syrian crisis

SYRIAN CRISESMAP OF REASONS

Group Members• Muhammad Tayyab Tahir (01-155161-042)• Abdullah Malik (01-155161-002)• Farooq Hassan (01-155161-013)• Hafsa Fatima Gillani (01-155161-055)• Fizza Asif (01-155161-014)• Tasneem Ayub (01-155161-061)

Where is Syria?• Syria is a country in Western Asia,

bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest.

REASONS• Bashar al-Assad • Civil War• Role of Independent conflict groups• Saudi, Iranian rivalry in Syria

Bashar Al-Assad• Bashar Hafez al-Assad (born 11 September

1965) is the President of Syria and Regional Secretary of the Syrian-led branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. He has served as President since 2000, when he succeeded his father, Hafez al-Assad, who had ruled Syria for 30 years prior to his death.

Syrian Civil War

Syrian Civil War• On going conflict between Syria’s Ba’ath government and

those seeking to oust it.

Beginning: March 15, 2011• Large-scale unrest in the southern city of Daraa, “Cradle of

the Revolution” later to spreadnation-wide

Single Party Rule

Demographic Discrimination

Widespread Poverty

Constricted Rights

Ba’ath Government

• Came to power in 1964 after a coup

1966

• Another coup overthrew the original leaders• Under the power of Hafez al-Assad (Minister of Defense)

November 1970

• Hafez made himself Prime Minister• Later on: President till his death in 2000

RISE OF THE SINGLE PARTY

The Syrian Regional Branch Gov’t• Dominant political

authority• Syria: Single-party

State

Rise of the Damascus Spring• Between July 2000 –August 2001• Intense social and political Debate• Ended when its leaders were Arrested

Hafez to Bashar al-Assad

• ARAB SPRING• December 2010• Mass anti-Government protests

began in Tunisia• Spread across the ARAB World

• February 2011• The revolutions of Tunisia and

Egypt, Libya began its own Civil War

• The Demand for the Resignation of President Bashar al-Assad• (Family held Presidency in

Syria since 1971)• As well as the End of the Arab

Socialist Ba’ath Party

• Revolutionary Wave of Demonstrations and Protests

• Began Dec. 18, 2010 (Tunisia)

• Believed to have been caused by dissatisfaction w/ local governments

Arab Spring Ba’ath Party

Emergence of Independent Conflict Groups

Shabiha Free Syrian Army

Army of Mujahidee

n

Al-Nusra Front Hezbollah ISIS Kurds

Pro-government militia• Largely from Assad’s Alawite group

Been used to break up protests and enforce laws• Blamed for excessive use of violence

Declared a terrorist group on Dec. 2012c by the US

Later Transformed into the Jaysh al-Shabi• A more organized and official militia• With the help of Iran and the Hezbollah

Shabiha

Free Syrian Army

Also known as the FSA• Main armed opposition in Syria• Created on late July 2011• A defection of the Syrian Army

officers• “headquartered” in Turkey• Functions through guerrilla tactics• Shabiha militia is their main targets

Founded in 2 January 2014

Jaysh al-Mujahedeen is a coalition of Islamist rebel groups

Formed in order to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) during the Syrian Civil War

Strength: More than 5,000–12,000

Army of Mujahedeen

AL-NUSRA FRONT

Biggest Jihadist Group in Syria

Responsible for suicide bombings

Recognized as a terrorist group

Leader

• Most aggressive and violent part of the opposition

• Abu Mohammad al-Julani

Hezbollah

A Shi’a Islamic Militant

Group and political

party

Based on Lebanon

Taken the side of the

Government

Leader: Hassan Nasrallah

Salafi Jihadist militant group• Based on Statehood or Caliphate, Ideology is wahhabism

According to CIA it has 31000 fighters• As of Dec 2015, it has control over vast landlocked territory with a population

ranging b/w 2.8-8 million

United Nations declared it as terrorist organization• In the Beginning of 2014; Beheadings of Civilians, Soldiers and Journalists

In August 2015, ISIS attacked on Kurds• Using Chemical Weapons, later confirmed to be mustard gas

• By Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi• Jammat Al-Tawhid Wa-al-

Jihad

1999

• Swore loyalty to Osama Bin Laden

• Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI)

2004

• MSC merged• Islamic State of Iraq (ISI)• Led by Abu Omar-Al-

Baghdadi

2006

• Abu Bakar-Al-Baghdadi• ISIS / ISIL

2010

ISIS

On 7th October 2011, Kurds leader Mashaal Tammo was gunned down by masked men

During Tammo's funeral procession Syrian security forces fired into a crowd of more than 50,000

mourners, killing five people

got evolved into armed clashes after the opposition Kurdish Democratic Union Party and Kurdish National

Council signed a cooperation agreement on 12 July 2012 that created the Kurdish Supreme Committee as the

governing body of all Kurdish controlled areas

Largest ethnic minority group in

Syria

Estimates from 2 to 2.5 million

Belief of Sunni Islam

Protestors

KURDS

Political Groups involved

Syria

Syrian National Council

Syrian National Coalition

National Coordinatio

n Committee

• Formed Aug. 23, 2011• Based in Turkey• Has links to FSA• Later formed the Syrian

National Coalition

• A Syrian bloc of 13 left-wing parties

• In between SNC and pro-gov’t

• Leftist

• Protesters demanded the resignation of President Bashar al-Assad, whose family has held the presidency in Syria since 1971, as well as the end to over four decades of Ba'ath Party rule.

• The People who fought are mainly the Free Syrian Army (Protesters)15,000 and the Syrian Armed Forces (Government)  has 30,520. 

What caused the people to protest against the government?

SAUDI, IRANIAN RIVALARY IN SYRIA

Major conflict• The Syrian conflict is one of the two major conflicts in which Iran and Saudi

Arabia are involved directly. The other being the Yemen war. The outcome of this conflict will decide who will be the major power in Middle East.

Iranian and Saudi objectives in syria

Iran wants to keep supporting financially and militarily it’s proxy in Lebanon i.e Hezbollah. Iran has been doing it via Syria. Iran wants the current Syrian President to stay in power otherwise it would be impossible for Iran to keep supporting Hezbollah.

Continue….• Saudi stance. If the Syrian President Bashar Assad is overthrown, it will result in the

isolation of Hezbollah. Second is the Iranian ambition of creating Shiite crescent in Middle East. Iran has now influence in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. Iran would never allow Saudi Arabia or the US and Israel to isolate Hezbollah and to shatter the Iranian dreams of Shiite crescent in Middle east.

Instruments used by Saudis to implement their policies.

The Saudis are using various instruments in Syria to achieve their foreign policy objectives. They are providing diplomatic support to the political wing of FSA. Moreover, they are also funding and training the Syrian rebels. Saudi Arabia is actively involved in providing arms to the anti Assad forces inside Syria.

Syrian policy towards Iran.

• Syrian policy towards Iran is very friendly since Iran is the chief supporter of Assad regime. Syria have always been a major ally of Iran in Middle East. This soft approach of Syria towards Iran dates back to the Cold War

• The Syrian President has time and again praised Iran for its support of his regime. Iran has reciprocated this act by calling Syrian President as the defender of humanity and a savior of the world from terrorists.

• The Syrian President is an Alawite which is an off shoot of Shiite sect.

Syrian policy towards KSA

• The Saudi Syrian relations have never been friendly. The Saudis have been against the Syrian President and have called for ousting

him. They are supporting the Syrian opposition and are using FSA and other moderate rebel groups to fight Assad regime. The Saudis have also diplomatically supported Syrian Revolution Council. The Syrian government spokesperson in Arab League and UN respectively have blamed Saudis for supporting terrorists inside Syria.

Current Situation

Refugees and camps conditions

• The condition of refugees and their living places is very miserable• There are 4.5 million refugees• Over 12 million people inside Syria are in need of aid to stay live

that’s half the country • More than 25,000 Syrians have lost their lives in four-and-half years

of armed conflict• By June 2013, the UN said 90,000 to 93,000 people have been killed • By August 2015, the figure had climbed to 25,0000

• As estimated 4.8 million Syrians are in those areas that are hard to reach including 241,000 who are trapped in besieged areas cut off from aid and medical supplies

• Almost 8 million people have been forced from their homes, living in camps• Camps in unheated abandon buildings, praying the fighting won’t spread• More than 2.5 million refugees fleeing Syria’s civil war, currently living in

turkey

• Mostly Syrians moved to neighbouring countries Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey• Turkey has already lightened its southern border • To stem last year’s overflow of refugees from Syria• People don’t get proper aid and their living necessities of life to live

• Syrians lives in hard conditions in turkey• The education condition is also miserable

Syrian crisis

• By August 2015, the figure had climbed to 25,000• As of June 6, 2013 there are 1,393,421 registered refugees and 206,5554

persons awaiting registrations• 23 DEC 2015 some 70% of over 1 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon now

live below the Lebanon extreme poverty line

Hudea

Aylan Kurdi’

• The graph shows the details about refugees

Last Friday Report

Consequences• In June 2013, the death toll was updated to 92,900–100,000 by the United Nations.

According to various opposition activist groups, between 72,960 and 96,430 people have been killed, of which about half were civilians, but also including 58,500 armed combatants consisting of both the Syrian Army and rebel forces, up to 1,000 opposition protesters and 1,000 government officials.

Conclusion• Crisis in Middle East exacerbate. • The Saudi’s tension related to ISIS will take the another dimension by the end

of these attacks.. • All of the factors leading to the spread of violent conflict from civil war and

insurgency are present in the Levant. • There is a high prob- ability that the fighting in Syria, if left unchecked, will

spill over into Turkey and Jordan, where both countries are engaged in providing external aid to the rebels and where both are serving as hosts to serious numbers of refugees with ethnic ties to their own populations.

STOP KILLING..AND SAVE THIS WORLD !

Thank You