Syrian Civil War

## About

The **Syrian civil war** (Arabic: ٱلْحَرْبُ ٱلْأَهْلِيَّةُ ٱلسُّورِيَّةُ, romanized: *al-ḥarb ul-ʾahlīyyat us-sūrīyyah*) is an ongoing multi-sided civil war in Syria fought between the Syrian Arab Republic led by Syrian president Bashar al-Assad (supported by domestic and foreign allies) and various domestic and foreign forces that oppose both the Syrian government and each other, in varying combinations.

Unrest in Syria began on 15 March 2011 as part of the wider 2011 Arab Spring protests out of discontent with the Syrian government, eventually escalating to an armed conflict after protests calling for Assad's removal were violently suppressed. The war is currently being fought by several factions. The Syrian Armed Forces and its domestic and international allies represent the Syrian Arab Republic and the Assad regime. Opposed to it is the Syrian Interim Government, a big-tent alliance of pro-democratic, nationalist opposition groups (whose defense forces consist of the Syrian National Army and the Free Syrian Army). Another faction is the Syrian Salvation Government, a coalition of Sunni Islamist rebel groups headed by Tahrir al-Sham. Independent of all of them is the de facto autonomous territory of Rojava, whose armed wing is the mixed Kurdish-Arab Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Other competing factions include Salafi Jihadist organisations such as the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL). The peak of the war was during 2012–2017; violence in the country has since diminished, but the situation remains a crisis.

A number of foreign countries, such as Iran, Russia, Turkey, and the United States, have either directly involved themselves in the conflict or provided support to one or another faction. Iran, Russia, and Hezbollah support the Syrian Arab Republic and the Syrian Armed Forces militarily, with Russia conducting airstrikes and ground operations since September 2015. The U.S.-led international coalition, established in 2014 with the declared purpose of countering ISIL, has conducted airstrikes primarily against ISIL as well as some against government and pro-government targets. They have also deployed special forces and artillery units to engage ISIL on the ground. Since 2015, the U.S. has supported the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria and its armed wing, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), materially, financially, and logistically. Turkish forces have fought the SDF, ISIL, and the Syrian government since 2016, but have also actively supported the Syrian opposition and currently occupy large swaths of northwestern Syria while engaging in significant ground combat. Between 2011 and 2017, fighting from the Syrian civil war spilled over into Lebanon as opponents and supporters of the Syrian government traveled to Lebanon to fight and attack each other on Lebanese soil, with ISIL and al-Nusra also engaging the Lebanese Army. Furthermore, while officially neutral, Israel has exchanged border fire and carried out repeated strikes against Hezbollah and Iranian forces, whose presence in western Syria it views as a threat.

The war has resulted in an estimated 470,000–610,000 deaths, making the Syrian civil war the second deadliest conflict of the 21st century after the Second Congo War. International organizations have accused virtually all sides involved—the Assad regime, ISIL, opposition groups, Iran, Russia, Turkey, and the U.S.-led coalition—of severe human rights violations and massacres. The conflict has caused a major refugee crisis, with millions of people fleeing to neighboring countries such as Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan; however, a sizable minority has also sought refuge in countries outside of the Middle East, with Germany alone accepting over half a million Syrians since 2011. Over the course of the war, a number of peace initiatives have been launched, including the March 2017 Geneva peace talks on Syria led by the United Nations, but fighting has continued.

As of 2023, active fighting in the conflict between the Syrian government and rebel groups had mostly subsided, but there were occasional flareups in Northwestern Syria. In early 2023, reports indicated that the forces of ISIS in Syria had mostly been defeated, with only a few cells remaining in various remote locations.

## SDF

### Outcome

Still ongoing

The **Syrian Democratic Forces** (**SDF**) is a coalition of ethnic militias and rebel groups in North and East Syria (AANES). An alliance of forces formed during the Syrian civil war composed primarily of Kurdish, Arab, and Assyrian/Syriac, as well as some smaller Armenian, Turkmen and Chechen forces. It is militarily led by the People's Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish militia recognized as a terrorist group by Turkey. SDF also includes several ethnic militias, and various factions of the Syrian opposition's Free Syrian Army. Founded in October 2015, the SDF states its mission as fighting to create a secular, democratic and federalised Syria. According to Turkey, the Syrian Democratic Forces has direct links to the PKK.

The primary opponents of the SDF are the various Islamist and Arab nationalist forces supported by Turkey, involved in the civil war, in particular al-Qaeda affiliates, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Syrian National Army (TFSA), the Turkish Armed Forces, and their allies. The SDF has focused primarily on the ISIL, successfully driving them from important strategic areas, such as Al-Hawl, Shaddadi, Tishrin Dam, Manbij, al-Tabqah, Tabqa Dam, Baath Dam, and ISIL's former capital of Raqqa. In March 2019, the SDF announced the total territorial defeat of ISIL in Syria, with the SDF taking control of the last stronghold in Baghuz.

Since the territorial defeat of ISIL, the SDF has increasingly been involved with resisting the growing Turkish occupation of northern Syria.

## FSA

### Outcome

Still ongoing

The first defections from the Syrian Army ( to the Free Syrian Army ) during the Syrian uprising may have occurred at the end of April 2011 when the army was sent into Daraa to quell ongoing protests. There were reports that some units refused to fire on protesters and had split from the army.

Defections, according to unverified reports, continued throughout the spring as the government used lethal force to clamp down on protesters and lay siege to protesting cities across the country, such as Baniyas, Hama, Talkalakh, and Deir ez-Zor, and there were reports of soldiers who refused to fire on civilians being summarily executed by the army.

At the end of July 2011, with the Syrian uprising (or civil war) running since March 2011, a group of defected Syrian Army officers established the '**Free Syrian Army'** to bring down the Assad government. On 29 July 2011, Colonel Riad al-Asaad and a group of uniformed officers announced the formation of the Free Syrian Army or 'Syrian Free Army', with the goals of protecting unarmed protesters and helping to "bring down this regime", in a video on the Internet where Riad al-Asaad spoke alongside several other defectors.