SYRIA

Flickr | Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office

CONFLICT IN SYRIA - A 14 Year Civil War, The Fall Of Assad & Post-Conflict Crises

The conflict in Syria originated from the 2011 Arab Spring. Peaceful, pro-democracy protests broke out, with citizens demanding reforms and an end to authoritarian rule under Bashar al-Assad.

The regime responded with lethal force, arbitrary detentions, and torture, prompting military defections and the formation of armed opposition groups like the Free Syrian Army (FSA). By 2012, fighting had spread to major urban centres like Damascus and Aleppo, transforming the unrest into a multi-layered civil war marked by foreign intervention.

While Russia, Iran, and Hezbollah provided crucial military and financial support to the Assad regime, Turkey, Gulf states, and Western nations backed various opposition or Kurdish-led factions.

Amid the chaos, ISIS seized vast territories in eastern Syria and western Iraq, drawing a U.S.-led military coalition into an air and ground campaign alongside the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The regime's use of chemical weapons against civilians drew widespread international condemnation.

From 2016 to 2023, the conflict largely froze into stubborn territorial zones of control as international peace talks repeatedly failed to produce a political settlement.

This stalemate shattered in December 2024 when a rebel coalition led by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) launched a rapid offensive, resulting in the collapse of government defences and the capture of Aleppo, Hama, and Damascus.

Bashar al-Assad fled the country, abruptly ending over 50 years of Assad family rule.

Flickr | Wasfi Akab

Over the course of the war, one of the worst humanitarian crises in modern history unfolded, resulting in over half a million deaths and displacing roughly half the pre-war population - over 13 to 14 million people.

Today, Syria is navigating a fragile and highly volatile transitional period under the government of President Ahmed al-Sharaa, the former leader of HTS.

Over 70% of the population are in need of humanitarian aid.

Intense internal fighting persists with the Kurdish conflict, the ongoing ISIS threat, frequent Israeli airstrikes in the southwest, and strikes by Jordan targeting alleged terrorist hideouts.

The country is gripped by widespread public protests over skyrocketing fuel costs. Basic infrastructure and health systems have been decimated, and food insecurity is rife.

Explore specialised topics on the Assad regime's fall, media sources, international sanctions, important organisations, background information, and the human rights situation.