Syrian revolution

For other uses, see Syrian Revolution (disambiguation).

Syrian revolution
Part of the Arab Spring and the prelude to the Syrian civil war
Demonstration in Homs against the Syrian government
18 April 2011
Date15 March 2011 (2011-03-15) – 12 June 2012 (2012-06-12)
(1 year, 2 months and 4 weeks) (major protests until 2013)
Location
Syria
Caused by
Goals
  • Overthrowing of Bashar al-Assad[5][6]
  • Democratic reforms[7]
  • Regime change[8]
  • Expanded civil rights[9]
  • Abolition of the Supreme State Security Court
  • Lifting of the emergency law[10]
  • Equal rights for Kurds
Methods
StatusProtests crushed by Government security Forces; rise of armed resistance and subsequent escalation into full-scale civil war by mid-2012[11]
Parties

Opposition:[a]

Lead figures

No centralized leadership

Number

1,300 security forces injured by 27 June (government claim)[14]

410 security forces killed by 27 June (government claim)[14]

12,617 arrested; 3,000 civilians forcibly disappeared (by 28 July)[15]
1,800[16]–2,154[17] civilians killed (by 17 August)

3,500+ protestors killed (by 31 December 2011)[18]
Casualties and losses
Total: Tens of thousands of protesters and civilians[19][20][21][22]
Total deaths: 4,000+ (by January 2012)
a During the civil uprising in the first half of 2011, the Syrian opposition used the same flag of Syria as the Syrian government.[23][24]

The Syrian revolution,[25][26] also known as the Syrian Revolution of Dignity,[a] was a series of mass protests and uprisings in Syria – with a subsequent violent reaction by the Syrian Arab Republic – lasting from March 2011 to June 2012, as part of the wider Arab Spring in the Arab world. The revolution, which demanded the end of the decades-long Assad family rule, began as minor demonstrations during January 2011 and transformed into large nation-wide protests in March. The uprising was marked by mass protests against the Ba'athist dictatorship of president Bashar al-Assad meeting police and military violence, massive arrests and a brutal crackdown, resulting in thousands of deaths and tens of thousands wounded.[b]

Despite al-Assad's attempts to crush the protests with crackdowns, censorship and concessions, the mass protests had become a full-blown revolution by the end of April. The Ba'athist government deployed its ground troops and airforce, ordering them to fight the rebels. The regime's deployment of large-scale violence against protestors and civilians led to international condemnation of the Assad government and support for the protesters. Discontent among soldiers led to massive defections from the Syrian Arab Army, while people began to form opposition militias across the country, gradually transforming the revolution from a civil uprising to an armed rebellion, and later a full-scale civil war. The Free Syrian Army was formed on 29 July 2011, marking the beginning of an armed insurgency.

As the Syrian insurgency progressed in October–December 2011, protests against the government simultaneously strengthened across northern, southern and western Syria. The uprisings were crushed by massive crackdowns, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths and hundreds of thousands of casualties, which angered many across the country. The regime also deployed sectarian Shabiha death squads to attack the protestors. Protests and revolutionary activities by students and the youth continued despite aggressive suppression. As opposition militias began capturing vast swathes of territory throughout 2012, the United Nations officially declared the clashes in Syria as a civil war in June 2012.[31][32]

The unprecedented violence led to global backlash, with the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) convening an emergency session on 29 April and tasking a fact-finding mission to investigate the scale of atrocities in Syria. The investigation by the commission concluded that the Syrian Arab Army, secret police and Ba'athist paramilitaries engaged in massacres, forced disappearances, summary executions, show-trials, torture, assassinations, and persecution and abductions of suspects from hospitals, amongst others, with an official "shoot-to-kill" policy from the government. The UNHRC report published on 18 August stated that the atrocities amounted to "crimes against humanity", with High Commissioner Navi Pillai urging Security Council members to prosecute al-Assad in the International Criminal Court. A second emergency session convened by the UNHRC on 22 August condemned the Assad government's atrocities and called for an immediate cessation of all military operations and engagement in Syrian-led political process; with numerous countries demanding al-Assad's resignation.[33][34]

  1. ^ Oliver, Christin (26 October 2010). "Corruption Index 2010: The Most Corrupt Countries in the World – Global Development". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 17 September 2013. Retrieved 10 April 2011.
  2. ^ Phillips, Christopher (2015). "Sectarianism and conflict in Syria". Third World Quarterly. 36 (2). Taylor & Francus: 357–376. doi:10.1080/01436597.2015.1015788. JSTOR 24523162. S2CID 144558644. The greatest responsibility for sectarianising the conflict lies with the regime
  3. ^ Droz-, Philippe, Vincent (2014). ""State of Barbary" (Take Two): From the Arab Spring to the Return of Violence in Syria". Middle East Journal. 68 (1). Middle East Institute: 33–58. doi:10.3751/68.1.12. JSTOR 43698560. S2CID 143177306. The use and abuse of sectarianism has been a foundational feature of Assad family rule since November 1970.
  4. ^ C. Hof, Simon, Frederic, Alex. Sectarian Violence in Syria's Civil War. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. pp. 2, 4, 9. Alawites, in the service of a family-based regime trying desperately to save itself, have played a central role in violations of human rights and international law that include indiscriminate artillery and aerial bombardments of villages, summary executions, and massacres of civilians. Sunni Arabs.. have inevitably borne the overwhelming brunt of this abuse..This period has witnessed.. the rise to power of an Alawite-dominated regime whose forty-year reign preached secularism only to deepen sectarian fault-lines when challenged, laying the groundwork for a civil war that has torn Syria's complex ethno-religious tapestry... the 1963 coup was accompanied by a dramatic surge of Alawite power in the military leadership. This trend of Alawite consolidation was accelerated by systematic discrimination against Sunnis among the Ba'ath's military adherents, as Alawites sought to further enhance their control.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ Zafar, Saad (24 March 2011). "The Assad Poison". AllVoices. Archived from the original on 11 May 2011. Retrieved 20 April 2011.
  6. ^ Mroue, Bassem (18 June 2011). "Bashar Assad Resignation Called For By Syria Sit-In Activists". The Huffington Post. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
  7. ^ Oweis, Khaled; al-Khalidi, Suleiman (8 April 2011). "Pro-democracy protests sweep Syria, 22 killed". Reuters. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
  8. ^ Colvin, Mark (25 March 2011). "Syrian protestors want a regime change". ABC News. Archived from the original on 29 April 2011. Retrieved 5 March 2011.
  9. ^ McShane, Larry (25 March 2011). "Violence erupts in Syria, Jordan; anti-government protestors shot, stoned". New York Daily News. Archived from the original on 2 November 2012. Retrieved 25 March 2011.
  10. ^ "Syria to lift decades-old emergency law". Al Jazeera. 19 April 2011. Archived from the original on 22 November 2011. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
  11. ^ C. Hof, Simon, Frederic, Alex. Sectarian Violence in Syria's Civil War (PDF). United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. pp. ii, 4, 9. This grave situation has been brought about by a regime that elected to respond to peaceful protests against police brutality with deadly force...Over time, regime tactics have transformed a peaceful uprising into armed resistance. In trying to crush that resistance the regime has opted to use the tools on which it could best rely: Alawite-heavy special forces and regime protection units from the army; Alawite-heavy armed units from the various regime intelligence services; and mainly Alawite auxiliaries loosely formed into militias. The tactics of choice were artillery and air bombardments of residential areas, incarceration and torture, and numerous massacres...shift from peaceful protest toward armed resistance occurred gradually throughout the first year and a half of the uprising.. as the regime employed ever greater levels of force to suppress an initially peaceful uprising, the opposition responded in kind.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  12. ^ Cooper (2015), p. 21.
  13. ^ Oweis, Khaled (29 April 2011). "Muslim Brotherhood endorses Syria protests". Reuters. Archived from the original on 9 October 2017. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
  14. ^ a b "Syrian general: Hundreds of soldiers, police killed by armed gangs". CNN. 27 June 2011. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 26 June 2011.
  15. ^ "Almost 3,000 missing in Syria crackdown, NGO says". NOW News. 28 July 2011. Archived from the original on 11 February 2017. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
  16. ^ Story, AP. "Syrian troops detain dozens, 3 killed in north". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
  17. ^ "As Syria flares, some U.N.'ers take flight". CNN. 18 August 2011. Archived from the original on 17 August 2011. Retrieved 17 August 2011.
  18. ^ "World Report 2012: Syria Events of 2011". Human Rights Watch. 2012. Archived from the original on 9 August 2022.
  19. ^ "Syria: 'four dead' in rare demonstrations". The Telegraph. 18 March 2011. Archived from the original on 21 March 2011. Retrieved 18 March 2011.
  20. ^ ""We've Never Seen Such Horror"". Human Rights Watch. 1 June 2011. Archived from the original on 8 July 2015.
  21. ^ Nasser, Hossam (2012). "Epilogue". From Richard Kimble to Barack Obama. Balboa Press. p. 126. ISBN 9781452561226.
  22. ^ "RSF". RSF: Reporters Without Borders.
  23. ^ Rania Abouzeid (1 August 2011). "Syrian Military Attacks Protesters in Hama". Time. Archived from the original on 11 April 2017. Retrieved 15 April 2017. A giant Syrian flag is held by the crowd during a protest against President Bashar Assad in the city center of Hama on July 29, 2011
  24. ^ Anthony Shadid (30 June 2011). "Coalition of Factions From the Streets Fuels a New Opposition in Syria". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  25. ^ Flock, Elizabeth (15 March 2011). "Syria revolution: A revolt brews against Bashar al- Assad's regime". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 30 April 2011.
  26. ^ Nassar, Alaa (18 March 2021). "The Syrian revolution on its 10th anniversary". Syria Direct. Archived from the original on 18 March 2021.
  27. ^ Katerji, Oz (11 August 2021). "Damascus's False Reconciliation Failed in Daraa". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on 11 August 2021. Retrieved 22 March 2023. More than a decade ago, as protests erupted across the Middle East in a series of democratic uprisings that became known as the Arab Spring, [Daraa] was the first place in Syria to cast off the shackles of 40 years of Ba'athist dictatorship.
  28. ^ Laub, Zachary (15 October 2019). "Syria's War and the Descent Into Horror". Council on Foreign Relations. Archived from the original on 7 March 2023. Retrieved 22 March 2023. Twelve years after protesters in Syria first demonstrated against the four-decade rule of the Assad family, hundreds of thousands of Syrians have been killed
  29. ^ "UN human rights office renews call on Syria to end brutal crackdown". UN News. 23 September 2011. Archived from the original on 22 March 2023. Retrieved 22 March 2023. "We are extremely alarmed by ongoing reports of the increasingly brutal crackdown by Syrian authorities against protestors in Syria," said Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
  30. ^ "Troops open fire on protests as crackdown continues". France 24. 17 June 2011. Archived from the original on 20 June 2011. Retrieved 22 March 2023. The uprising has proven to be the boldest challenge to the Assad family's 40-year dynasty in Syria. [Assad] inherited power in 2000, raising hopes that [he] might transform his late father's stagnant and brutal dictatorship into a modern state... Now, as his regime escalates a brutal crackdown, it seems increasingly unlikely that he will regain any political legitimacy.
  31. ^ "Syria in civil war, says UN official Herve Ladsous". BBC News. 12 June 2012. Archived from the original on 23 January 2016.
  32. ^ Charbonneau, Louis (13 June 2012). "Syria conflict now a civil war, U.N. peacekeeping chief says". Reuters. Archived from the original on 21 March 2017.
  33. ^ "Human Rights Council debates situation of human rights in Syrian Arab Republic in Special Session". UN:OHCHR. 22 August 2011. Archived from the original on 12 May 2023.
  34. ^ "Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic" (PDF). United Nations:OHCHR. United Nations General Assembly: Human Rights Council. 15 September 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2023.


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