THE STORY OF

SYRIA By Maizatul Ranai

MCT 485REPORTING THE MIDDLE EAST

MA INTERNATIONAL JOURNALISM

CARDIFF UNIVERSITY, UK

1

SYRIA

❖ Population : 22,087,048

❖ 5,000 people flee Syria

everyday (UN, 2014)

❖ Language Spoken : Arabic,

Kurdish, Armenian, and

Turkish.

❖ Religion : Islam, Christianity,

Druze and Judaism

WHEN SYRIA MAKES HEADLINES?

❖ In March 2007, Arab Spring protest were raging across the

middle east.

❖ The protest inspired the people to rise up against the

President Basyar Al-Assad.

1. Commander-in-chief of Syrian Armed Forces

2. Second son of second son of former Syrian

President Hafez al-Assad

3. Born on Sept 11, 1965

4. Fluent in English and French

5. Graduated from University of Damascus in

Medicine

6. Aims to reform the corruption in the government,

and spoke of moving Syria toward the computer

technology, internet and cell phones of the 21st

century.

Baath Rule

AL-ASSAD FAMILY

1. Part of Military Junta that

seizes power in Syria in March

1963.

2. Became Syrian President from

1970 - 2000

3. Died on June 10, 2000 at the

age of 69.

Hafez al-Assad Basyar al-Assad

AL-ASSAD REGIME

1. The Assad’s family has ruled Syria for

five decades through MILITARY

DICTATORSHIP

NO POLITICAL FREEDOM

NO FREEDOM OF SPEECH

NO FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE

1. A State-run system

2. Income Inequality

3. High Unemployment

ECONOMIC PAIN

SYRIAN FLAME, 2011

1. The spark that lit the flame in Syrian began in 2011, when 15

school kids in the southern Syria city of Daraa painted anti-

government graffiti on the walls of a school. The kids were

arrested and harshly punished.

2. The community was outrage over the children’s arrest and

mistreatment, of which it has helped spread the Syrian opposition.

More at :

1. http://edition.cnn.com/2012/03/01/world/meast/syria-crisis-beginnings/

2. http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2060788,00.html

SYRIAN FLAME, 2012

❖ The uprising around the country has sparked and lasted

for months.

❖ The regime controlled the protest by force, gunfire and

shelling.

❖ The protestors reacted by organising a rebel army of

loose group of fighting brigades.

Residents protest against Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad after a burial ceremony for

what activists say are victims of shelling by the Syrian army, in the Khalidiya

neighborhood in Homs, on February 4, 2012. Syrian forces killed more than 200 people in

an assault on the city of Homs, activists said, the bloodiest day of an 11-month uprising

against Assad. (Reuters)

SYRIAN FLAME, 2012

SYRIAN CIVIL WAR

❖ 1. In July 2012, the Red Cross officially call it the Civil

War (also known as Syrian Revolution).2.The Syrian regime

is accused of

torturing prisoners

and targeting civilians

in deadly

rage.

3. AL QAEDA STEPS

IN.

UN PRESSURE

FRANCE

UNITED STATES

BRITAIN

TURKEY

CHINA

RUSSIA

IRAN

Death Toll in Syria : 220,000 people

15 March 2011 – 15 January 2015

Source : United Nation

ISIS IN SYRIA

❖ Starts as Al-Qaeda-inspired Sunni Islamist

Brigade.

❖ ISIS split from Al-Qaeda in February 2014, as the

latter claimed that ISIS was too brutal for Al-

Qaeda.

❖ The organisation folded the Baathist regime into

their sunni structure, of which Baathist eventually

forms the core of ISIS. (Khan, Veryan (2014).

Terrorism Research & Analysis Consortium.

❖ The chaos in Syria allowed ISIS to hold its

territory pretty securely (weaponry & money)..

❖ A study by the London-based Conflict Armanent

Research consultancy found that IS militants had

access to large numbers of US weapons. No

conclusions are retrieved on how the weapon are

sourced.

HOPE FOR SYRIANS

❖ The war is about to enter its 5th year, with no end at

sight.

❖ Despite the unraveling of their state and violence, most

Syrians still want their tattered nation to remain whole.

THE END

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING

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