Syrian civil war

http://www.all-keyboard.com/,http://www.laptopfan-shop.com/,http://www.laptop-fan-shop.com/ The Syrian civil war,^[61] also referred to as the Syrian uprising,^[62] is an ongoing armed conflict in Syriabetween forces loyal to the Ba'ath Party government and those seeking to oust it. The conflict began on 15 March 2011 with nationwide demonstrations as part of the wider protest movement known as the Arab Spring. Sony VAIO PCG-3B1M Battery Protesters demanded the resignation of President Bashar al-Assad, as well as the end to nearly five decades of secularBa'ath Party rule. In April 2011, the Syrian Army was deployed to quell the uprising, and soldiers were ordered to open fire on civilians in demonstrations accused of harbouring armed activists. Sony VAIO PCG-3C1T Battery After months of military sieges, the protests evolved into an armed rebellion. Opposition forces, mainly composed of defected soldiers and civilian volunteers, became increasingly armed and organized as they unified into larger groups, with some groups receiving military aid from several foreign countries. Sony VAIO PCG-3D1M Battery However, the rebels remained fractured, without organized leadership. The Syrian government characterizes the insurgency as an uprising of "armed terrorist groups and foreignmercenaries".^[63] The conflict has no clear fronts, with clashes taking place in many towns and cities across the country. Sony VAIO PCG-3G2M Battery The Arab League, United States, European Union, Arab Gulf States and other countries have condemned the use of violence against the protesters. China and the Russia have opposed attempts to agree to a UN resolution condemning president Bashar al-Assad's actions, and advised against sanctions, saying that such methods could escalate into a foreign military intervention. Sony VAIO PCG-5R1M Battery The Arab League suspended Syria's membership because of the government's response to the crisis, 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 was made through the appointment of Kofi Annan as a special envoy. Sony VAIO PCG-7141M Battery 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 applyinginternational humanitarian law under the Geneva Conventions to Syria. According to various sources, between 40,000 and 54,485 people have been killed, of which about half were civilians, Sony VAIO PCG-7143M Battery but also including 21,000–22,535 armed combatants consisting of both the Syrian Army and rebel forces, up to 2,250 opposition protesters and 1,000 government officials.^[46] By October 2012, up to 28,000 people had been reported missing, including civilians forcibly abducted by government troops or security forces. Sony VAIO PCG-7151M Battery According to the UN, about 1.2 million Syrians have been displaced within the country.^[59]To escape the violence, hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees have fled to neighboring countries. In addition, tens of thousands of protesters have been imprisoned, and there have been reports of widespread torture and psychological terror in state prisons. Sony VAIO PCG-7154M Battery International organizations have accused the government and Shabihaof severe human rights violations.^[69] Anti-government armed rebels have been accused of human rights abuses as well.^[70] The majority of abuses have, however, been committed by the Syrian government's forces. The Ba'ath Party government came to power in 1963 after a successful coup d'état. Sony VAIO PCG-7162M Battery In 1966, another coup overthrew the traditional leaders of the party, Michel Aflaq and Salah al-Din al-Bitar.^[72] In 1970, the Defense MinisterHafez al-Assad seized power and declared himself President, a position he would hold until his death in 2000. Since then, the secular Ba'ath Party has remained the dominant political authority in a virtual one-party state in Syria, Sony VAIO PCG-7181M Battery and Syrian citizens may only approve the President by referendum and – until the government-controlled multi-party 2012 parliamentary election – could not vote in multi-party elections for the legislature. In1982, at the height of a six-year Islamist armed insurgency throughout the country, Sony VAIO PCG-41112M Battery Hafez al-Assad conducted ascorched earth policy against Islamist-held quarters inside the town of Hama to quell an uprising by the SunniIslamist community, including the Muslim Brotherhood, Salafists and others.This ruthless crackdown became known as the Hama massacre, which left tens of thousands – both armed insurgents and civilians – dead, although estimates of the death toll still vary. Sony VAIO PCG-7153M Battery The issue of president Hafez al-Assad's succession prompted the 1999 Latakia protests,^[76] when violent protests and armed clashes erupted following the 1998 Syrian People's Assembly elections. The violent events were an explosion of a long-running feud between Hafez al-Assad and his influential younger brother Rifaat. Sony VAIO PCG-71312M Battery Two people were killed in fire exchanges between Syrian police and Rifaat's supporters during a police crackdown on Rifaat's port compound in Latakia. According to opposition sources, denied by the government, the protests resulted in hundreds dead and injured.^[77] Hafez al-Assad died one year later, from pulmonary fibrosis. Sony VAIO PCG-7144M Battery He was succeeded by his son Bashar al-Assad, who was appointed after a constitutional amendment lowered the age requirement for President from 40 to his age of 34.^[73] Bashar al-Assad, who speaks English fluently and whose wife is a British-born and British-educated Sunni Muslim,initially inspired hopes for democratic and state reforms; Sony VAIO PCG-7191L Battery a "Damascus Spring" of intense social and political debate took place from July 2000 to August 2001.^[79] The period was characterized by the emergence of numerous political forums or salons where groups of like minded people met in private houses to debate political and social issues. Sony VAIO PCG-3C1M Battery Political activists such as Riad Seif, Haitham al-Maleh, Kamal al-Labwani, Riyad al-Turk andAref Dalila were important in mobilizing the movement.^[80] The most famous of the forums were the Riad Seif Forumand the Jamal al-Atassi Forum. The Damascus Spring ended in August 2001 with the arrest and imprisonment of ten leading activists who had called for democratic elections and for a campaign of civil disobedience. Sony VAIO PCG-3F1M Battery Opposition renewed in October 2005 when Christian Syrian activist Michel Kilo collaborated with other leading opposition figures to launch the Damascus Declaration, which criticized the Syrian government as "authoritarian,totalitarian and cliquish" and called for democratic reforms. Sony VAIO PCG-3H1M Battery Ottoman Syria was turned into the short-lived Arab Kingdom of Syria in 1920, which was however soon committed under French Mandate. From 1938 known as a Republic, Syria gained independence in 1946, entering the Arab-Israeli War in 1948, and remaining in a state of political instability during the 1950s and 1960s. Sony VAIO PCG-3J1M Battery In a coup of 1970, Hafez al-Assad and his Baath Party took power. Syria was ruled autocratically by Assad during 1970–2000, and after Hafez al-Assad's death in 2000, he was succeeded by his son Bashar al-Assad. In the context of the Arab Spring of 2011, Bashar al-Assad's government faces the ongoing Syrian civil war. Sony VAIO PCG-8141M Battery Following the San Remo conference and the defeat of King Faisal's short-lived monarchy in Syria at theBattle of Maysalun, the French general Henri Gouraud established civil administration in the territory. The mandate region was subdivided into six states. Sony VAIO PCG-8161M Battery They were the states of Damascus (1920), Aleppo (1920),Alawites (1920), Jabal Druze (1921), the autonomous Sanjak of Alexandretta (1921) (modern-day Hatay), and the State of Greater Lebanon (1920) which became later the modern country of Lebanon. The drawing of those states was based in part on the sectarian make up on the ground in Syria. Sony VAIO PCG-3C2M Battery However, nearly all the Syrian sects were hostile to the French mandate and to the division it created. This was best demonstrated by the numerous revolts that the French encountered in all of the Syrian states. Maronite Christians of Mount Lebanon, on the other hand, were a community with a dream of independence that was being realized under the French; therefore, Greater Lebanon was the exception to the newly formed states. Sony VAIO PCG-5N2M Battery In July 1922, France established a loose federation between three of the states: Damascus, Aleppo, and the Alawite under the name of the Syrian Federation (Fédération syrienne). Jabal Druze, Sanjak of Alexandretta, and Greater Lebanon were not parts of this federation, which adopted a new federal flag (green-white-green with French canton). Sony VAIO PCG-5P1M Battery On 1 December 1924, the Alawite state seceded from the federation when the states of Aleppo and Damascus were united into the State of Syria. In 1925, a revolt in Jabal Druze led by Sultan Pasha el Atrash spread to other Syrian states and became a general rebellion in Syria. Sony VAIO PCG-5S1M Battery France tried to retaliate by having the parliament of Aleppo declare secession from the union with Damascus, but the voting was foiled by Syrian patriots. On 14 May 1930, the State of Syria was declared the Republic of Syria and a new constitution was drafted. Two years later, in 1932, a new flag for the republic was adopted. Sony VAIO PCG-9Z1M Battery The flag carried three red stars that represented the three districts of the republic (Damascus, Aleppo, and Deir ez Zor). In 1936, the Franco-Syrian Treaty of Independence was signed, a treaty that would not be ratified by the French legislature. Sony VAIO PCG-7171M Battery However, the treaty allowed Jabal Druze, the Alawite (now called Latakia), and Alexandretta to be incorporated into the Syrian republic within the following two years. Greater Lebanon (now the Lebanese Republic) was the only state that did not join the Syrian Republic. Hashim al-Atassi, who was Prime Minister under King Faisal's brief reign (1918–1920), Sony VAIO PCG-7186M Battery was the first president to be elected under a new constitution adopted after the independence treaty.In September 1938, France again separated the Syrian district of Alexandretta and transformed it into the Republic of Hatay. The Republic of Hatay joined Turkey in the following year, in June 1939. Sony VAIO PCG-81112M Battery Syria did not recognize the incorporation of Hatay into Turkey and the issue is still disputed until the present time. With the fall of France in 1940 during World War II, Syria came under the control of the Vichy Government until the British and Free French invaded and occupied the country in July 1941. Sony VAIO PCG-31311M Battery Syria proclaimed its independence again in 1941 but it wasn't until 1 January 1944, that it was recognized as an independent republic. In the 1940s, Britain secretly advocated the creation of a Greater Syrian state that would secure Britain preferential status in military, economic and cultural matters, in return for putting a complete halt to Jewish ambition in Palestine. Sony VAIO PCG-8152M Battery France and the United states opposed British hegemony in the region, which eventually led to the creation of Israel.^[1] On 27 September 1941, France proclaimed, by virtue of, and within the framework of the Mandate, the independence and sovereignty of the Syrian State. Sony VAIO PCG-31111M Battery The proclamation said "the independence and sovereignty of Syria and Lebanon will not affect the juridical situation as it results from the Mandate Act. Indeed, this situation could be changed only with the agreement of the Council of the League of Nations, with the consent of the Government of the United States, Sony VAIO PCG-61111M Battery a signatory of the Franco-American Convention of 4 April 1924, and only after the conclusion between the French Government and the Syrian and Lebanese Governments of treaties duly ratified in accordance with the laws of the French Republic.^[2] Sony VAIO PCG-51112M Battery Benqt Broms said that it was important to note that there were several founding members of the United Nations whose statehood was doubtful at the time of the San Francisco Conference and that the Government of France still considered Syria and Lebanon to be mandates.^[3] Sony VAIO PCG-51211M Battery\ Duncan Hall said "Thus, the Syrian mandate may be said to have been terminated without any formal action on the part of the League or its successor. The mandate was terminated by the declaration of the mandatory power, and of the new states themselves, of their independence, followed by a process of piecemeal unconditional recognition by other powers, culminating in formal admission to the United Nations. Sony VAIO PCG-51212M Battery Article 78 of the Charter ended the status of tutelage for any member state: 'The trusteeship system shall not apply to territories which have become Members of the United Nations, relationship among which shall be based on respect for the principle of sovereign equality.'"^[4] On 29 May 1945, France bombed Damascus and tried to arrest its democratically elected leaders. Sony VAIO PCG-41111M Battery While French planes were bombing Damascus, Prime Minister Faris al-Khoury was at the founding conference of the United Nations in San Francisco, presenting Syria's claim for independence from the French Mandate. Continuing pressure from Syrian nationalist groups and British pressure forced the French to evacuate their last troops on 17 April 1946. Sony VAIO PCG-41111V Battery Syrian independence was acquired in 1946. Although rapid economic development followed the declaration of independence, Syrian politics from independence through the late 1960s was marked by upheaval. The early years of independence were marked by political instability. Sony VAIO PCG-61412V Battery In 1948, Syria was involved in the Arab-Israeli War with the newly created State of Israel. The Syrian army was pressed out of the Israeli areas, but fortified their strongholds on the Golan and managed to keep their old borders and occupy some additional territory. In July 1949, Syria was the last Arab country to sign an armistice agreement with Israel. Sony VAIO PCG-71112M Battery In 1949, Syria's national government was overthrown by a military coup d'état led by Hussni al-Zaimy thus ending democratic rule in a coup which, according to Joseph Massad, professor of Modern Arab Politics and Intellectual History at Columbia University, was sponsored by the United States CIAa conclusion in agreement with other with other historians such as Professor Douglas Little, and declassified records. Sony VAIO PCG-81111V Battery The coup and that "CIA agents Miles Copeland and Stephen Meade..were directly involved in the coup" are described by Professor Irene Gendzier^[8] Later that year Zaim was overthrown by his colleague Sami al-Hinnawi. A few months later, Hinnawi was overthrown by ColonelAdib al-Shishakli. The latter undermined civilian rule and led to Shishakli's complete seizure of power in 1951. Sony VAIO PCG-81111V Battery Shishakli continued to rule the country until 1954, when growing public opposition forced him to resign and leave the country. The national government was restored, but again to face instability, this time coming from abroad. After the overthrow of President Shishakli in a 1954 coup, continued political maneuvering supported by competing factions in the military eventually brought Arab nationalist and socialist elements to power. Sony VAIO PCG-81212M Battery Between 1946 and 1956, Syria had 20 different cabinets and drafted four separate constitutions.During the Suez Crisis of 1956, after the invasion of the Sinai Peninsula by Israeli troops, and the intervention of British and French troops, martial law was declared in Syria. Later Syrian and Iraqi troops were brought into Jordan to prevent a possible Israeli invasion. Sony VAIO PCG-81212V Battery The November 1956 attacks on Iraqi pipelines were in retaliation for Iraq's acceptance into the Baghdad Pact. In early 1957 Iraq advised Egypt and Syria against a conceivable takeover of Jordan. In November 1956 Syria signed a pact with the Soviet Union, Sony VAIO PCG-51111M Battery providing a foothold for Communist influence within the government in exchange for planes, tanks, and other military equipment being sent to Syria. This increase in the strength of Syrian military technology worried Turkey, as it seemed feasible that Syria might attempt to retake Iskenderon, a formerly Syrian city now in Turkey. Sony VAIO VPCS13X9E/B battery On the other hand, Syria and the USSR accused Turkey of massing its troops at the Syrian border. During this standoff, Communists gained more control over the Syrian government and military. Only heated debates in the United Nations (of which Syria was an original member) lessened the threat of war. Sony VAIO VPCS12V9E/B battery Syria's political instability during the years after the 1954 coup, the parallelism of Syrian and Egyptian policies, and the appeal of Egyptian President Gamal Abdal Nasser's leadership in the wake of the Suez crisis created support in Syria for union with Egypt. On 1 February 1958, Sony VAIO VPCS12V9E/B battery Syrian president Shukri al-Kuwatliand Nasser announced the merging of the two countries, creating the United Arab Republic, and all Syrian political parties, as well as the Communists therein, ceased overt activities. The union was not a success, however. Following a military coup on 28 September 1961, Sony VAIO VPCF13M8E/B battery Syria seceded, reestablishing itself as the Syrian Arab Republic. Instability characterised the next 18 months, with various coups culminating on 8 March 1963, in the installation by leftist Syrian Army officers of the National Council of the Revolutionary Command (NCRC), a group of military and civilian officials who assumed control of all executive and legislative authority. Sony VAIO VPCF13Z0E/B battery The takeover was engineered by members of the Arab Socialist Resurrection Party (Ba'ath Party), which had been active in Syria and other Arab countries since the late 1940s. The new cabinet was dominated by Ba'ath members. The Ba'ath takeover in Syria followed a Ba'ath coup in Iraq, the previous month. Sony VAIO VPCM13M1E/L battery The new Syrian Government explored the possibility of federation with Egypt and with Ba'ath-controlled Iraq. An agreement was concluded in Cairo on 17 April 1963, for a referendum on unity to be held in September 1963. However, serious disagreements among the parties soon developed, and the tripartite federation failed to materialize. Sony VAIO VPCM13M1E/W battery Thereafter, the Ba'ath governments in Syria and Iraq began to work for bilateral unity. These plans foundered in November 1963, when the Ba'ath government in Iraq was overthrown. In May 1964, President Amin Hafiz of the NCRC promulgated a provisional constitution providing for a National Council of the Revolution (NCR), Sony VAIO VPCF22M1E battery an appointed legislature composed of representatives of mass organisations—labour, peasant, and professional unions—a presidential council, in which executive power was vested, and a cabinet. On 23 February 1966, a group of army officers carried out a successful, intra-party coup, imprisoned President Hafiz, dissolved the cabinet and the NCR, Sony VAIO VPCF11M1E/H battery abrogated the provisional constitution, and designated a regionalist, civilian Ba'ath government on 1 March. The coup leaders described it as a "rectification" of Ba'ath Party principles. In June 1967 Israel captured and occupied the Golan. The Six Day War had significantly weakened the radical socialist government established by the 1966 coup. Sony VAIO VPCF13M0E/B battery On 18 September 1970, during the events of Black September in Jordan, Syria tried to intervene on behalf of the Palestinian guerrillas. Hafez al-Assad sent in armored forces equivalent to a brigade, with tanks, some of them allegedly hastily rebranded from the regular Syrian army for the purpose. Sony VAIO VPCYB2M1E battery Other Syrian units were the 5th Infantry Division and Commandos. On 21 September, the Syrian 5th Division broke through the defenses of the Jordanian 40th Armoured Brigade, and pushed it back off the ar-Ramtha crossroads. On 22 September, the Royal Jordanian Air Force began attacking Syrian forces, which were badly battered as a result. Sony VAIO VPCYB3V1E battery The constant airstrikes broke the Syrian force, and on the late afternoon of 22 September the 5th Division began to retreat.^[9] The swift Syrian withdrawal was a severe blow to Palestinian guerillas. Jordanian armored forces steadily pounded their headquarters in Amman, and threatened to break them in other regions of the Kingdom as well. Sony VAIO VPCY11M1E battery Eventually, the Palestinian factions agreed to a cease-fire. King Hussein and Yasser Arafat attended the meeting of theArab League in Cairo, where the hostilities briefly ended. The Jordanian-Palestinian Civil War shortly resumed, but without Syrian intervention. Sony VAIO VPCS12L9E/B battery By 1970 a conflict had developed between an extremist military wing and a more moderate civilian wing of the Ba'ath Party. The 1970 retreat of Syrian forces sent to aid the PLO during the "Black September" hostilities with Jordan reflected this political disagreement within the ruling Ba'ath leadership. Sony VAIO VPCF11S1E/B battery On 13 November 1970, Minister of Defense Hafez al-Assad effected a bloodless military coup, ousting the civilian party leadership and assuming the role of President. Upon assuming power, Hafez al-Assad moved quickly to create an organizational infrastructure for his government and to consolidate control. Sony VAIO VPCYB3V1E/R Battery The Provisional Regional Command of Assad'sArab Baath Socialist Party nominated a 173-member legislature, the People's Council, in which the Baath Party took 87 seats. The remaining seats were divided among "popular organizations" and other minor parties. In March 1971, the party held its regional congress and elected a new 21-member Regional Command headed by Assad. Sony VAIO VPCF23P1E Battery In the same month, a national referendum was held to confirm Assad as President for a 7-year term. In March 1972, to broaden the base of his government, Assad formed the National Progressive Front, a coalition of parties led by the Baath Party, and elections were held to establish local councils in each of Syria's 14 governorates. Sony VAIO VPCF23N1E Battery In March 1973, a new Syrian constitution went into effect followed shortly thereafter by parliamentary elections for the People's Council, the first such elections since 1962. On 6 October 1973, Syria and Egypt began the Yom Kippur War (also called the "Ramadan War" or "October War" because Syria and Egypt attacked during Muslim Ramadan holiday) by staging a surprise attack against Israel. Sony VAIO VPCY21S1E/L Battery Despite the element of surprise, Egypt and Syria lost their initial gains in a three week long warfare, and Israel continued to occupy the Golan Heights and the Sinaipeninsula. In early 1976, the Lebanese Civil War was going poorly for the Maronite Christians, so the Lebanese President Elias Sarkis officially requested Syria intervene militarily. Sony VAIO VPCY21S1E/G battery After receiving their first mandate from Lebanese President, Syria was given a second mandate by the Arab League to intervene militarily in Lebanon. Syria sent 40,000 troops into the country to prevent the Christians from being overrun, but soon became embroiled in this war, beginning the 30 year Syrian presence in Lebanon. Sony VAIO VPCF24M1E battery Over the following 15 years of civil war, Syria fought both for control over Lebanon, and as an attempt to undermine Israel in southern Lebanon, through extensive use of Lebanese allies as proxy fighters. Many saw the Syrian Army's presence in Lebanon as an occupation, especially following the end of the civil war in 1990, after the Syrian-sponsored Taif Agreement. Sony VAIO VGN-AW110J/H Battery Syria then remained in Lebanon until 2005, exerting a heavy-handed influence over Lebanese politics, that was deeply resented by many. About one million Syrian workers came into Lebanon after the war ended to find jobs in the reconstruction of the country. Sony VAIO VGN-AW11M/H Battery Syrian workers were preferred overPalestinian Arabs and Lebanese workers because they could be paid lower wages, but some have argued that the Syrian government's encouragement of citizens entering its small and militarily dominated neighbor in search of work, was in fact an attempt at Syrian colonization of Lebanon. Sony VAIO VGN-AW11S/B Battery In 1994, under pressure from Damascus, the Lebanese government controversially granted citizenship to over 200,000 Syrians resident in the country. The authoritarian government was not without its critics, though most were quickly murdered. A serious challenge arose in the late 1970s, however, from fundamentalist Sunni Muslims, Sony VAIO VGN-AW11XU/Q Battery who reject the basic values of the secular Baath program and object to rule by the Alawis, whom they consider heretical. From 1976 until its suppression in 1982, the arch-conservative Muslim Brotherhood led an armed insurgency against the government. In response to an attempted uprising by the brotherhood in February 1982, Sony VAIO VGN-AW11Z/B Battery the government crushed the fundamentalist opposition centered in the city of Hama, leveling parts of the city with artillery fire and causing many thousands of dead and wounded. During the rest of Hafez al-Assad's reign, public manifestations of anti-government activity have been very limited. Sony VAIO VGN-AW120J/H Battery Syria's 1990 participation in the U.S.-led multinational coalition aligned against Saddam Hussein marked a dramatic watershed in Syria's relations both with other Arab states and with the Western world. Syria participated in the multilateral Middle East Peace Conference in Madrid in October 1991, and during the 1990s engaged in direct, face-to-face negotiations with Israel. Sony VAIO VGN-AW150Y/H Battery These negotiations failed, and there have been no further Syrian-Israeli talks since PresidentHafiz al-Assad's meeting with then President Bill Clinton in Geneva in March 2000. In what has become known as the 1999 Latakia incident,^[10] violent protests and armed clushes erupted following 1998 People's Assembly's Elections. Sony VAIO VGN-AW160J/Q Battery The violent events were an explosion of a long-running feud between Hafez al-Assad and his younger brother Rifaat,^[10] who previously attempted to initiate a coup against Hafez in 1984, but was eventually expelled from Syria. Two people were killed in fire exchanges of Syrian police and Rifaat's supporters during police crack-down on Rifaat's port compound in Latakia. Sony VAIO VGN-AW170Y/Q Battery According to opposition sources, denied by the government, the clashes in Latakia resulted in hundreds of dead and injured. Hafiz al-Assad died on 10 June 2000, after 30 years in power. Immediately following al-Assad's death, the Parliament amended the constitution, reducing the mandatory minimum age of the President from 40 to 34, Sony VAIO VGN-AW180Y/Q Battery which allowed his son, Bashar al-Assad, to become legally eligible for nomination by the ruling Baath party. On 10 July 2000, Bashar al-Assad was elected President by referendum in which he ran unopposed, garnering 97.29% of the vote, according to Syrian government statistics. Sony VAIO VGN-AW190JAH Battery