The Syrian conflict. The nature and reasons

1.

The Syrian conflict
The nature and reasons

2.

The Syrian civil War is a multi-sided, multi-level armed conflict on the territory of Syria,
which began in the spring of 2011 as a local civil confrontation and gradually developed
into an uprising against the regime of Bashar al-Assad, which over time involved not only
the main states of the region, but also international organizations, military and political
groups and world powers.

3.

The participants in the conflict
Syrian Arab Armed Forces
Kurdish regionalists
The Syrian opposition
Free Syrian Army
Terrorists

4.

The reasons of the conflict
Anti-government protests that began in March 2011 in the wake of the "Arab
Spring" led to mass riots in various cities of Syria, and in the summer of the same
year turned into a full-scale armed conflict. The main demands of the opposition
included the resignation of President Bashar al-Assad, the abolition of the state of
emergency that had been in force since 1962, and the implementation of democratic
reforms in the country.

5.

• Initially, the fighting was conducted between the
government army and the formations of the "Free
Syrian Army" (FSA). The Syrian National Council
(SNC) became the main organization of the Syrian
opposition.
• However, later in the ranks of the opposition there
was a split — the first of its members were Kurdish
organizations that formed their own authorities on
the territory of Syrian Kurdistan (the Supreme
Kurdish Council), and in 2013 the most radical
Islamist groups formed the “Islamic Front”.
The Syrian National Council

6.

Various Islamist groups began to play a leading role in the confrontation
with government forces, among which the most combat-ready were the
terrorist organizations al-Nusra Front (the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda)
and the Islaal-Nusra Front mic State (IS).
Al-Qaeda
Al-Nusra Front

7.

• The rapid advance of ISIS and the terrorist
seizure of large areas of Syria and Iraq in the
summer of 2014 became an occasion to start
military intervention, the U.S.
• On 30 September 2015 by arrangement with
President Bashar al-Assad a military
operation in Syria began to Air and space
forces of the Russian Federation, acting in
close coordination with government forces.
In October 2015, with the support of the
international coalition in Syria, led by the
United States, the Syrian Democratic Forces
military alliance was formed to fight the
"Islamic State", the core of which was the
Kurdish self-defense units.

8.

The main event of 2016 was the success of government
forces and their allies in the battle for Aleppo.

9.

2017 brought radical changes in the situation in Syria. The main result of
the year was the defeat of the Islamic State group, which in 2015
controlled vast territories in Syria, as well as in Iraq. The defeat of the IG
allowed Russia to announce at the end of 2017 the curtailment of the
operation of the Russian aerospace forces.

10.

In early 2018, the Turkish Armed Forces, together with detachments of the
so-called Syrian National Army trained on Turkish territory, conducted a
military operation "Olive Branch", as a result of which the city of Afrin and
the surrounding area came under their control by mid-March.

11.

• In October 2019, as a result of another invasion of
the Turkish army in northern Syria, by agreement
with the Autonomous Administration of NorthEastern Syria, Syrian government troops were
introduced into the territories controlled by the
Kurds, which reached the Syrian-Turkish border.
• Kurdish self-defense units were withdrawn
beyond the 30-kilometer zone from the border.
Security in this area is maintained by the Russian
military police, who patrol the area together with
the Turkish army.

12.

As of March 31, 2020, the Syrian
armed forces controlled 63.57% of the
country's territory, the SDF-25.57 %,
rebel groups (including HTS) &
Turkey — 9.72 %; IG-1.14 %.

13.

Thank you for attention!