Syrian revolution
The Syrian revolution was a series of mass protests and civilian uprisings throughout Syria – with a subsequent violent reaction by the Ba'athist regime – lasting from 2011 to 2024 as part of the greater 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 nationwide 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 hundreds of thousands of deaths and tens of thousands wounded. 13 years after the start of the revolution, the Assad regime fell in 2024 after a series of rebel offensives.
The phase of civil uprising created a platform for the emergence of armed opposition movements and massive defections from the Syrian army, which gradually transformed the conflict from a popular uprising/revolution into an armed insurgency, and subsequently a civil war. On July 29, 2011, the Free Syrian Army was formed, marking the beginning of armed operations against the Assad government. Since then, the conflict has taken the form of an armed rebellion, with the civil movement largely ceasing and members of the opposition resorting to armed struggle.
Despite 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 protestors. 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.
On May 9, the Syrian army entered a new phase, marked by the siege and invasion of Homs, the third largest city in Syria, which had witnessed demonstrations estimated to be attended by hundreds of thousands of people. Simultaneously, areas in the Homs countryside were subjected to military operations, leading to the siege of Talkalakh, followed by the sieges of Rastan and Talbiseh.
The unprecedented violence led to global backlash, with the United Nations Human Rights Council 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 Assad's resignation. The Syrian revolution achieved its main goal of achieving the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024 after Assad fled to Moscow. The fall of Damascus ended the Assad regime as the Syrian prime minister Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali handed over power to the revolutionaries and they formed the Syrian transitional government.
Background
At the onset of the Arab Spring, Ba'athist Syria was considered as the most restrictive police state in the Arab World; with a tight system of regulations on the movement of civilians, independent journalists and other unauthorized individuals. Reporters Without Borders listed Syria as the 6th worst country in its 2010 Press Freedom Index. Before the uprising in Syria began in mid-March 2011, protests were relatively modest, considering the wave of unrest that was spreading across the Arab world. Until March 2011, for decades Syria had remained superficially tranquil, largely due to fear among the people of the secret police arresting critical citizens. A previous large scale uprising in the country against the rule of Ba'athist President Hafez Al-Assad was brutally crushed, culminating in the 1982 Hama massacre, during which over 40,000 civilians were killed.Following the death of Hafez Al-Assad in 2000, his son Bashar Al-Assad inherited the presidency. This coincided with a brief period of liberalization and debate regarding the country's future, in the form of the Damascus Spring, but hopes of Bashar pursuing a reformist agenda were dashed when his forces arrested many of the leaders of this movement, putting an end to it by late 2001. After winning the 2007 presidential election in Syria with 99.82% of the declared votes, Bashar al-Assad implemented numerous measures that further intensified political and cultural repression in Syria. The Assad government expanded travel bans against numerous dissidents, intellectuals, authors and artists living in Syria; preventing them and their families from travelling abroad. In September 2010, The Economist newspaper described the Syrian government as "the worst offender among Arab states", which engaged in imposing travel bans and restricted free movement of people. Over 400 individuals in Syria were reportedly restricted by Assad regime's travel bans in 2010. During this period, the Assad government arrested numerous journalists and shut down independent press centres, in addition to tightening its censorship of the internet.
Factors contributing to social disenchantment in Syria include socio-economic stress caused by the Iraqi conflict, as well as the most intense drought ever recorded in the region. For decades, the Syrian economy, army and government had been dominated by patronage networks of Ba'ath party elites and Alawite clients loyal to the Assad family. The Assad dynasty held a firm grip over most sectors of the Syrian economy and corruption was endemic in the public and private sectors. The pervasive nature of corruption had been a source of controversy within the Ba'ath party circles as well as the wider public; as early as the 1980s. The persistence of corruption, sectarian bias, nepotism and widespread bribery that existed in party, bureaucracy and military led to popular anger that resulted in the large-scale protests of the revolution. Describing the presidency of Bashar al-Assad, his exiled cousin Ribal al-Assad stated in 2010, months before the start of the revolution: "He is still governing under the ghost of his father. Each person in Syria has an interest in the secret service. Bashar should have declared national unity as soon as he took over. He did things bit by bit, with internet cafes and so on. But it was not enough. There was no real change."
Minor protests calling for government reforms began in January, and continued into March. At this time, massive protests were occurring in Cairo against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, and in Syria on 3 February via the websites Facebook and Twitter, activists called for a "Day of Rage" against the government to be held on Friday, 4 February. This did not result in protests.
Civil uprising (March–July 2011)
March 2011 uprising
In the southern city of Daraa, protests had been triggered on 6 March by the incarceration and torture of 15 young students, including Mouawiya Syasneh, from prominent families who were arrested for writing anti-government graffiti in the city, reading: "الشعب يريد إسقاط النظام" – – a trademark slogan of the Arab Spring. The boys also spray-painted the graffiti "Your turn, Doctor", alluding to Assad's previous career as an ophthalmologist in the United Kingdom. Security forces under the command of the city's security chief and the first cousin of President Assad, Atef Najib swiftly responded by rounding up the alleged perpetrators and detaining them for over a month, which set off large-scale protests in Daraa Governorate that quickly spread to other provinces. According to information given by interviewees to Human Rights Watch, protests in Daraa began peacefully, with demonstrators carrying olive branches, unbuttoning their shirts to show that they had no weapons, and chanting "peaceful, peaceful" to indicate that they posed no threat to the security forces. The Syrian Arab Army was soon deployed to shoot at the protests, resulting in a popular resistance movement led by locals, causing Daraa to become one of the first provinces to break free of regime control. Daraa would come to be known as the "Cradle of the Syrian Revolution".The government later claimed that the boys weren't attacked, and that Qatar incited the majority of the protests. Writer and analyst Louai al-Hussein, referencing the Arab Spring ongoing at that time, wrote that "Syria is now on the map of countries in the region with an uprising". On 15 March, dubbed a "Day of Rage" by numerous demonstrators, pro-democracy activists and online opposition groups, hundreds of protestors marched in the city of Damascus, demanding Assad's overthrow. Over 35 protestors in Damascus were arrested by police forces in a subsequent crackdown ordered by Assad government.
File:SyrianAngerRevolution.jpg|thumb|Syrian pro-democracy protest groups and activists launched a campaign to organise a "Day of Rage" demonstrations in Damascus and other cities on 25 March 2011. Online activists used social media networks like Facebook and Twitter to promote the protest campaign. This poster is also a reference to Che Guevara.
In Daraa, demonstrators clashed with local police, and confrontations escalated on 18 March after Friday prayers. Security forces attacked protestors gathered at the Omari Mosque using water cannons and tear gas, followed by live fire, killing four. On 20 March, a crowd burned down the Ba'ath Party headquarters and other public buildings. Security forces quickly responded, firing live ammunition at crowds, and attacking the focal points of the demonstrations. The two-day assault resulted in the deaths of seven police officers and fifteen protestors.
Meanwhile, minor protests occurred elsewhere in the country. Protestors demanded the release of political prisoners, the abolition of Syria's 48-year emergency law, more freedoms, and an end to pervasive government corruption. The events led to a "Friday of Dignity" on 18 March, when large-scale protests broke out in several cities, including Banias, Damascus, al-Hasakah, Daraa, Deir az-Zor, and Hama. Police responded to the protests with tear gas, water cannons, and beatings. At least six people were killed and many others injured.
On 23 March, units of the Fourth Division led by Maher al-Assad stormed a gathering in a Sunni mosque in Daraa, killing five civilians. Victims included a doctor who was treating the wounded. Anger at the incident arose exponentially in the province and across the country. The regime attempted to simmer down the protests by announcing tax-cuts and pay rises the next day. On 25 March, tens of thousands of people participated in the funerals of those killed, chanting: "We do not want your bread, we want dignity". Statues and billboards of Hafez al-Assad and Bashar al-Assad were demolished.
On 25 March, mass protests spread nationwide, as demonstrators emerged after Friday prayers. At least 20 protestors were killed by security forces. Protests subsequently spread to other Syrian cities, including Homs, Hama, Baniyas, Jasim, Aleppo, Damascus and Latakia. Over 70 protestors in total were reported killed.
In his public address delivered on 30 March, Assad said "conspirators" were pushing an "Israeli agenda", condemned the protests as a "foreign plot" and described those who were killed by the firing as a "sacrifice for national stability", sparking widespread outcry. Assad said reforms in Syria could be considered, but only after the country stabilized and economic conditions improved. However, he did not specify which reforms would be implemented nor did he offer any timeframe for change. A protestor who was the relative of one of the detained boys told reporters:
"He didn't ask the MPs to stand for a minute's silence and he said those who were killed were sacrificial martyrs.. But here in Daraa, the army and security deal with us like traitors or agents for Israel. We hoped our army would fight and liberate the occupied Golan, not send tanks and helicopters to fight civilians."