The Syrian Civil War is an ongoing conflict that began in Syria back in 2011. The conflict broke out as part of the wider Arab Spring, which saw long-standing military dictatorships and autocratic rulers toppled in several Middle Eastern countries and North Africa. However, while these conflicts were relatively peaceful in Tunisia, Egypt and elsewhere, in Syria President Bashar al-Assad was determined to cling to power. As a result, a bloody, brutal conflict began with numerous factions controlling various parts of the country at different times. Most notoriously, this led to the rise of the Islamic State in the mid-2010s. The sheer horror of life under ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) led to a mass exodus of people from Syria, resulting in the immigration of at least six and a half million people from the country, while an estimated 13 million of Syria's pre-war population of 22 million have been displaced. These millions of refugees have migrated to a wide range of countries, with the European Migrant Crisis of the mid-2010s seeing a large influx into the European Union, though the bulk of the Syrian refugees have settled in Syria's immediate neighbors such as Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.[1]
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Chronology of events
The Syrian Civil War has its origins in the Syrian Revolution of 2011, which broke out as part of the wider Arab Spring across the Middle East and North Africa that year. In Syria, the specific goals of the revolutionaries was to overthrow the Ba’athist regime which has controlled Syria since a coup d’état in 1963, and the al-Assad family, which in turn has controlled the Syrian Ba’athist movement since 1971, with Hafez al-Assad serving as leader from that year down to 2000, and then being succeeded by his son, Bashar al-Assad, in 2000. In 2011, protests arose across Syria to remove al-Assad from power and create a new democracy in Syria.[2]
The civil war came about as al-Assad and the Ba’athist movement were unwilling to countenance any reduction in their power. Consequently, unlike in countries like Tunisia and Egypt where dictators such as Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak stepped down after losing the support of their militaries, a violent crackdown on protestors occurred in Syria, which was soon met with resistance and an internal conflict broke out as different factions began to seize control of parts of Syria. The result has been a civil war that is still ongoing as of 2023, although the bloodiest period of conflict was in the mid-2010s, following which sustained Russian intervention in the war on behalf of al-Assad has seen the situation stabilize to some extent. The government now controls approximately two-thirds of the country, including the main cities of Damascus, Homs, and Aleppo, while the various rebel groups are largely confined to the north and north-east of the country with little prospect of ever achieving the original goals of the revolution.[3]
The Syrian Civil War has been marked by some of the most brutal warfare and atrocities of the twenty-first century, much of which has been carried out by the al-Assad regime, after using chemical weapons in 2012 and escalating its use of them in the mid-2010s. Atrocities of an even greater kind were committed from 2014 onwards as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria took control of large parts of northern Iraq and eastern Syria, implementing a medieval form of Sharia law that saw non-Muslims killed or enslaved, and alleged criminals burnt to death. To add to all of this, at the height of the war, there were dozens of different militias and small powers exploiting the chaos across Syria to carve out their own minor fiefdoms where violence and criminality ran rife. The net result of all of this was a mass refugee crisis, as over half of Syria’s people left their homes in search of safety.[4]
Extent of migration
By 2012 there was already a refugee crisis developing in Syria as migrants crossed over the border into Jordan. However, it escalated dramatically in 2014 as the combined effects of the civil war and the rise of ISIS left people with little option but to leave their homes and seek safety elsewhere. By 2016, the United Nations was estimating that out of a pre-war population of 22 million people, approximately 13 million had been displaced, either internally or externally.[5] Some areas were worse impacted than others; for instance, the city of Aleppo, which was on the front lines of the conflict for many years, had its population fall from nearly three million people in 2010 to just 600,000 in 2014, an 80% decline and massive destruction of the city's infrastructure]. Getty Conservation Research Museum[6][7] Overall, it is estimated that over six and a half million people are displaced internally within Syria, while some 6.7 million people became international refugees because of the crisis.
Demographic impact
Although the Syrian refugee crisis only really came to international attention when Europe was affected by the Migrant Crisis in the mid-2010s, it is actually Syria’s neighbors who have taken in by far the most Syrian refugees; Turkey alone has over half of all externally displaced Syrians within its borders, with some estimates suggesting there are nearly four million Syrians now living in Turkey and constituting 5% of the population of the country. Moreover, these are not concentrated in refugee camps on the border. Most have been speedily admitted into Turkish society and half a million alone are living and working in Istanbul.[8]
It is estimated that there may be as many as 1.5 million Syrians in Lebanon today, though most are undocumented. This is despite Lebanon’s severe reservations about taking in refugees from a country that occupied Lebanon militarily for 29 years between 1976 and 2005, as well as the collapsing state of the Lebanese economy in recent times.[9] Jordan is home to over 600,000 Syrian refugees, while a quarter of a million fled to Iraq and 130,000 have been settled in Egypt. The demographic impact of these migrations dwarfs anything which occurred in Europe as a result of the Migrant Crisis of the mid-2010s. Internationally Germany led the way in the 2010s, taking in well over half a million Syrians under the government of Angela Merkel. Sweden has taken in over 190,000, making Syrians one of the largest minorities in the country in a short period of time.[10] Other countries outside of Europe and the Middle East took in Syrian refugees, with the United States taking in around 20,000 Syrians refugees, and Canada which took in over 70,000.[11]
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References
- ↑ Why has the Syrian war lasted 12 years? BBC News
- ↑ Syria’s Civil War: The Descent Into Horror. Council for Foreign Relations
- ↑ Syria's Civil War Started A Decade Ago. Here's Where It Stands. National Public Radio
- ↑ TIMELINE OF THE SYRIAN CONFLICT. ShelterBox
- ↑ Syria Refugee Crisis Explained. UN High Commissioner for Refugees
- ↑ Aleppo, Syria Metro Area Population 1950-2023. Macrotrends
- ↑ The Destruction of Aleppo: The Impact of the Syrian War on a World Heritage City.
- ↑ Protecting Syrian Refugees in Turkey from Forced Repatriation. Newlines Institute
- ↑ Lebanon. UNHCR
- ↑ Syrians in Sweden: Constructing Difference Regarding Gender and Family. Oxford Journal of Refugee Studies
- ↑ Syrian Immigrants in the United States. Center for American Progress