The Syrian civil war enters its 14th year, a permanent political resolution remains difficult to imagine when the war is still raging. 14 years after demonstrators first started a regime change movement against the four-decade rule of the Assad family, killing thousands of Syrians and nearly 13 million, more than half of the population have been displaced.
How did the Syrian civil war start?
The Arab Spring was a series of pro-democracy uprisings that started from Tunisia to several other largely Muslim countries in the Middle East, including Morocco, Syria, Libya, Egypt and Bahrain. These uprisings began in the spring of 2011.
There were few successful movements that led to regime change in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. But other pro-democracy movements can also be deemed successful if we assume the aim was to become more democratic. Protests in Tunisia and Egypt led to the collapse of the authoritarian government, which gave hope to Syrian pro-democracy activists.
In March 2011, peaceful protests started against the Syrian government led by President Bashar-al-Assad after 15 young boys were detained and tortured for writing graffiti in support of the Arab Spring going on at full swing in the neighboring states.
Peaceful protests became nation-wide movement
When the imprisoned 15 boys were released in the torturous and dying situation, their experience reached far off places in Syria. This time the protests were not peaceful, protesters conducted a rally against Bahar-al-Assad chanting anti-government slogans and clashed with police and protests spread to other cities of Syria.
The Syrian government responded to the protests by using helicopters and tanks against its own people. Lots of bullets were fired on these protesters killing hundreds and imprisoning many more. Things didn’t calm down after this horrible move instead it only backfired against the government. Now protests against Bashar-al-Assad started erupting in almost every city of Syria, and soon turned to nation-wide movement.
Formation of Free Syrian Army, ISI involvement and rising demand of Kurdistan
In July 2011, defectors from the Syrian Army announced formation of Free Syrian Army (FSA), a rebel group fighting to overthrow the Assad government which was later joined by civilian population too. Earlier protesters lacked the weapon to fight the Syrian Army, but these defectors from the military, sourced their weapons from neighboring Sunni majority states who came to their support to fight the Shia majority government in Syria.
FSA’s civilian counterpart, also established in 2011, claimed to be the government in exile. And got recognition from the US, Turkey and the Gulf Cooperation Council states as the true representative of the Syrian people.
Islamic State of Iraq which fought in Iraq against their establishment saw an opportunity in the chaos of Syria to increase their network, came forward to support FSA. They even changed their name from ISI to ISIS (Islamic state of Iraq and Syria).
At the same time, in the northeast of Syria and in the neighboring Turkey, where Kurds demanded a separate nation called Kurdistan. They saw that the Syrian government is occupied fighting the FSA and took this opportunity to capture territory for their nation-state.
From Syrian civil war to international civil war
Sunni-majority states including Saudi Arabia, Qatar weren’t happy with the Shia government ruling a Sunni-majority Syria. They provided funds and weapons to the FSA. Iran, a Shia-majority state, started helping Syria’s government.
Bashar-al-Assad had good relations with Russia, to complete Russia’s interest, Assad’s existence in Syria was beneficial. The US also secretly provided training to the FSA and delivered weapons. Israel is also involved fighting Iran-backed militia Hezbollah who took shelter in Syria. Turkey provided support to FSA to contain the demand of separatist forces of Kurds.
These states made Syria a battleground for an international civil war, only fighting for their vested interests. After 14 yrs Syria is still mired in conflict, political instability and economic turmoil.
