospital located inGolan Heightswhere rebels say that 250 of their fighters were treated.Israel established two medical centers inside Syria. Israel also deliveredheating fuel,diesel fuel, seven electricgenerators, water pipes, educational materials, flour for bakeries, baby food,diapers, shoes and clothing.Syrian refugees in Lebanonmake up one quarter ofLebanon's population, mostly consisting of women and children.In addition, Russia has said it created six humanitarian aid centers within Syria to support 3000 refugees in 2016.
On 9 April 2020, the UN dispatched 51 truckloads of humanitarian aid toIdlib. The organization said that the aid would be distributed among civilians stranded in the northwestern part of the country.
On 30 April 2020,Human Rights Watchcondemned the Syrian authorities for their longstanding restriction on the entry of aid supplies.It also demanded theWorld Health Organizationto keep pushing the UN to allow medical aid and other essentials to reach Syria via the Iraq border crossing, to prevent the spread ofCOVID-19in the war-torn nation. The aid supplies, if allowed, will allow the Syrian population to protect themselves from contracting the COVID-19 virus.
As of December 2019, a diplomatic dispute is occurring at the UN over re-authorization of cross-border aid for refugees. China and Russia oppose the draft resolution that seeks to re-authorize crossing points in Turkey, Iraq and Jordan; China and Russia, as allies of Assad, seek to close the two crossing points in Iraq and Jordan, and to leave only the two crossing points in Turkey active.The current authorization expired on 10 January 2020.
All of the ten individuals representing the non-permanent members of the Security Council stood in the corridor outside of the chamber speaking to the press to state that all four crossing points are crucial and must be renewed.
United Nations officialMark Lowcockis asking the UN to re-authorize cross-border aid to enable aid to continue to reach refugees in Syria. He says there is no other way to deliver the aid that is needed. He noted that four million refugees out of the over eleven million refugees who need assistance are being reached through four specific international crossing points. Lowcock serves as the United NationsUnder-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinatorand the Head of theUnited Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Russia, aided by China's support, has vetoed the resolution to retain all four border crossings. An alternate resolution also did not pass.The US strongly criticized the vetoes and opposition by Russia and China.China explained the reason for veto is the concern of "unilateral coercive measures" by certain states causing humanitarian suffering on the Syrian people. It views lifting all unilateral sanctions respecting Syrian sovereignty and for humanitarian reasons is a must.
As of March 2015, the war has affected 290 heritage sites, severely damaged 104, and completely destroyed 24.Five of the six UNESCOWorld Heritage Sitesin Syria have been damaged.Destruction of antiquities has been caused byshelling, army entrenchment, andlootingat varioustells, museums and monuments.A group calledSyrian Archaeological Heritage Under Threatis monitoring and recording the destruction in an attempt to create a list of heritage sites damaged during the war and to gain global support for the protection and preservation ofSyrian archaeologyand architecture.
UNESCO listed all six Syria's World Heritage Sites as endangered but direct assessment of damage is not possible. It is known that theOld City of Aleppowas heavily damaged during battles being fought within the district, whilePalmyraandKrak des Chevalierssuffered minor damage. Illegal digging is said to be a grave danger, and hundreds of Syrian antiquities, including some from Palmyra, appeared in Lebanon. Three archeological museums are known to have been looted; in Raqqa some artifacts seem to have been destroyed by foreign Islamists due to religious objections.
In 2014 and 2015, following the rise of the Islamic State, several sites in Syria were destroyed by the group as part of adeliberate destruction of cultural heritage sites. In Palmyra, the group destroyed many ancient statues, theTemples of BaalshaminandBel, many tombs including theTower of Elahbeland part of theMonumental Arch.The 13th-centuryPalmyra Castlewas extensively damaged by retreating militants during thePalmyra offensivein March 2016.IS also destroyed ancient statues inRaqqa,and a number of churches, including theArmenian Genocide Memorial ChurchinDeir ez-Zor.
In January 2018 Turkish airstrikes seriously damaged an ancient Neo-Hittitetemple in Syria's Kurdish-heldAfrinregion. It was built by theArameansin the first millennium BC.According to a September 2019 report published by theSyrian Network for Human Rights, more than 120 Christian churches have been destroyed or damaged in Syria since 2011.
The war has inspired its own particular artwork, done by Syrians. A late summer 2013 exhibition in London at theP21 Galleryshowed some of this work, which had to be smuggled out of Syria.
As a result of the war many children's books have been published surrounding themes and stories of Syrian children of war. Some examples of this would beTomorrowby Nadine Kaadan,My Beautiful Birdsby Suzanne del Rizzo andNowhere BoybyKatherine Marsh.
The Syrian civil war is one of the most heavily documented wars in history, despite the extreme dangers that journalists face while in Syria.
On 19 August 2014, American journalistJames Foleywas executed by ISIL, who said it was in retaliation for the United States operations in Iraq. Foley was kidnapped in Syria in November 2012 byShabihamilitia.ISIL also threatened to executeSteven Sotloff, who was kidnapped at the Syrian–Turkish border in August 2013.There were reports ISIS captured a Japanese national, two Italian nationals, and a Danish national as well.Sotloff was later executed in September 2014. At least 70 journalists have been killed covering the Syrian war, and more than 80 kidnapped, according to theCommittee to Protect Journalists.On 22 August 2014, theal-Nusra Frontreleased a video of captured Lebanese soldiers and demanded Hezbollah withdraw from Syria under threat of their execution.
During the early period of the civil war, TheArab League,European Union, the United Nationsand many Western governments quickly condemned the Syrian government's violent response to the protests, and expressed support for the protesters' right to exercisefree speech.Initially, many Middle Eastern governments expressed support for Assad, but as the death toll mounted, they switched to a more balanced approach by criticizing violence from both government and protesters. Both the Arab League and theOrganisation of Islamic Cooperationsuspended Syria's membership. Russia and China vetoed Western-draftedUnited Nations Security Councilresolutions in 2011 and 2012, which would have threatened the Syrian government with targeted sanctions if it continued military actions against protestors.
TheUS Congresshas enacted punitive sanctions on the Syrian government for its actions during the Civil War. These sanctions would penalize any entities lending support to the Syrian government, and any companies operating in Syria.US President Donald Trump tried to protect the Turkish President Erdogan from the effects of such sanctions.
Some activists welcomed this legislation.Some critics contend that these punitive sanctions are likely to backfire or have unintended consequences; they argue that ordinary Syrian people will have fewer economic resources due to these sanctions (and will thus need to rely more the Syrian government and its economic allies and projects), while the sanctions' impact on ruling political elites will be limited.
Mohammad al-Abdallah, executive director ofSyria Justice and Accountability Center(SJAC), said that the sanctions will likely hurt ordinary Syrian people, saying, "it is an almost unsolvable unfeasible equation. If they are imposed, they will indirectly harm the Syrian people, and if they are lifted, they will indirectly revive the Syrian regime;" he attributed the sanctions to "political considerations, as the United States does not have weapons and tools in the Syrian file, and sanctions are its only means."
Peter Ford, the former UK Ambassador to Syria, said "...going forward, we're seeing more economic warfare. It seems that the US, having failed to change the regime in Syria by military force or by proxies, is tightening the economic screws and the main reason why the US is keeping hold of the production facilities in eastern Syria. So, the economic situation is becoming more and more serious and dire in Syria and it's a major reason why refugees are not going back."
In June, US Secretary of StateMike Pompeoannounced new economic sanctions on Syria targeting foreign business relations with the Syrian government. Under theCaesar Act, the latest sanctions were to be imposed on 39 individuals and entities, includingAsma al-Assad, wife of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
On 17 June 2020, James F. Jeffrey, Special Representative for Syria Engagement, signalled that theUAEcould be hit with sanctions under the Caesar Act if it pushed ahead with normalisation efforts with the Syrian regime.
During the course of the war, there have been several international peace initiatives, undertaken by the Arab League, the United Nations and other actors.The Syrian government has refused efforts to negotiate with what it describes as armed terrorist groups.On 1 February 2016, the UN announced the formal start of the UN-mediated Geneva Syria peace talksthat had been agreed on by theInternational Syria Support Group(ISSG) in Vienna. On 3 February 2016, the UN Syria peace mediator suspended the talks.On 14 March 2016, Geneva peace talks resumed. The Syrian government stated that discussion of Bashar-al-Assad's presidency "is a red line", however Syria's President Bashar al-Assad said he hopedpeace talks in Genevawould lead to concrete results, and stressed the need for a political process in Syria.
Anew round of talksbetween the Syrian government and some groups of Syrian rebels concluded on 24 January 2017 inAstana, Kazakhstan, with Russia, Iran and Turkey supporting theceasefire agreementbrokered in late December 2016.The Astana Process talks was billed by a Russian official as a complement to, rather than replacement, of the United Nations-led Geneva Process talks.On 4 May 2017, at the fourth round of the Astana talks, representatives of Russia, Iran and Turkey signed a memorandum whereby four "de-escalationzones" in Syria would be established, effective of 6 May 2017.
On 18 September 2019, Russia stated the United States and Syrian rebels were obstructing the evacuation process of a refugee camp in southern Syria.
On 28 September 2019, Syria's top diplomat demanded the foreign forces, including that of US and Turkey, to immediately leave the country, saying that the Syrian government holds the right to protect its territory in all possible ways if they remain.
President RT Erdogan said Turkey was left with no choice other than going its own way on the Syria 'safe zone' after a deadline to co-jointly establish a "safe zone" with the US in northern Syria expired in September.The US indicated it would withdraw its forces from northern Syria after Turkey warned of incursion in the region that could instigate fighting with American-backed Kurds.
In October 2019, in response to the Turkish offensive, Russia arranged for negotiations between the Syrian government and the Kurdish-led forces.Russia also negotiated a renewal of a cease-fire between Kurds and Turkey that was about to expire.
Russia and Turkey agreed via theSochi Agreement of 2019to set up aSecond Northern Syria Buffer Zone. Syrian President Assad expressed full support for the deal, as various terms of the agreement also applied to the Syrian government.The SDF stated that they considered themselves as "Syrian and a part of Syria", adding that they would agree to work with the Syrian Government.The SDF officially announced their support for the deal on 27 October.
The agreement reportedly included the following terms:
In late 2019, a newSyrian Constitutional Committeebegan operating in order to discuss a new settlement and to draft a new constitution for Syria.This committee comprises about 150 members. It includes representatives of the Syrian government, opposition groups and countries serving as guarantors of the process, such as Russia. However, this committee has faced strong opposition from the Assad government. Fifty of the committee members represent the government, and 50 members represent the opposition.Until the Assad government agrees to participate, it is unclear whether the third round of talks will proceed on a firm schedule.
In December 2019, the EU held an international conference which condemned any suppression of the Kurds, and called for the self-declared Autonomous Administration in Rojava to be preserved and to be reflected in any new Syrian Constitution. The Kurds are concerned that the independence of their declared Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) in Rojava might be severely curtailed.
Rojava officials condemned the fact that they were excluded from the peace talks and stated that "having a couple of Kurds" in the committee did not mean that the Syrian Kurds were properly represented in it.The co-chair of theSyrian Democratic Councilaccused Turkey of vetoing the representation of Syrian Kurds within the committee.The Kurdish administration also organized demonstrations in front of the UN office inQamishlito protest their exclusion from the committee.
On 13 April 2023, Syrian Foreign MinisterFaisal Mekdadarrived inJeddahto meet Saudi foreign minister, PrinceFaisal bin Farhan. After frayed relations during the Syrian civil war, both nations now seek "a political solution to the Syrian crisis that preserves the unity, security and stability of Syria", according to the Saudi foreign ministry. The high level talks are "facilitating thereturn of Syrian refugeesto their homeland, and securing humanitarian access to the affected areas in Syria". Al-Assad previously visited the UAE, Oman as well as Saudi Arabia. The discussion also included the possible resumption of consular services between the two countries. This is the first visit to Saudi Arabia by a Syrian foreign minister since the onset of the civil war in 2011. The same week all foreign ministers of theArab Leaguewould meet again to discuss the return of Syria to the regional organisation.
United Nations authorities have estimated that the war in Syria has caused destruction amounting to about $400 billion.TheSNHRreported in 2017 that the war has rendered around 39% ofSyrian mosquesunserviceable for worship. More than 13,500mosqueswere destroyed in Syria between 2011 and 2017. Around 1,400 were dismantled by 2013, while 13,000 mosques were demolished between 2013 and 2017.According to a Syrian war monitor,over 120 churches have been damaged or demolishedby during the course of Syrian war since 2011, 60% of which attacks were perpetrated by pro-Assad forces.
While the war is still ongoing, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad said that Syria would be able to rebuild the war-torn country on its own. As of July 2018, the reconstruction is estimated to cost a minimum of US$400billion. Assad said he would be able to loan this money from friendly countries, Syrian diaspora and the state treasury.Iran has expressed interest in helping rebuild Syria.One year later this seemed to be materializing, Iran and the Syrian government signed a deal where Iran would help rebuild the Syrian energy grid, which has taken damage to 50% of the grid.International donors have been suggested as one financier of the reconstruction.As of November 2018, reports emerged that rebuilding efforts had already started. It was reported that the biggest issue facing the rebuilding process is the lack of building material and a need to make sure the resources that do exist are managed efficiently. The rebuilding effort have so far remained at a limited capacity and has often been focused on certain areas of a city, thus ignoring other areas inhabited by disadvantaged people.
Various efforts are proceeding to rebuild infrastructure in Syria. Russia says it will spend $500million to modernize Syria's port ofTartus. Russia also said it will build a railway to link Syria with the Persian Gulf.Russia will also contribute to recovery efforts by the UN.Syria awarded oil exploration contracts to two Russian firms.
Syria announced it is in serious dialogue with China to join China's "Belt and Road Initiative" designed to foster investment in infrastructure in over one-hundred developing nations worldwide.On Wednesday 12 January 2022, China and Syria signed amemorandum of understandingin Damascus. The memorandum was signed by Fadi al-Khalil, the Head of Planning and International Cooperation Commission for the Syrian Side and Feng Biao, the Chinese ambassador in Damascus for the Chinese side. The memorandum sees Syria join the initiative whose aim is to help expand cooperation with China and other partner countries in areas such as trade, technology, capital, human movement and cultural exchange. Among other things, it aims to define the future of this cooperation with partner states.
A few days prior to thefall of the Assad regime, theSyrian American Council(SAC) successfullylobbiedfor theCaesar Actsanctions to be renewed via the USNational Defense Authorization Act 2025(NDAA 2025). However after the fall of Assad on 8 December 2024 and establishment of theSyrian transitional government, the SAC failed to have the sanctions clause removed from the bill in time.On 23 December theBiden administrationsigned NDAA 2025 into law,renewing the sanctions for another five years, withReasonmagazine labeling the sanctions "a serious obstacle to Syria's reconstruction" post-Assad.
On 29 January 2025, Syriande factoleaderAhmed al-Sharaawas appointedPresident of Syriaby the Syrian General Command for the transitional period and held theSyrian Revolution Victory Conference.In his first address as president, al-Sharaa said that he would hold a "national dialogue conference" and issue a "constitutional declaration" to serve as a "legal reference" during the political transition following the dissolution of theAssad-era constitution.Al-Sharaa promised to go afterwar criminalsbelonging to the former regime.However, the new transitional government still has not reached a disarmament agreement with the Kurdish-ledSyrian Democratic Forces.