Syrian Civil War is a conflict between rebel groups and the progovernment forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The war began in the Middle Eastern nation of Syria in 2011 as a rebellion against Assad’s rule. It has since grown to include fighting between various political and religious groups. The conflict is by far the bloodiest and most destructive in the nation’s history. The war has drawn in troops from other nations as well as foreign economic and military support. It has contributed to the region’s destabilization and the rise of such radical militant Islamic groups as the Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL).
Background.
Bashar al-Assad took power in 2000, after the death of his father, Hafez al-Assad, who had ruled Syria since 1970. Bashar al-Assad’s autocratic (undemocratic) regime had little tolerance for opposition, and dissenters were often arrested or tortured, and sometimes killed. Al-Assad is a member of Syria’s minority Alawite Muslim sect (division). Alawites were favored over other groups for government jobs. They also formed the core of Syria’s elite security forces. Many of the nation’s majority Sunnis resented Alawite rule and wanted to remove al-Assad for sectarian reasons—that is, they wanted a Sunni to be president. They also resented al-Assad’s repressive rule.
In late 2010 and early 2011, a series of prodemocracy movements began in northern Africa and the Middle East. Protests and demonstrations against autocratic rule spread to Syria in March 2011.
The war.
The Syrian Civil War began in 2011, as harsh government responses turned antigovernment protests into open rebellion against the al-Assad regime. Loyalties in the rebellion lay largely along political and religious sectarian lines. Al-Assad’s followers included members of the ruling Baath Party, Alawites, Christians, Druses, and some of the nation’s wealthier Sunnis. Al-Assad’s opponents were made up largely of the nation’s Sunni majority, but this majority was itself divided by factionalism—that is, rivalry, or competition, between various Sunni groups. Some al-Assad opponents were inspired by the quest for democracy, but religious and economic differences inspired many others.
Rebel factions began battling the Syrian Armed Forces as well as pro-al-Assad militias, known as Popular Committees. Rival rebel groups soon jockeyed for power, however, and often turned on one another. As fighting intensified, Russia, a long-time ally of Syria, and Iran, a predominantly Shī`ite country, supplied al-Assad with military advisers, money, weapons, and oil. Foreign Shī`ite fighters—most notably those of Lebanon’s radical Islamic group Hezbollah—joined with the Popular Committees, many of which were combined into the National Defense Forces (NDF) in 2012. The NDF, aided significantly by Iran, quickly proved to be an effective fighting force.
Turkey and Sunni Arab nations joined with France, the United Kingdom, and the United States in opposing al-Assad’s rule and gave their support to the rebellion. In 2012, several Syrian rebel factions united to form the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces. Many nations recognized this coalition as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people. Other rebel groups, however, joined with such terrorist groups as al-Qa`ida’s al-Nusra Front (now known as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham) or the Islamic State. As the Islamic State grew in power and became increasingly brutal and ruthless, the terrorist group’s destruction became the top priority for many foreign countries.
In 2013, al-Assad used chemical weapons in the war, and the United States threatened retaliation. Chemical weapons are devices that release deadly chemicals to harm enemies. After Russian diplomatic intervention, al-Assad agreed to destroy or surrender his nation’s stockpile (reserve supply) of chemical weapons. However, Syrian government forces resumed using chemical weapons later in the war.
In 2014, a U.S.-led coalition began launching air strikes against Islamic State targets in Syria. One of the goals of the strikes was to protect Kurds and other ethnic groups from Islamic State militants in northern Syria. The coalition air strikes also targeted Islamic State headquarters, training camps, and weapons supplies. However, U.S. warplanes did not intervene in fighting between Syrian government and rebel forces. The coalition eventually included France, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and many other nations.
Recent developments.
In 2015, Russia began launching air strikes in support of Syrian government troops. Russian warplanes targeted all rebel opponents of President al-Assad, not just the Islamic State, a mission in partial conflict with the U.S.-led coalition. In late November, tensions increased significantly after a Turkish jet shot down a Russian warplane that had entered Turkish airspace.
Fighting on the ground in Syria became a confusing mix of allegiances and contradictory results. In the north, a Kurdish-led rebel alliance held large areas south of the Turkish border. A small number of U.S. special forces troops fought with the Kurds to help them battle the Islamic State, which controlled the areas directly to the south. In 2016 and 2017, Syrian and rebel forces separately regained ground from the Islamic State, most notably the ancient city of Palmyra. Also in 2017, the Kurds took control of the Islamic State “capital” at Ar Raqqah in north-central Syria. By 2019, the Islamic State had lost all the territory it controlled in Syria. By mid-2018, Syrian government forces controlled more than three-fourths of Syrian territory.
Still, some fighting between Syrian government and rebel forces continued in 2019, especially in the northwest province of Idlib. Many Syrians had fled to Idlib to escape the war, doubling the population in the area, and many of those opposed to the Assad regime had retreated there. In the north, U.S. troops began to withdraw from Kurdish-held areas in October. Turkey sent troops into Syria to control areas near the Turkish border. Fighting ceased after a few days, and Turkey and Russia reached an agreement to patrol an area south of the Turkish border after the Kurds left the region. In December, Syrian government forces began a final assault to take back control of Idlib province. Rebel opposition and Turkish forces halted the advance in February 2020, creating a situation that threatened all-out war between Syria and Turkey. The following month, Russia negotiated a ceasefire between the two nations. Nevertheless, international observers feared that violence would continue in Idlib. At the same time, the Islamic State took advantage of the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in northern Syria and renewed its attacks on Iraqi forces.
Death and destruction.
Since it began in 2011, the Syrian Civil War has devastated large parts of the country. Some of the nation’s main cities have been severely damaged, as have vast agricultural areas. According to some estimates, the death toll reached around 600,000 by 2023. Over 2 million others were injured. More than 6 million people fled the country, and more than 6 million others were internally displaced. These numbers, combined, reflect over half the nation’s prewar population. More than 3.5 million Syrian refugees fled to Turkey, and more than 1.5 million others fled to Lebanon and Jordan. Many others made the difficult journey to Europe, contributing to that continent’s refugee crisis. People who chose to remain in Syria—and those unable to leave—faced serious problems that included hunger, continued warfare, and disease. Syria’s economy contracted severely, and the national currency, the pound (also called the lira), fell dramatically relative to the U.S. dollar.
