![]() In December 2016, the Syrian army scored its biggest victory against the rebels when it recaptured the strategic city. The damages of warĪleppo was an industrial and economic hub in northwest Syria with nearly 3 million inhabitants at its peak. In 2014, in its peak of power, it controlled roughly one-third of Iraq and Syria. ISIL’s “caliphate” was destroyed in March 2019 but their reemergence looms in the region. By 2014, it had captured significant land by force and declared the creation of a “caliphate”. Predominantly known for the brutality of its foreign fighters, organised government systems, and strong social media presence, ISIL rose to power in the vacuum in Syria after 2012 as civil unrest grew. Main cities under Kurdish control are Raqqa, Qamishli, Hasakah. Turkey considers the YPG, which forms the bulk of the SDF forces, an extension of PKK, which has waged an armed campaign for independence against the Turkish government that has killed more than 40,000 people since 1984. Its makeup largely consists of YPG fighters and smaller groups of Arab, Turkmen and Armenian fighters. This alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias was founded in 2015. Hezbollah is a Shia armed group and a political force based out of Lebanon, backed by Iran. They moved into Syria to support al-Assad’s forces and they currently control no territory in Syria. Jabhat al-Nusra formed in Syria in 2011 as an al-Qaeda affiliate within the opposition to the Assad government.īy January 2017, Jabhat Fatah al-Sham rebranded when it merged with several other groups to unite under the banner of Hay’et Tahrir-al Sham.Ĭurrently, HTS maintains that it is “an independent entity that follows no organisation or party”. HTS was formerly Jabhat Fatah al-Sham and Jabhat al-Nusra. ![]() Since the Battle of Aleppo in December 2016, the FSA has remained in control of limited areas of Idlib in northwestern Syria. The FSA is a loose conglomeration of armed brigades formed in 2011 by defectors from the Syrian army and civilians backed by Turkey and several Gulf countries. Free Syrian Army (FSA)/Syrian National Army He has ruled the country with an iron fist and has a history of crackdowns on dissidents, using chemical weapons against his people and imprisoning and torturing thousands. Groups involvedĪ variety of actors are locked in a power struggle in Syria.īashar al-Assad inherited his rule of Syria in 2000, taking over from his father Hafez al-Assad, who had been in power since 1970. Later that year, ISIL (ISIS) emerged in northern and eastern Syria after overrunning large portions of Iraq. Protests continued into 2012, and by 2013 various rebels groups emerged across the country. In July 2011, defectors from the military announced the formation of the Free Syrian Army, a rebel group aiming to overthrow the government, turning the revolt into a civil war. Protests were triggered by the arrest and torture of a group of teenaged boys a few days earlier in the city of Deraa over graffiti denouncing longtime president Bashar al-Assad.Ī violent crackdown and repression by the government followed. On March 15, 2011, major unrest erupted across the streets of Deraa, Damascus and Aleppo, with protesters demanding democratic reforms and the release of political prisoners. Here we break down how the war unfolded, how territorial control has changed, and who the different players are. ![]() Shifting alliances and rapid changes since 2011 have made for a complex conflict that is still raging, particularly in the northwest. The Syrian Observatory of Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, placed the toll over 593,000 as of December 2020.Īpproximately 11 million people need humanitarian assistance, about 6 million are internally displaced and 5.5 million Syrian refugees live in neighbouring countries according to the UNHCR. The last death toll estimate by the UN in 2016 was more than 400,000 people. Syria’s economy has deteriorated, pushing almost 80 percent of the country below the poverty line, according to the Red Cross. ![]() It has been 10 years since the start of the Syrian uprisings and the country is still mired in a war that has displaced millions and killed hundreds of thousands.
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