The Syrian civil war,[49][50][51][52] also referred to as the Syrian uprising,[53][54] is an ongoing internal armed political conflict in Syria. The conflict began on 15 March 2011 with public demonstrations as part of the wider Arab Spring and developed into a nationwide uprising, and a civil war in 2012. Protesters have demanded the end to nearly five decades of Ba’ath Party rule, as well as the resignation of President Bashar al-Assad.
In the spring of 2011, the Syrian government deployed the Syrian Army to quell the uprising. Several cities have been besieged,[55][56] and soldiers were reportedly ordered to open fire on civilians.[57] According to witnesses, soldiers who refused to open fire on civilians were summarily executed by the Syrian Army.[57] Civilians and army defectors began forming fighting units and unified under the banner of the Free Syrian Army, fighting in an increasingly organized fashion; however, the civilian component of the armed opposition lacks an organized leadership. The Syrian government characterizes the insurgency as armed terrorist groups and foreign fighters bent on destabilizing the country.[58]
According to various sources, including the United Nations, between 24,495[38][39] and 32,895[59][38][39] people have been killed, of which about half were civilians, but also including 12,400 armed combatants consisting of both the Syrian army and rebel forces[60][61][62] and up to 1,900 opposition protesters.[43][44] According to the UN, about 1.5 million Syrians have been displaced within the country.[63] To escape the violence, tens of thousands of Syrian refugees have fled the country to neighboring Iraqi Kurdistan,[64] Jordan,[65] Lebanon and Turkey.[66][67] Iraq has closed its border to Syrian refugees, while no Syrian refugees have yet arrived at the Israeli border.[68] In addition, tens of thousands of protesters have been imprisoned, and there have been reports of widespread torture in the government's prisons.[69][70] International organizations have also accused government forces and Shabiha militiamen of using civilians as human shields,[71][72] of intentionally targeting civilians and of adopting a scorched earthpolicy.[73] Anti-government rebels have been accused of human rights abuses as well, including torture, kidnapping, unlawful detention and execution of civilians, Shabiha, and soldiers. Human Rights Watch also expressed concern at the kidnapping of Iranian nationals.[74][75] The UN Commission of Inquiry has also documented abuses of this nature, and also has documentation that indicates rebel forces have been responsible for displacement of civilians.[76]
The Arab League, United States, European Union, GCC states and other countries have condemned the use of violence against the protesters. China and Russia have opposed attempts to agree to a UN resolution condemning Assad's actions,[77] and advised against sanctions, saying that such methods could escalate into foreign intervention.[78] The Arab League suspended Syria's membership over the government's response to the crisis,[79]but sent an observer mission in December 2011, as part of its proposal for peaceful resolution of the crisis. A further attempt to resolve the crisis has been made through the appointment of Kofi Annan as a special envoy. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had repeatedly stated that the Syrian conflict could emerge into an "all-out civil war".[80]
On 15 July 2012, the International Committee of the Red Cross assessed the Syrian conflict as a "non-international armed conflict" (the ICRC's legal term for civil war), thus applying international humanitarian law under the Geneva Conventions to Syria.[81]
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