Early insurgency phase of the Syrian civil war

Early insurgency phase of the Syrian civil war
Part of the Syrian revolution and the Syrian civil war

Syrian Arab Army checkpoint in Douma, January 2012
Date29 July 2011 – 20 April 2012
Location
Syria, neighbouring countries
Result

UN-mediated truce:

  • General cease of hostilities in late April and early May
  • Cease-fire collapse and conflict escalation by June 2012
Belligerents

Syria Syrian Arab Republic

Supported by:
 Iran
Russia Russia[1]

 Syrian opposition

Fatah al-Islam[5]
Foreign mujahideen[6]

Supported by:
NATO NATO[1]
 Saudi Arabia[7]
Qatar Qatar[7]
Turkey Turkey[7]
Commanders and leaders

Syria Bashar al-Assad
President of Syria
Syria Adel Safar
Prime Minister of Syria
Syria Dawoud Rajiha
Defense Minister
Syria Fahed al-Jasem el-Freij
Chief Of Staff (Syrian Army)
Syria Maher al-Assad
4th Division Commander
Syria Mohammad Ibrahim al-Shaar
Interior Minister
Syria Assef Shawkat
Deputy Defense Minister and Intelligence head

Syria Walid Muallem
Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Minister

Syrian opposition Riad al-Asaad
Free Syrian Army commander
Syrian opposition Mustafa Ahmed al-Sheikh
Higher Military Council head

Syrian opposition Hussein Harmoush (POW)
Free Officers Movement commander, until August 2011
Strength
Syrian Army: ~60,000[a]
Security agencies and affiliated paramilitaries: ~200,000[9]
Ba'ath Party militias: tens of thousands[10]
Shabiha: 5,000–10,000[10]		 Syrian opposition 60,000[11]
Rebel claim
Casualties and losses
Syria Syrian security forces:
3,770 (opposition sources)[citation needed]–3,857 (Ba'athist sources: 15 March 2011–21 June 2012)[12] soldiers and policemen killed		 Syrian opposition Syrian rebels:
2,980[13]–3,235[14] fighters killed

Civilian casualties (including 1,800–2,154 civilians killed during civil uprising):

10,414[citation needed]–10,669[citation needed] killed overall (government claim)
15,200[citation needed]–16,163[citation needed] killed overall (opposition claims)
35,000 wounded overall[15]
(see Deaths below for other estimates on killed)
240,000 displaced (including 180,000 refugees)

The early insurgency phase of the Syrian civil war lasted from late July 2011 to April 2012, and was associated with the rise of armed oppositional militias across Syria and the beginning of armed rebellion against the authorities of the Syrian Arab Republic. Though armed insurrection incidents began as early as June 2011 when rebels killed 120–140 Syrian security personnel, the beginning of organized insurgency is typically marked by the formation of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) on 29 July 2011, when a group of defected officers declared the establishment of the first organized oppositional military force. Composed of defected Syrian Armed Forces personnel, the rebel army aimed to remove Bashar al-Assad and his government from power.

This period of the war saw the initial civil uprising take on many of the characteristics of a civil war, according to several outside observers, including the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, as armed elements became better organized and began carrying out successful attacks in retaliation for the crackdown by the Syrian government on demonstrators and defectors.[16]

The Arab League monitoring mission, initiated in December 2011, ended in failure by February 2012, as Syrian Ba'athist troops and oppositional militants continued to do battle across the country and the Syrian Ba'athist government prevented foreign observers from touring active battlefields, including besieged oppositional strongholds.

In early 2012, Kofi Annan acted as the UN–Arab League Joint Special Representative for Syria. His peace plan provided for a ceasefire, but even as the negotiations for it were being conducted, the rebels and the Syrian army continued fighting even after the peace plan.[17]: 11  The United Nations-backed ceasefire was brokered by special envoy Kofi Annan and declared in mid-April 2012.

  1. ^ a b "NATO Airlifts Libyans to Rebels, Russia Feeds Intel to Syrian Ruler - DEBKAfile". Archived from the original on 23 April 2021. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  2. ^ "Defecting troops form 'Free Syrian Army', target Assad security forces". The World Tribune. Archived from the original on 27 November 2011. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
  3. ^ "Syrian Rebels Plot Their Next Moves: A Time Exclusive". Time. 11 February 2012. Archived from the original on 8 July 2013. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  4. ^ "Sources: Annan, Clinton to meet about Syria". CNN. 4 June 2012. Archived from the original on 16 March 2017. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
  5. ^ "Lebanon's Most Wanted Sunni Terrorist Blows Himself Up in Syria". Yalibnan. 23 April 2012. Archived from the original on 10 May 2012. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
  6. ^ Bolling (2012), p. 7.
  7. ^ a b c "Qatar builds Sunni intervention force of Libyan, Iraqi terrorists against Assad - DEBKAfile". Archived from the original on 21 May 2021. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  8. ^ Cooper (2015), p. 13.
  9. ^ Cooper (2015), p. 20.
  10. ^ a b Cooper (2015), p. 21.
  11. ^ Graeme Smith (2 July 2012). "Syrians in Ontario give rebels reinforcements from afar". The globe and mail. Archived from the original on 5 January 2014. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
  12. ^ 2,566 security forces (15 March 2011-20 March 2012),[1] Archived 23 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine 1,291 security forces (21 March – 21 June),"Syrian Arab news agency - SANA - Syria : Syria news ::". Archived from the original on 29 October 2012. Retrieved 17 July 2012. total of 3,857 reported killed
  13. ^ The VDC website has reported 1,093 former military rebels being killed,[2] Archived 11 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine of which 113 were killed in Homs province [3] Archived 21 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine in the period an FSA commander stated that 2,000 former military and civilian rebels overall were killed in Homs province alone;"QUSAYR, Syria - Syria's Farouq rebels battle to hold onto Qusayr, last outpost near Lebanese border - World - MyrtleBeachOnline.com". Archived from the original on 5 December 2012. Retrieved 25 October 2014. based on this a lower estimate of rebel fatalities can be calculated to be 2,980
  14. ^ The Syrianshuhada website has reported 1,398 former military rebels being killed, of which 163 were killed in Homs province [4] Archived 10 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine in the period an FSA commander stated that 2,000 former military and civilian rebels overall were killed in Homs province alone;"QUSAYR, Syria - Syria's Farouq rebels battle to hold onto Qusayr, last outpost near Lebanese border - World - MyrtleBeachOnline.com". Archived from the original on 5 December 2012. Retrieved 25 October 2014. based on this an upper estimate of rebel fatalities can be calculated to be 3,235
  15. ^ Hanania, Ray (6 April 2012). "Syria Medical Crisis Relief Efforts To Be Held At The Suburban Collection Showplace". Aams.blogspot.com. Archived from the original on 24 December 2014. Retrieved 10 April 2012.
  16. ^ "UN: Syria now in a civil war". MSNBC. 1 December 2011. Archived from the original on 26 February 2022. Retrieved 26 December 2011.
  17. ^ "Deadly Reprisals: deliberate killings and other abuses by Syria's armed forces". Amnesty International. June 2012. Archived from the original on 4 July 2015. Retrieved 25 June 2012. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)


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