The conflict in Syria, which can easily be called a civil war, has been going on for the fifth year, involving more and more countries. Along with the Middle Eastern states, many Western countries are drawn into the confrontation in the Arab Republic: the USA, Canada, France, and Great Britain. At the end of September 2015, Russia responded to requests from the Syrian government to provide support in the fight against the radical group “Islamic State” - without defeating the terrorists, resolving the bloody conflict in Syria is not possible. RT invites readers to remember the main events of the Syrian crisis in photographs.
- Reuters
To understand the origins of the conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic, it is necessary to recall the events that preceded it in the Middle East. In the winter of 2010, a wave of protests swept across the Arab world, some of them leading to coups d'état. Governments were forcibly removed in Libya, Tunisia and other countries in the region.
Photo: Reuters. Anti-government protesters in Yemen, 2010
In April 2011, in the Syrian cities of Damascus and Aleppo, clashes occurred between protesters and police, killing people. Already in the summer, Sunnis who deserted from the army created the Free Syrian Army (FSA). They demanded the resignation of the government and the resignation of the president of the SAR. Thus began a long-term bloody conflict that claimed the lives of thousands of people.
Photo: Reuters. Protest in the Syrian city of Nawa, April 2011
The West almost immediately supported the Syrian opposition and introduced a number of sanctions against the country's leadership. In the fall of 2011, the Syrian National Council was created in Turkey from political emigrants. In the winter of 2012, the United States recognized the National Opposition Coalition as a legitimate representative of the Syrian population. Meanwhile, the fighting was gaining momentum.
Photo: Reuters.US Senator John McCaingreeting Syrian refugees in a camp on the Syrian-Turkish border, 2012
In 2013, chemical weapons were used in Syria, killing about 1.2 thousand people. An investigation carried out by the UN mission could only confirm the fact of a chemical attack, but to this day there is no reliable information about which side of the conflict used the nerve gas sarin.
Photo: Reuters. A boy who survived a chemical attack outside Damascus, August 2013
In September 2013, following a meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry, an agreement was reached on the destruction of all chemical weapons in Syria. The last batch of prohibited weapons was exported on June 23, 2014.
Photo: Reuters. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US State Department head John Kerry before the start of negotiations on the situation in Syria, August 2013
Militants of the radical Islamic State group, formed from the Iraqi and Syrian wings of al-Qaeda, entered the conflict on the side of anti-government forces in 2013. The very next year, together with the Syrian territories controlled by militants, IS extended its influence to a region larger in area than Great Britain.
Photo: Reuters.An Islamic State militant uses a loudspeaker to announce to residents of the Syrian town of Tabqa that a local military base has been captured by IS forces, August 2014.
In the fall of 2014, the United States announced the creation of an international anti-terrorist coalition, which began striking militant positions. However, according to experts, the actions of the forces led by Washington did not lead to any significant successes. Moreover, the coalition has been repeatedly accused of killing civilians and not terrorists as a result of airstrikes.
Photo: Reuters. Children among the ruins of a school in Raqqa, destroyed by a US-led coalition airstrike, 2014.
Russia, in turn, has repeatedly emphasized that to successfully combat terrorism, cooperation between the countries of the region is necessary. Later, the Russian Foreign Ministry officially announced that Russia, Syria, Iraq and Iran have created a coordination center in Baghdad to combat the Islamic State.
Photo: Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. A plane of the Russian Aerospace Forces at an air base in Syria, 2015
Currently, both Russia and the West agree that without defeating the Islamic State, it is impossible to resolve the conflict in Syria. In this regard, in September 2015, Moscow announced the start of an operation of the Russian Aerospace Forces against Islamists.
Photo: Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. Aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces at an air base in Syria, 2015
Since September 30, the date of the start of the Russian Aerospace Forces operation, Russian aviation has carried out more than a hundred combat sorties against IS targets. Su-34, Su-24M and Su-25SM aircraft destroyed dozens of camps, warehouses and bases of Islamic State militants.
Photo: RIA Novosti. Russian Aerospace Forces aircraft on a combat mission in Syria, 2015
The Russian Ministry of Defense yesterday announced the intensification of combat sorties by Russian aviation due to a significant increase in the number of ground targets identified by air and space reconnaissance throughout Syria. The official representative of the department, Major General Igor Konashenkov, spoke about this.
Photo: RIA Novosti. Aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces on a combat mission in Syria, 2015
The Russian base in Syria is fully provided with material and technical equipment from the Russian Federation, so the military personnel currently in the Arab Republic have everything they need, the Ministry of Defense noted. To guard and defend the base, a battalion tactical group of Marines with reinforcements is involved. Field food stations and a bakery were organized on site.
Photo: RIA Novosti. Russian military personnel at a base in Syria, 2015
According to the UN, more than 240 thousand people have been killed in Syria since the beginning of the conflict. 4 million Syrian citizens became refugees, and another 7.6 million received the status of displaced persons. As a result, more than 12 million people are currently in need of humanitarian assistance.
The conflict in Syria began in 2011. It originated as an internal confrontation between a dissatisfied part of society and the power of President Bashar al-Assad. Gradually, Islamist radicals, Kurds, as well as other countries, including Turkey, Russia, the USA, Iran and numerous Arab states, became involved in the civil war.
Causes of the war and the first protests
The roots and causes of the Syrian conflict lie in the events of 2011. Then civil protests began throughout the Arab world. They did not bypass Syria either. Citizens of the country began to take to the streets and demand from the authorities the resignation of President Bashar al-Assad and democratic reforms.
In some Arab states, protests did lead to a peaceful change of power (for example, in Tunisia). The Syrian conflict has taken a different path. The first civil protests were unorganized. Gradually, the opposition forces coordinated, and their pressure on the authorities increased. Social networks began to play a big role in what was happening. Groups of protesters were created on Facebook, where they remotely agreed on their actions, and on Twitter, people reported live to the network about what was happening on the streets.
The more citizens took to the streets, the more repressive measures the state took against them. In urban areas where protesters were most active, they began to turn off the lights. Food products were confiscated. Finally, the army was involved. The military took up arms in Homs, Aleppo and other major cities of the country.
Sunnis vs Alawites
In March 2011, there was hope that the Syrian conflict would be resolved peacefully. Bashar al-Assad agreed with some of the protesters' demands and dismissed the government. Nevertheless, he himself did not resign from the presidency. By that time, the activity of the dissatisfied had grown so much that it was no longer possible to put out this fire with half measures.
The causes of the Syrian conflict, which began as a purely internal one, were largely ethnic and religious in nature. The majority of the country's population is Arab and Sunni. The political elite of the state, on the contrary, consists mainly of Alawites. This ethnic group practices Shiism. Alawites make up no more than 10% of the Syrian population. Many Arabs rebelled against Assad precisely because of this disproportionate dominance of power.
Since 1963, the country has been ruled by the Baath Party. She adheres to socialist and anti-imperialist views. The party is authoritarian. For half a century, it has never allowed a real opposition to power. This monopoly is superimposed on the conflict between Arabs and Alawites. For the combination of these and some other reasons, the Syrian conflict could not be stopped with soft compromises. The protesters began to demand only one thing - the resignation of Assad, whose father ruled Syria before him.
Military split
In the summer of 2011, the decomposition of the Syrian army began. Defectors appeared, the number of which only increased every day. Deserters and civilian rebels began to unite into armed groups. These were no longer peaceful protesters with an easily dispersed rally. At the end of the year, similar formations united into the Free Syrian Army.
In March, street demonstrations began in the capital Damascus. New demands emerged: the fight against corruption and the release of political prisoners. In June, clashes in the city of Jisr al-Shughour led to the death of more than a hundred people. The Syrian conflict has already claimed thousands of lives, but this was only the beginning. Tourists have stopped visiting the country. Western states, including the European Union, imposed sanctions against the government of Bashar al-Assad and accused the Damascus authorities of killing civilians.
ISIS
Gradually, the forces opposing Bashar al-Assad ceased to be a single whole. The disengagement led to Islamist radicals breaking away from the conditional “moderate” opposition. Jihadist groups have become hostile to both the Free Syrian Army and the government in Damascus. The radicals created the so-called Islamic State (it has several names: IS, ISIS, Daesh). In addition to him, the al-Nusra Front (which is part of al-Qaeda), Jabhat Ansar al-Din and other small groups of this kind also operate in Syria.
ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has created a quasi-state in northeastern Syria. His militants also invaded Iraq, where they captured one of the country's largest cities, Mosul. ISIS makes money by selling oil (for example, it owns the large Jazal oil field).
Islamists are destroying museums and destroying monuments of architecture and art. Radicals persecute Syrian Christians. Temples are destroyed, churches and monasteries are desecrated. Looters and vandals sell artifacts and ancient utensils on the black market. Before the war, 2 million Christians lived in Syria. Today, almost all of them have left the country in search of safe haven.
Turkish intervention
The first foreign state to openly join the Syrian war was neighboring Türkiye. The main focus of the uprising within the Arab republic was in the north of the country. These provinces border with Turkey. Because of this, it was inevitable that sooner or later the armies of the two states would collide with each other. In June 2012, Syrian air defenses shot down a Turkish fighter that flew into their territory. Soon such incidents became commonplace. The history of the Syrian conflict has entered a new phase.
The rebels who opposed Bashar al-Assad created transit points in Turkey where they received training or restored resources. Official Ankara did not interfere with this. Since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, Turkey has had its own strategic interests in Syria - a large ethnic group of Turkomans lives there. In Ankara they are considered their compatriots.
In August 2016, Turkish tanks and special forces crossed the border into Syria and attacked ISIS militants in Jalabrus. With the support of these formations, fighters of the Free Syrian Army entered the city. Thus, Turkish President Recep Erdogan openly helped the opposition. This offensive was supported by the United States. American advisers participated in the planning of this operation, called the Euphrates Shield. Later, Erdogan publicly declared his desire to overthrow Bashar al-Assad.
Other parties to the conflict
The secular Syrian opposition has found support not only in Turkey. In 2012, Western countries openly began to help her. The European Union and the United States began to finance the opposition. According to various estimates, the amount of money transferred is already more than $385 million. With the money provided, troops opposing Assad purchased equipment, transport, communications equipment, etc. Since September 2014, the Americans and their allies have been bombing positions of the Islamic State. Aircraft from Jordan, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are also participating in the operations.
In November 2012, the history of the Syrian conflict was supplemented by another important event. A national coalition was created in Doha (the capital of Qatar), which included the largest opposition political and military associations. The US State Department officially announced support for this faction. The Arab countries of the Persian Gulf (Saudi Arabia and Qatar) recognized the national coalition as the legitimate representative of the interests of the people of Syria.
Despite the pressure, the government of Bashar al-Assad is supported by Iran. On the one hand, the Shiite state helps its coreligionists, the Alawites, on the other, it fights terrorists, and on the third, it traditionally conflicts with the Sunnis. The parties to the Syrian conflict are numerous; this war has long ceased to be bilateral and has turned into a war of all against all.
Kurds
An important factor in the Syrian war immediately became the question of the future of the Kurds. This people lives at the junction of several states (including Turkey and Iraq). In Syria, Kurds make up 9% of the population (about 2 million people). These are Iranian people professing Sunnism (there are groups of Yazidis and Christians). Despite the fact that the Kurds are a large nation, they do not have their own state. For many years they have tried to achieve broad autonomy in the countries of the Middle East. Radical supporters of independence regularly carry out terrorist attacks in Turkey.
The Syrian conflict, in short, allowed the Kurds living there to separate themselves from Damascus. In fact, their provinces on the border with Turkey today have independent authorities. In the spring of 2016, the People's Defense Forces (PDF) announced the establishment of the Federation of Northern Syria.
The Kurds, who have declared autonomy, are in conflict not only with government troops, but also with Islamists. They managed to liberate some cities that are now under the control of the new Kurdistan from ISIS supporters. Some experts believe that in the post-war period, the federalization of Syria will be the only compromise option through which different ethnic groups and religions will be able to live within the borders of one state. In the meantime, the future of the Kurds, like the entire country, is still unclear. The settlement of the Syrian conflict can only occur after the universal enemy of peaceful peoples is defeated - Islamist terrorism, at the forefront of which is ISIS.
Russian participation
On September 30, 2015, Russia's participation in the Syrian conflict began. On this day, Bashar Assad turned to Moscow with an official request for help in the fight against terrorists. At the same time, in accordance with legal requirements, the Federation Council approved the use of the Russian army in Syria. President Vladimir Putin made the final decision to send air forces to Syria (there was no talk of conducting a ground operation).
In the Syrian conflict, Russia used bases that had remained there since Soviet times. Naval vessels began to be based in the port of Tartus. The Syrian authorities also handed over the Khmeimim airfield to the Russian Air Force free of charge. Aleksandr Dvornikov was appointed commander of the operation (he was replaced by Alexander Zhuravlev in July 2016).
It was officially announced that Russia’s role in the Syrian conflict consists of airstrikes on military infrastructure facilities belonging to terrorist organizations (Islamic State, al-Nusra Front, etc.). We are talking about camps, ammunition and weapons depots, command posts, communication centers, etc. In one of his speeches, Vladimir Putin also stated that participation in the Syrian war allows the Russian army to test modern military equipment in combat conditions (which is actually an indirect goal of the operation).
Although Russian and American aircraft operate in the air simultaneously, their actions are not coordinated. Mutual accusations about the ineffectiveness of the other side's actions often make their way into the press. There is also a popular point of view in the West that Russian aircraft first bomb the positions of the Syrian opposition, and only secondarily the areas controlled by ISIS and other terrorists.
How Türkiye shot down a Su-24
The Syrian war is considered by many to be indirect, since the countries of the Syrian conflict, which are allies of the opposing forces, can themselves become opponents. A striking example of such a perspective was Russian-Turkish relations. As mentioned above, Ankara supports the opposition, and Moscow stands on the side of the government of Bashar al-Assad. But even this was not the cause of a serious diplomatic crisis in the fall of 2015.
On November 24, a Turkish fighter shot down a Russian Su-24M bomber using an air-to-air missile. The crew ejected, but commander Oleg Peshkov was killed during landing by Assad’s opponents on the ground. Navigator Konstantin Murakhtin was captured (he was released during the rescue operation).
Türkiye explained the plane's attack by saying that it flew into Turkish territory (the flight took place in the border region). In response, Moscow imposed sanctions against Ankara. The situation was especially acute due to the fact that Türkiye was a member of NATO. A year later, the crisis was overcome and reconciliation took place at the highest state level, but the Su-24 incident once again demonstrated the universal danger of proxy war.
Latest events
At the end of December 2016, a Tu-154 belonging to the Ministry of Defense crashed over the Black Sea. On board were artists from the Alexandrov Ensemble, who were scheduled to give a concert for Russian military personnel serving in Syria. The tragedy shocked the whole country.
Another concert also received wide publicity in the press. On May 5, 2016, the Mariinsky Theater Orchestra under the direction of Valery Gergiev performed in the ancient amphitheater of Palmyra. The day before, the city was liberated from ISIS terrorists. However, after a few months, the militants regained control of Palmyra. During their stay in the city, they demonstratively destroyed many UNESCO World Heritage sites, including the famous Arc de Triomphe of the 2nd century AD. e. and the Roman Theater.
The essence of the Syrian conflict is that it is a tangle of very different interests. It is extremely difficult to come to an agreement in such conditions. Nevertheless, attempts to overcome disagreements are repeated again and again. In January 2017, negotiations took place in Astana, Kazakhstan. At them, Russia, Türkiye and Iran agreed to create a mechanism for observing the ceasefire regime. Previous numerous truces, as a rule, were not actually observed.
Another important news related to the negotiations in Astana is that the Russian delegation handed over to representatives of the Syrian opposition a draft of the country's new constitution. It is believed that the new main law of Syria will help resolve the Middle East armed conflict, which has been going on for 6 years.
The war in Syria is a civil war between residents of the country of different religions, that is, Sunnis and Shiites. Their sympathizers from other regions of the Middle East, Europe, and CIS countries are also fighting on the side of the parties. In fact, the civil war in Syria has been going on for five years. Its intermediate result was a mass exodus of the civilian population to neighboring countries, in particular Turkey, and the states of the European Union; the practical destruction of the Syrian economy and its statehood.Causes of the civil war in Syria
- A five-year drought (2006-2011), which caused impoverishment of the rural population, hunger, relocation of rural residents to cities, increased unemployment and social problems of the entire people
- The authoritarian style of government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
- Lack of democratic freedoms
- Corruption
- The dissatisfaction of the Sunnis, who are the majority in Syria, with the long-term stay in power of the Alawites, to which the Assad clan belongs.
- Actions of external forces wishing to weaken Russia's influence on Syria by removing Assad
- The impact of the “Arab Spring” factor on the Syrian population dissatisfied with life
The beginning of the war in Syria is considered to be March 15, 2011, when the first anti-government demonstration took place in Damascus
It was peaceful, but then armed clashes began to break out more and more often between government law enforcement forces and the “revolutionaries.” The first blood was shed on March 25, 2011, during an attempt by the police to restore order in the southern Syrian city of Daraa. 5 people died that day.
It must be understood that the opposition to Assad was not homogeneous. Representatives of various extremist organizations were seen among the protesters at the very beginning of the conflict. for example, Salafis, Muslim Brotherhood, Al Qaeda. Each of these groups, taking advantage of the chaos that arose in the country, sought benefit for themselves.
Who is against whom in the war in Syria
Government forces
- Syrian army consisting of Alawites and Shiites
- Shabiha (paramilitary pro-government forces)
- Al-Abbas Brigade (Shiite paramilitary group)
- IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guards. Iran)
- Hezbollah (Lebanon)
- Houthis (Yemen)
- Asaib Ahl al-Haq (Shiite paramilitary group. Iraq)
- "Mahdi Army" (Shiite armed forces. Iraq)
- Russian Air Force and Navy
Opposition forces
- Syrian Free Army
- Al-Nusra Front (al-Qaeda branch in Syria and Lebanon)
- Army of Conquest (coalition of fighting factions opposing the government of Syria)
- People's Protection Units (military wing of the Kurdish Supreme Committee)
- Jabhat Ansar (Faith Defenders Front - an association of a number of Islamist groups)
- Ahrar al-Sham Brigade (union of Islamic Salafist brigades)
- Ansar al-Islam (Iraq)
- Hamas (Gaza)
- Tehrik-e Taliban (Pakistan)
- (ISIS, IS)
The opposition forces opposing President Assad's army are fragmented along political lines. Some operate exclusively in a certain area of the country, others are trying to create an Islamic state, and others are fighting for religious reasons: Sunnis against Shiites
Russia, Syria, war
On September 30, 2015, the Federation Council of the Russian Federation unanimously voted in favor of the use of Russian troops abroad, satisfying President Putin's request. On the same day, Russian Air Force planes attacked ISIS positions in Syria. This was done at the request of President Assad.
Why does Russia need a war in Syria?
- “The militants of the Islamic State have long declared Russia their enemy”
- “Yes, during the American bombing, the territory under the control of ISIS increased by many thousands of square kilometers. But air strikes are only effective if they are coordinated with the actions of ground military units. Russia is the only force in the world willing to coordinate its airstrikes with the only force in Syria that is actually fighting ISIS on the ground - the Syrian government army."
- “We, of course, are not going into this conflict headlong. Our actions will be carried out strictly within the given framework. Firstly, we will support the Syrian army exclusively in its legitimate fight against terrorist groups, and secondly, support will be provided from the air without participating in ground operations.” (RF President Putin)
The civil war in Syria has been going on for more than four years, during which time the number of participants in the conflict has changed and now everything is much more complicated than just a confrontation between the government and the opposition.
The site has figured out the Syrian conflict, which is still far from over, but its consequences are already extremely sad.
How did the conflict begin?
From protests. In 2011, after moderately successful coups took place in Tunisia and Egypt, Syrians staged mass protests aimed at ousting President Bashar al-Assad and overthrowing the Baath Party, which has ruled for decades. The protests dragged on, and government forces began using tanks and snipers against protesters. Gradually, opposition military personnel and defectors formed fighting units called the Free Syrian Army and began an insurgency campaign against the Syrian regular army. As a result, armed clashes spread throughout the country.
What does religion have to do with it?
B Ashar Assad belongs to the Alawites - one of the religious branches of Shiite Islam. Alawites have long been a poor caste that was actively discriminated against. Having received the protection of the French administration, Alawite boys tried to escape poverty by choosing a military career. So, over time, they formed the backbone of the officer corps, which brought the Assad family to power, which established strict control over the security agencies in the country. This has fueled resentment among some Sunni Muslims, who form the vast majority in the country. The Kurdish minority was also dissatisfied with the current government, and several times the raising of the Kurdish flag caused serious unrest. Religious clashes were one of the reasons for the mass uprisings in 2011. Subsequently, religious differences between Sunnis and Shiites were used by the authorities to suppress the rebels.
Who is fighting in Syria?
If you don’t go into details, everything is with everyone. If we go into detail, we can identify five main participants in the conflict. In addition to government troops and the opposition, the Kurds also joined the confrontation, who initially did not support either side, but stood up to defend their own territories. In early 2012, the Al Nusra Front was created, which was once the local branch of the international Islamist terrorist organization Al-Qaeda, but this year disowned its “roots” and declared its independence. The last key party to the conflict is ISIS. This association of Islamists led by the Al-Qaeda organization, after intervening in the Syrian war, became the most powerful terrorist organization in the world.
What doesn't suit Assad?
The prospect of retirement. In fact, Assad’s troops now control less than half of the country’s territory. He did everything possible to suppress the uprising at the very beginning, sending an armed army against the protesters. So the protests escalated into a civil war.
Where did the opposition get its weapons?
From various sources. The first countries to support the opposition in Syria with weapons were Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye. Since July 2013, the United States of America has promised to intervene militarily in the conflict. The European Union, Switzerland and the Arab Gulf countries support the rebels, but do not supply them with weapons. Now opposition units have a wide range of weapons - from modern anti-tank guided missiles "Kornet" and "Metis" to weapons from the Second World War.
What do the Kurds want?
Confessions. The northern regions of Syria are inhabited predominantly by Kurds. After the uprisings escalated into war, self-defense units were created in Kurdish lands, which took part in battles with government forces. By the summer of 2012, the Kurdish Supreme Committee was formed, which established control over the territory. In January 2014, the independence of the state of Syrian Kurdistan was declared. Now the Kurds are fighting against government forces, and against the opposition, and against ISIS.
Where does ISIS come from in Syria?
From Iraq. This group declared itself there in 2006, creating the Islamic State of Iraq led by the al-Qaeda group. Subsequently, several more groups joined ISIS and expanded their influence in the country. In April 2013, Islamists intervened in the civil war in Syria, renaming themselves the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Subsequently, a conflict arose within the group and the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda - the al-Nusra Front declared its independence and entered the war against ISIS.
What position did the US take?
The US insists that Assad bears personal responsibility for large-scale crimes, and therefore, from the American point of view, he must leave office. The United States supports Syria's main opposition alliance and provides limited military assistance to "moderate" rebels.
The United States also became one of the initiators of the creation of an international coalition against ISIS. The association now includes most EU member countries, NATO and the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Persian Gulf.
Why did Russia intervene in the conflict?
Because Syria is considered the closest partner of the Russian Federation in the Middle East and the Kremlin does not want to lose this piece of its zone of influence. Russia supplies Assad's troops with weapons and helps with their technical support. In September of this year, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Russia has never hidden its military-technical cooperation with Syria and, in addition to equipment, Russian military specialists are working in this country.
What airstrikes has everyone been talking about in recent weeks?
On September 30, the Russian Federation Council agreed to the use of the Russian Armed Forces abroad, in particular in Syria. Officially, this was done in order to carry out targeted air bombing strikes against ISIS. However, the strikes were also carried out in areas that were under the control of the Syrian opposition and ISIS was not even close there.
How does this relate to Ukraine?
Directly. Firstly, political scientists argue that Moscow escalated the conflict in Syria in order to divert the attention of the world community from Ukraine and “exchange” its participation in the international anti-terrorist coalition for the lifting of sanctions. She has not yet been able to implement this plan. Secondly, the decision of the Federation Council on the use of aviation does not have any restrictions in relation to the countries in which this aviation can be used. Considering that the war in Donbass is far from over, this is alarming.
March 15, 2011 against the backdrop of the so-called During the Arab Spring, mass anti-government protests began in Syria. Opponents of the current regime in the capital Damascus. Then anti-government demonstrations broke out in the south of the country - in the city of Daraa, located on the border with Jordan.
In April 2011, mass demonstrations demanding fundamental reforms. People died as a result of clashes with the police.
By the end of 2011, the deepest internal political crisis had developed into an internal armed conflict. The Syrian leadership, which was late in implementing political reforms, did not keep up with the progress of the protests. The demands of the Syrian street, which is fundamentally Sunni, for democratic rights and freedoms, by analogy with other Arab countries, quickly transformed into slogans for the overthrow of the ruling regime of Bashar al-Assad (he himself is an Alawite; Alawites -).
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) considers the conflict in Syria to be a civil war.
The growth of the crisis was facilitated by its unprecedented internationalization with the support of the anti-Assad opposition by regional (Turkey, Arabian monarchies) and external (primarily the USA and France) players. The desire of the latter to change the regime in Syria at any cost has led to the militarization of the conflict, pumping the irreconcilable opposition with money and weapons. Demands for the departure of Bashar al-Assad were combined with the accelerated emergence of “umbrella” opposition structures as an alternative to the regime. The culmination of this process was the creation in November 2012 of the National Coalition of the Syrian Revolutionary Forces and the Opposition.
© AP Photo/Virginie Nguyen Huang, File
© AP Photo/Virginie Nguyen Huang, File
In parallel, the formation of the armed wing of the opposition took place under the “roof” of the so-called. Free Syrian Army. Sabotage and terrorist activity over time evolved into large-scale guerrilla warfare in a wide “theater of combat operations.” As a result, significant areas of the country along the border with Turkey and Iraq came under the control of the armed opposition, and the “front line” came close to the capital.
Meanwhile, the logic of the development of the conflict has led to the polarization of Syrian society and the bitterness of confrontation, including on an inter-religious basis. Against this background, the positions of Sunni Islamic radicals (the al-Qaeda group Jabhat al-Nusra*, banned in Russia, etc.) with their calls for the jihadization of the rebel movement have strengthened in the camp of the armed opposition. As a result, thousands of “fighters for the faith” from all over the Arab-Muslim world flocked to Syria.
According to data at the end of 2015, more than a thousand armed anti-government groups, including more than 70 thousand people, were operating in the country. Of these, tens of thousands were foreign mercenaries, and the majority were extremists from more than 80 countries, including Muslim states, the EU, the USA, Russia and China (Uyghur Muslims).
External support allowed the terrorist organization "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" * (ISIL), later * (IS, Arabic Daesh, banned in Russia) to become more active. In the summer of 2014, the organization "Islamic State"*.
© AP Photo/Raqqa Media CenterMilitants of the terrorist group "Islamic State" (IS, banned in the Russian Federation) in the city of Raqqa, Syria
© AP Photo/Raqqa Media Center
A new round of conflict arose in August 2013, when a number of media reported the large-scale use of chemical weapons by Syrian troops in the vicinity of Damascus. More than 600 people became victims of the attack. The Syrian National Opposition Coalition claimed that the number of victims could reach 1.3 thousand people. After the incident, the parties to the conflict repeatedly declared their innocence, blaming their opponents for the incident. UN inspectors went to Damascus to... An investigation conducted by a UN mission confirmed the fact of a chemical attack, but the mission did not determine which side of the conflict.
The possible use of chemical weapons has sparked a global debate about the need to launch a military operation in Syria. In turn, Russian President Vladimir Putin put forward an initiative to place the Syrian military-chemical potential under international control. On September 28, 2013, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on Syria in support of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) plan to... At the end of June 2014, the removal of chemical weapons from Syria was completed. At the beginning of 2016, the OPCW.
The international coalition led by the United States is striking at ISIS positions in Syria, and the coalition is operating.
On September 30, 2015, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad turned to Moscow with a request for military assistance. Russian President Vladimir Putin submitted to the Federation Council a proposal to adopt a resolution on consent to the use of contingents of the Russian Armed Forces abroad; the Federation Council unanimously supported the president's appeal. The military purpose of the operation was stated to be air support for Syrian government forces in their fight against the Islamic State terrorist group. On the same day, aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) began conducting an air operation of the IS* group in Syria.
As of September 2017, the aerospace forces carried out more than 30 thousand combat sorties, carried out over 92 thousand airstrikes, and as a result hit over 96 thousand terrorist targets. Among the terrorist facilities destroyed by the Aerospace Forces: command posts (total 8332), terrorist strongholds (total 17194), concentrations of militants (total 53707), militant training camps (total 970), weapons and ammunition depots (total 6769), oil fields (212 ) and oil refineries (184), fuel transfer stations and tanker columns (132), as well.
December 18, 2015 UN Security Council in support of the political transition in Syria. As the basis for a political transition in Syria, the UN Security Council approved the Geneva Communiqué of the Action Group on Syria dated June 30, 2012 and the “Vienna Statements” (a joint statement dated October 30, 2015 following the multilateral negotiations on Syria held in Vienna and the statement International Syria Support Group on November 14, 2015). Negotiations between the Syrian government and representatives of the Syrian opposition under the auspices of the UN.
Eight meetings took place in Geneva, but they did not bring any progress.
The last Geneva consultations ended in mid-December 2017 with mutual accusations between the parties, and it was not possible to begin direct negotiations between the delegations. UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura called the eighth round “a missed golden opportunity” and pointed out that both sides created a negative and irresponsible atmosphere in the negotiations. The main discussions at the talks are centered around a 12-point non-formal document on the future of Syria, proposed by UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura. Parallel discussions are taking place (constitution, elections, governance and terrorism). On January 25-26, 2018, a special meeting on Syria was held at the UN office in Vienna.
In parallel, in Syria in Astana, initiated by Russia, Iran and Turkey. Eight rounds of negotiations took place, the last one being . During this time, a memorandum was signed on the creation of de-escalation zones in Syria, a provision was agreed on a joint task force to monitor the cessation of hostilities in Syria, and a number of other agreements were reached that... During the seventh round of negotiations, it was decided to hold the Syrian National Reconciliation Congress in Sochi.
*Terrorist and extremist organizations banned in Russia.
The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources
