Revolution in Syria (2011–2024)
The Syrian Revolution, also known as the Syrian Revolution of Dignity and the Syrian Intifada, was a series of mass protests and civilian uprisings throughout Syria – with a subsequent violent reaction by the Ba'athist regime – lasting from February 2011 to December 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 nation-wide 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.
Despite al-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 protesters. 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.
The unprecedented violence led to global backlash, with the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) 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 al-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 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. The last resistance to Ba'athist rule was crushed in the 1982 Hama massacre, during which over 40,000 civilians were killed. 
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. 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 Syrian government as "the worst offender among Arab states", that engaged in imposing travel bans and restricted free movement of people. More than 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 disenchanment 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 patronage networks of Ba'ath party elites and Alawite clients loyal to Assad family. 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.
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, a "Day of Rage" was called for by activists against the government of Bashar al-Assad, 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, commonly called the "Cradle of the Syrian Revolution", 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: "" – ("The people want the fall of the regime") – a trademark slogan of the Arab Spring. The boys also spray-painted the graffiti "Your turn, Doctor"; directly alluding to Bashar al-Assad, who was previously 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 more than 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', the protests in Daraa began as largely peaceful affairs, with demonstrators often 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; which made Daraa one of the first provinces in Syria to break free of regime control.
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 cities of Damascus and Aleppo, demanding the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad. More than 35 protestors in Damascus were arrested by police forces in a subsequent crackdown ordered by Assad government.
In Daraa, demonstrators clashed with local police, and confrontations escalated on 18 March after Friday prayers. Security forces attacked protesters 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 protesters.
Meanwhile, minor protests occurred elsewhere in the country. Protesters 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 6 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 more 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 during the events.
On 25 March, mass protests spread nationwide, as demonstrators emerged after Friday prayers. At least 20 protesters were killed by security forces. Protests subsequently spread to other Syrian cities, including Homs, Hama, Baniyas, Jasim, Aleppo, Damascus and Latakia. Over 70 protesters in total were reported killed.
In his public address delivered on 30 March, Assad said 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."
Crackdown.
Even before the uprising began, the Syrian government had made numerous arrests of political dissidents and human rights campaigners, many of whom were understood as terrorists by the Assad government. In early February 2011, authorities arrested several activists, including political leaders Ghassan al-Najar, Abbas Abbas, and Adnan Mustafa. Government forces used Ba'ath party buildings as a base to organize the security forces and fire on protestors. The government issued an official shoot-to-kill policy on the peaceful demonstrators; deploying snipers, heavy machine guns and shelling. Those security officers who disagreed or held back themselves were also fired upon by Ba'athist paramilitaries and "Shabiha" death squads from behind.
Police and security forces responded to the protests violently, using water cannons and tear gas as well as physically beating protesters and firing live ammunition. The regime also deployed the dreaded "Shabiha" death squads, consisting of fervent Alawite loyalists, that were ordered to execute sectarian attacks on the protestors, torture Sunni demonstrators and engage in anti-Sunni rhetoric. This policy led to large-scale desertions within the army ranks and further defections of officers who began forming a resistance movement.
As the uprisings intensified, the Syrian government waged a campaign of arrests that captured tens of thousands of people. In response to the uprising, Syrian law had been changed to allow the police and any of the nation's 18 security forces to detain a suspect for eight days without a warrant. Arrests focused on two groups: political activists, and men and boys from the towns that the Syrian Army would start to besiege in April. Many of those detained experienced ill-treatment. Many detainees were cramped in tight