...deployed to quell the uprising. After months of military sieges, the protests evolved into an armed rebellion. Background 2. The Ba'ath Party government came to power in 1964 after a coup on 1966, another coup overthrew the traditional leaders of the party, Michel Aflaq and Salah al-Din al-Bitar. In 1970, the Defence Minister Hafez al-Assad seized power and declared himself President, a position he would hold until his death in 2000. 3. In 1982, at the height of a six-year Islamist armed insurgency throughout the country, Hafez al-Assad conducted a scorched earth policy against Islamist-held quarters inside the town of Hama to quell an uprising by the Sunni Islamist community, including the Muslim Brotherhood, Salafists and others. This ruthless crackdown became known as the Hama massacre, which left tens of thousands dead. 4. The issue of President Hafez al-Assad's succession prompted the 1999 Latakia protests, when violent protests and armed clashes erupted following the 1998 Syrian People's Assembly elections. The violent events were an explosion of a long-running feud between Hafez al-Assad and his influential younger brother Rifaat. Hafez al-Assad died one year later, from pulmonary fibrosis. He was succeeded by his son...
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...and hard to bear. With all these casualties and the U.S government expects to make a series of targeted military strikes against the Syrian government? Syria is a country in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. Syria is very diverse, ethnically and religiously. The country’s population is divided among Sunni Arabs (a little less than 60 percent of the population); Christians (about 10 – 12 percent); Alawites, a Shiite offshoot also about 10 – 12 percent); Druze (about 6 percent); and various, mostly Sunni, ethnic minorities, primarily Kurds and Armenians (Carpenter 1-2). The President of Syria is called Bashar al-Assad, who succeeded his father Hafez al-Assad after the latter's death in 2000. Hafez al-Assad had ruled Syria ruthlessly for 30 years. Throughout his rule, Hafez was forced to devote his time and energy to matters of defense and foreign affairs. As a result, the Syrian president Bashar al-Assad is, as the Middle East commentator David Lesch has pointed out, “a child of the Cold War and the Arab- Israeli conflict” (qtd. in McHugo). Neither was caused by Syria, but the country suffered terribly as a result of both. The massacre started in April 2011, when peaceful protesters all around the Middle East rose up to challenge the dictatorship of President Bashar al-Assad. The Syrian government responded by kidnapping, raping, torturing and killing activists and their family members, including a lot of children. The situation drastically changed...
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...was deployed to quell the uprising. After months of military sieges, the protests evolved into an armed rebellion. Background 2. The Ba'ath Party government came to power in 1964 after a coup on 1966, another coup overthrew the traditional leaders of the party, Michel Aflaq and Salah al-Din al-Bitar. In 1970, the Defence Minister Hafez al-Assad seized power and declared himself President, a position he would hold until his death in 2000. 3. In 1982, at the height of a six-year Islamist armed insurgency throughout the country, Hafez al-Assad conducted a scorched earth policy against Islamist-held quarters inside the town of Hama to quell an uprising by the Sunni Islamist community, including the Muslim Brotherhood, Salafists and others. This ruthless crackdown became known as the Hama massacre, which left tens of thousands dead. 4. The issue of President Hafez al-Assad's succession prompted the 1999 Latakia protests, when violent protests and armed clashes erupted following the 1998 Syrian People's Assembly elections. The violent events were an explosion of a long-running feud between Hafez al-Assad and his influential younger brother Rifaat. Hafez al-Assad died one year later, from pulmonary...
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...The “Arab spring” also known as the Arab revolution is referred to a revolutionary wave of demonstrations, protest, and violence occurring in the Arab world in the Middle Eastern and North African regions beginning in December of 2010. The Arab spring has had a large impact on the worlds foreign affairs for the past 3 years. Many Arab countries in the last few years have had their own revolutions and protest almost reaching levels to be considered civil wars. The largest and most violent demonstrations have been and are currently happening in a country on the western border of Iraq and south of Turkey known as Syria. Syria has been in an inner conflict since the country won its independence from France in 1946. Though recently because of the large amount of different social ethical and religious groups all looking for power and authority in the same region, the country has been in a violent turmoil. To get a better understanding on why and how Syria has fallen into this state of power struggled violence you should first look at the other countries involved in todays Arab spring and how this whole mess started in the Arab world. On December 17, 2010, in a small North African country called Tunisia, a twenty six year old street vendor by the name of Mohamed Bouazizi started a revolution that would change the world forever. Earlier that day Mohamed had been selling goods from his wheelbarrow in his rural home town when local authorities seized his wheelbarrow and all of his goods...
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...The current uprising in Syria may be seen by the rest of the world as just the latest episode of the Arab Spring, the latest domino to teeter under the weight of dissatisfaction that has spread across the Arab world. The circumstances leading to each uprising are caused by different variables that are unique to each country’s domestic policies, and each country’s own experimentation with incompetent dictators and despots over decades. Syria’s circumstances are less known than others, but they centre around the Assads, and their unique hold on power. The Assad family has ruled Syria for the past 41 years. The country’s current president, Bashar al-Assad, inherited the reins from his late father, Hafez al-Assad, who led a bloodless intra-party coup d’état in 1970, replacing then-president Salah Jadid, one of the Baathist leaders. The elder Assad’s iron-fisted style ended the instability and countless disagreements between various factions in the Baathist Party on how to lead the country. With the help of the military and loyalists among his minority Alawite sect, he consolidated his power by eliminating all his opponents in the Baath Party. He then formed a legislature dominated by the Baathists (while allowing a few seats to a handful of other parties he deemed friendly), and created a coalition of pro-Baath committees that helped establish local councils within each of the 14 governorates in Syria to maintain a tight stranglehold on power in all municipalities and...
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...in Homs which in turn escalated nationwide on April 22 when more than 100 demonstrators were killed across the country.[1] Some among the protestors responded to force with force and formed the Free Syrian Army at the end of July whose organisation was enhanced by defections from the Syrian army.[2] Peace attempts have failed[3] and the country is now involved in a full scale civil war between rebel groups, that want to overthrow the government as inspired by the other Arab spring revolutions, and Assad's government. The civil war is compounded by the fault lines that run through Syria's history, the government is supported by a Shi'ite sect called the Alawites, that have historically been a persecuted minority but under Bashar's father, Hafez who was president from 1971 to 2000, they rose to prominence. Sunnis, the majority, want to return to political dominance, but these are not the only two groups, there are also Christians and Kurds who both have reason to fear a Sunni return too dominance and worry there will be no place for them in a post-Assad Syria.[4] The European Union imposed sanctions from 10th May 2011 with further restrictions in 2012 preventing any export of arms to Syria.[5] Yet both sides have been armed; the Assad by Russia and Syria,[6] and the rebels by Saudi Arabia and Qatar.[7] Western...
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...The unrest started as a civil uprising that were part of the wider North African and Middle Eastern protest movements known as the Arab Spring, with Syrian protesters at first demanding democratic and economic reform within the framework of the existing government. The uprising began with protests in March 2011 in Daraa, but a violent response from the government and subsequent clashes left dozens of opposition protesters and at least 7 policemen dead. In April 2011, the Syrian Army was deployed to quell the uprising and soldiers fired on demonstrators across the country. After months of military sieges, the protests developed into an armed rebellion. The conflict is asymmetrical, with clashes taking place in many towns and cities across the country. In 2013, Hezbollah entered the war in support of the Syrian army. The Syrian government is further upheld by military support from Russia, which it stepped up in the winter of 2013-14, and Iran, while Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the United States transfer weapons to the rebels. The international response to the conflict has been described as a proxy war due to the nature of this involvement. By July 2013, the Syrian government was in control of approximately 30-40% of the country's territory and 60% of t The Syrian Civil War, also known as the Syrian Uprising, is an armed conflict in Syria between forces loyal to the Ba'ath government, which took power in 1963, and those seeking to oust it.he Syrian population. A late 2012...
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...deserts, and is home to diverse ethnic and religious groups, including Kurds, Armenians, Assyrians, Christians, Druze, Alawite Shia and Arab Sunnis, the last of who make up a majority of the Muslim population. Syria gained its independence from France in 1946 and united with Egypt from 1958 to 1961 after which a pan-Arab nationalist Baath (Renaissance) party took control in 1963. The Alawite minority (constituting about 12 % of the total population) has exercised monopoly over the political leadership of the country for almost four decades with notable support from the Christian community that is anti- Islamist. The Baath government has seen authoritarian rule at home and a strong anti-Western policy abroad, particularly under President Hafez al-Assad from 1970 to 2000. In 1967 Syria lost the Golan Heights to Israel after the Arab defeat in the Six Day War. Civil war in neighbouring Lebanon in the 1970s allowed it to extend its political and military influence in that country. Syria pulled its forces out of Lebanon in 2005, having come under intense international pressure to do so after the assassination of Lebanese former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. A UN report implicated Syrian and pro-Syria Lebanese officials in the killing, although Damascus still denies any involvement, (CBC News). BBC News reported that in 2011-12 the Syrian Government, run by Bashar al-Assad tried to crush anti-government street protests inspired by the Arab Spring in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. The opposition...
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...This conflict, like many others, it has its origins in corruption, political capture, poverty, on the violation of human rights, but also inequality. Social movements, spontaneous groups of people, organizations started to claim their rights to achieve a more egalitarian system. Unfortunately four years later, this crisis has finally become one of the biggest disasters in recent history. More than 250,000 Syrians have lost their lives in almost 4 years of armed conflict, that begin with anti-government protest before reaching a catastrophic civil war. In this war the armed forces of the Syrian government faced against to armed rebel groups known in the West as the "Syrian opposition”. At first the protests were not very successful and it seemed...
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...The Syrian Ceasefire Agreement Cadet Earnhart Exploration of Space SMSgt Seipert Utah Military Academy The Syrian Ceasefire Agreement Beginning in August of 2012, over 187 barrel bombs have been dropped in Syrian countries in an attempt to shake ISIS forces. This has killed thousands, and hundreds more have been injured. Many countries have also done other bombings of their own, resulting in total devastation in many small Syrian towns. Recently, the United States came to an agreement to ceasefire on Syria in an attempt to put more focus on the Islamic terrorist group known as ISIS. In the midst of all of the chaos and destruction, the United States and many other groups have decided to have all air forces remain grounded in Syrian areas and areas near there to help stop bloodshed and war in Syria. The Purpose and Benefits of the Ceasefire The United States and Russia came to an agreement to minimize civilian and small town casualties as the war efforts against ISIS continue. The ceasefire calls for all troops, both President Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian air forces and the opposition forces to remain out of the air. United States Secretary of State, John Kerry stated, “That should put an end to barrel bombs, an end to the indiscriminate bombing of civilian neighborhoods.” (Kerry, 2016) Enacted Monday, September 12, 2016, the agreement looks to give at least seven days of “genuine reduction of violence” and absolute unrestricted humanitarian access. This ceasefire was in an effort...
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...Battle for Syria Bryan Smith COMM/215 July 17, 2008 Will Powers On March 15, 2011 citizens of Syria began demonstrating against the Ba’ath Party, demanding the resignation of President Bashar al-Asad and release of political prisoners. These demonstrations quickly developed into a country wide uprising when the Syrian government deployed troops of the Syrian Army who opened fire on many civilians. Several cities became engulfed with military members who were ordered to open fire on civilians and were executed if they refused to do so. During this time, many civilians and Syrian Army defectors began forming small militias and eventually unified under the name Free Syrian Army (FSA). “On September 23, the Free Officers Movement officially merged into the Free Syria Army, led by Colonel Riad al-Assad.” In October 2011 and February 2012, Russia and China vetoed the United Nations Security Council’s backed resolution condemning Syria. As the fighting continued and the killing of innocent civilians increased, “France, the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, Canada and Australia expel senior Syrian diplomats in protest (Syria Profile, 2012).” As of today, the fighting between the Syrian Army and the FSA continues as the rest of the world watches and wonders, when it will come to an end. I believe that President al-Asad should step down and face criminal charges in an International court for the order to kill civilians. If he does not step down, he should be taken by force comprised of...
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...Which faction of Syria is right? The uprising of Arabic democracy through 2011 sparked a flame spreading across the Middle East. The fire is at Syria’s door and has burned through many lives already. In a bloodthirsty war between the FSA (Free Syrian Army) and Bashir Al-Assad's military, these factions fight for and against democracy and cross every barrier in morality, principle and culture to both achieve and defend their goals. Both are ferocious towards one another, so who should we as the civilized world be supporting in this bloodbath? The rebels, who want nothing more than to have the freedom and lives mimic that of the first world? Or the government who are trying to restore order into Syria for the benefit of the people and maintain their history? Through each variable, I find that we should be defending the government against the animals on the other side. This is influenced from the analysis of the conflict and its evolution. Or devolution? The rise of the modern Middle East first originated in February 2011 with rebels bringing Gaddafi’s tyranny to an end. This war settled in October 2011 after rebels swarmed into Tripoli where Gaddafi was finally killed and democracy was planned to come forth within eight months of their new liberation. Syria’s people sought the same but Al-Assad was not impressed with this copy of Libyan uproar and sought to broadcast a message that Syria simply wasn't ready for democracy. To ease tension, they release dozens of political prisoners...
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...Revolution to Civil War By Maya Bhardwaj Abstract: social movements and regime change across the Middle East and North Africa. While interconnected, uprisings in each nation took different forms and reached out distinctions and interactions between uprisings, revolution, and civil war. standing scholarly debate. The presence or absence of civil war is examined in examinations of civil war: the nature of the governmental regime, territoriality complete understanding of what constitutes civil war and provides a framework 76 Introduction the Middle East, authoritarian regimes thought invulnerable to protest and impossible to oust began to cede to massive protest. Attacks on governmental institutions and elite leaders ensconced from public opinion developed divergently in each nation, employing tailored strategies to mobilize the public and reap key support. This paper focuses on the nature and development of these Arab Spring further use these distinctions to illuminate the conceptual, instrumental, and semantic nature of civil war in general. - exacerbated the grievances felt by rebel forces and smoothed over ethnic, religious, and tribal ten- trastingly, in Syria, instances of mild reform under Bashar al-Assad, popular concerns for security, kept civil war at bay. Conceptual Isolation of Civil War presence or absence of civil war. However, the scholarly distinction between civil war and other insurgency and counter-insurgency, uprisings, genocide or genocidal...
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...Although the war in Syria begun over 6 years ago, it continues to fill the headlines of news reports around the world. This civil war, a conflict between citizens of the same country, started in 2011. Syrian citizens took to the streets, demanding democracy and opening showing their disapproval of the government and president, Bashar al-Assad. The Assad family has held power in Syria for generations, many citizens blamed them for their lack of freedom, high unemployment rates, and economic woes. When President Bashar al-Assad succeeded his father in 2011, the citizens of Syria started a peaceful uprising to show their discontent and insisted on change. Their protests and demonstrations quickly turned violent. Assad’s government used deadly forceful action against the rebellion, which in return caused unrest among the civilians and they began to demand his resignation. However, the harder the rebels fought back, the more the government tried to crackdown on controlling them. The opposition began to take up arms and Assad vowed to take back control of the state and eliminate their “terrorism”. The violence continued to escalate and a civil war began that has since left devastation and death of over 300,000 people (BBC, 2017) Not only has this ongoing war caused devastation within its country, it has also effected the entire world. As the tension of the war within the country increased, millions of innocent civilians were faced with the crisis of how and where they were going to...
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... https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2008/06/images/picture3.gif https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2008/06/images/picture3.gif Argument 2 • The internet is just virtual and not corresponding to real world counterparts (cf. Hafez 2007) • The internet has failed to “…fundamentally open and democratized media systems across the world”. (Hafez 2007) https://c479107.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/files/13117/area14mp/9jmd4bq8-1342613644.jpg Argument 3 • No authenticy for knowledge on the internet http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mbibrtTCvz1qlpjkuo1_500.jpg http://andreasjungherr.net/wpcontent/uploads/2010/12/Abbildung-1-Anteile-derBundestagsparteien-und-der-Piratenpartei-an-denStimmen-und-Twitternennungen.png http://stats.wikimedia.org/GeoTaggedArticles.jpg Argument 4 • English as universal language is decreasing, web content gets increasingly multilingual http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Er5gCBHESRE/UZPwCVuCvEI/AAAAAAAAI4k/0pCuA60RDYE/s1600/tumblr_mmqvy6CVA91s6bw99o1_1280.png http://i.livescience.com/images/i/000/019/588/i02/go-figure-internet-language-110901-02.jpg?1314890159 Argument 5 • National Link usage is more represented than international ones they “remain national borders” (Hafez 2007) “…Facebook’s assertion that localised marketing was the way to success for brands” (Simply Zesty 2014) “The adverts you see are selected for you based on the things you do on Facebook,...
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