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Syria’s war has been the most complex conflict to emerge from the 2011 Arab uprisings. At least twice—in the spring of 2013 and in mid-2015—the Assad regime almost collapsed. Its comeback is attributable largely to outside players. The war has evolved through five phases that, along the way, have embroiled foreign figures and militias ...
- Syria
Syria’s war has been a humanitarian catastrophe, with...
- Mona Yacoubian
Yacoubian joined the U.S. Institute of Peace after serving...
- Syria
- More than 250,000 people have been killed, according to the UN. War crimes and crimes against humanity are rife.
- Since then, more than 11 million people have been forced from their homes, including around 7 million people within Syria and more than 4 million who are now refugees abroad, mostly in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.
- Government forces have repeatedly shelled and bombed civilian areas using indiscriminate weapons, including barrel bombs. They’ve also bombed hospitals, targeted medical workers and mounted long-running sieges of opposition-held areas, depriving people of food, medicines and other necessities.
- According to the Syrian Network for Human Rights, approximately 65,000 people have been arrested by government security forces and are now missing in a network of unofficial detention centres.
The events at the start of 2011 in Egypt, traditionally the cultural and political hub of the Arab world, had within weeks inspired uprisings across the Middle East. The uprisings changed ...
Jan 14, 2021 · Timeline: How the Arab Spring unfolded. Ten years ago, protests swept across Arab nations that changed the course of history. On January 14, 2011, Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali ...
- Democracy
- Standard of Living
- Youth Unemployment
- Freedom of The Press
- Displacement
- Internet Freedom
- Corruption
- Women’s Empowerment
Protesters were motivated by many factors, but analysts say a common theme was a push for dignity and human rights. In many countries, religious tensions also played a significant role. For instance, Islamist parties gained power in formerly secular Tunisia and Egypt (although only temporarily in the latter). Meanwhile, deep sectarian divisionshelp...
Many in the Mideast struggled financially due to declining oil prices, high unemployment, and corruption among political elites who thrived at the expense of ordinary citizens, among other reasons. Poverty rates were high, especially in rural areas. In no country has the standard of living significantly improved since the revolutions, and it has ev...
Many of the uprisings were led by students and other young people frustrated by government corruption and the lack of economic opportunities. Youth unemployment in the region remains the highest in the world [PDF] and has worsened in several countries, rekindling protestsin some cases.
Press freedom in the region is worse todaythan in the years before the revolts. Many governments have moved aggressively to suppress any criticism in the media, and foreign and local journalists are more likely to be imprisoned, killed, or have their work censored than their peers in most other regions of the world. Egypt has become one of the worl...
Post-uprising civil wars in Libya, Syria, and Yemen have caused mass displacement. In many cases, foreign military interventions have exacerbated the violence and disorder. Syria’s conflict alone has created more than five million registered refugees and over six million internally displaced people.
The internet and social media were vital tools for mobilizing Arab Spring protesters and documenting some government injustices. In the years since, countries such as Egypt have tightened their grip on cyberspace by restricting internet access, enacting laws that facilitate censorship, and jailing people over their anti-government posts online. Onl...
Some countries, such as Tunisia, have attempted to respond to protesters’ calls for better governance, including by creating anticorruption agencies and new laws to protect whistleblowers. However, corruption persists and is worsening regionwide. It is particularly daunting in the countries riven by civil war.
Gender equality was not a primary focus of the Arab Spring, but women took leading roles in the protests despite the threat of gender-based violence. Over the last decade, some countries have seen slight increases in female representation in government, but generally the region has done little to improve the status of women. Still, in countries inc...
Mar 15, 2021 · 15 Mar 2021. Syrians are marking 10 years since peaceful protests against President Bashar al-Assad’s government erupted in March 2011, touching off a popular uprising that quickly turned into a ...
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Mar 15, 2021 · There is limited shelter, fuel is scarce, and food prices are soaring. According to the UN, Syria is “the worst man-made disaster since World War II”. 9.3 million Syrians are food-insecure ...
