Syrians react while searching for survivors in rubble following an airstrike in Azaz, near the northern city of Aleppo. AFP
Syrians react while searching for survivors in rubble following an airstrike in Azaz, near the northern city of Aleppo. AFP

2012 - The Syrian civil war

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Updated 19 April 2025
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2012 - The Syrian civil war

2012 - The Syrian civil war
  • The hopes and promises of the Arab Spring ignited a bloody, 14-year conflict in the country

DUBAI: On March 15, 2011, the tidal wave of the Arab Spring, which originated in Tunisia three months earlier, finally engulfed Syria. 

The immediate trigger for the mass protests that broke out in Damascus and Aleppo was the arrest and torture of a group of teenagers who had scrawled the words “Your turn has come, doctor” in red paint on a wall in the southern city of Daraa. 

The “doctor” was Bashar Assad, who became president of Syria in 2000, succeeding his father, Hafez, an army officer who had seized power in 1970. His “turn” was a reference to the toppling of presidential counterparts in Tunisia, Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, and Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, in January and February respectively. 

The graffiti was an expression of the growing anger among Syrians at a dynastic regime wreathed in corruption and bolstered by a ruthless security apparatus. 

How we wrote it




Arab News highlighted the call from “Syria’s neighbors” to Assad, demanding he “stop the bloodshed” and protect civilians.

As the protests escalated, with “day of rage” demonstrations spreading to several cities, the regime reacted instinctively: with violence. On March 18, the army fired on protesters in Daraa, a city close to the border with Jordan, who were demanding the release of the teenagers who had painted the slogan on a wall of their school. 

Four people were shot dead that day. Syria’s descent into civil war had begun. 

At this point there was an opportunity for Assad to change course and, perhaps, spare his country the 11 years of bloody conflict that lay ahead. By the end of March, more protesters had been killed. But after Assad sacked his cabinet, and as he prepared to address parliament on March 30, his first public statement since the protests began, he was widely expected to offer some concessions. 

Instead, he doubled down on repression. There would be no immediate reforms, no crackdown on corruption, and he ruled out the anticipated lifting of hated emergency laws, in place since 1963, that gave the security forces carte blanche to crush dissent in any way they saw fit. 

Instead, to orchestrated applause, Assad accused “conspirators” and “outside forces,” including Israel, of stirring up trouble in Syria and causing the protests. There was no apology for the deaths of protesters. 

 

Key Dates

  • 1

    Bashar Assad becomes president of Syria, succeeding his father, Hafez, an army officer who seized power in 1970.

    Timeline Image July 17, 2000

  • 2

    After the presidents of Tunisia and Egypt are toppled during the Arab Spring uprisings, protests against the government break out in Syria. The regime responds with extreme violence.

    Timeline Image March 2011

  • 3

    Officers begin to defect from Assad’s forces and form the Free Syrian Army.

    Timeline Image June 10, 2011

  • 4

    UN’s head of peacekeeping operations says fighting in Syria has escalated to the point of civil war.

    Timeline Image June 12, 2012

  • 5

    Assad’s forces use chemical weapons in an attack on the opposition-held area of Ghouta, near Damascus. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the death toll exceeds 500.

    Timeline Image Aug. 21, 2013

  • 6

    Russia intervenes in Syria, shifting the conflict in favor of Assad.

    Timeline Image Sept. 30, 2015

  • 7

    Following a swift offensive by HTS rebels, Damascus falls and Assad flees the country.

    Timeline Image Dec. 8, 2024

The protests escalated dramatically in the three months following the speech. Demonstrations took place in several cities, and tens of thousands of people took to the streets in coordinated protests across the country on July 1. Hundreds were killed or detained by the army. 

Perhaps the single moment at which mass protests escalated to the point of civil war came on June 10, 2011, when an officer in the Syrian army released a video announcing his defection, along with 150 of his men. Giving his name, rank and position, Lt. Col. Hussein Harmoush urged other members of the regime’s military forces to follow suit. 

“Our mission,” he said in the video, “is to protect unarmed protesters who are asking for freedom and democracy. We took an oath to stand in the face of our enemies, not our unarmed people.” 

Harmoush would pay for the stand he took with his life. Along with members of his family, he sought sanctuary in a Turkish refugee camp shortly after defecting, but on Aug. 29 he was abducted and later paraded on Syrian television. He was never seen again and is thought to have been executed. 

Nonetheless, other military leaders did indeed follow his example. On July 31, one of them, an air force officer, Col. Riad Asaad, announced the formation of the Free Syrian Army, which would become one of the most prominent Syrian opposition forces.

Assad had been president for 11 years when the civil war began. He would cling to power for another 11, bloody years, during which hundreds of thousands of Syrians were killed and half the population was displaced.




Syrian Zakia Abdullah sits on the rubble of her house in the Tariq al-Bab district of the northern city of Aleppo on February 23, 2013. AFP

Throughout it all — the regime’s shocking use of chemical weapons against its own people, the growing influence of extremist groups such as Al-Qaeda and Daesh, US-led coalition airstrikes, Russian military support for the regime, the sudden withdrawal of US troops from northeastern Syria, the sanctions-hit regime’s embrace of the drug Captagon as a source of revenue — it seemed that Assad would continue to weather the storm. 

When the end finally came in December 2024, following a major opposition offensive led by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, a coalition of several armed groups that was formed in 2017, it was as sudden and unexpected as it was welcomed by millions of Syrians.

  • Nadia Al Faour is a regional correspondent for Arab News. She previously contributed to international publications including The Guardian and USA Today. 


Russia and Ukraine report attacks despite Moscow-declared truce as Kyiv ratifies minerals deal

Russia and Ukraine report attacks despite Moscow-declared truce as Kyiv ratifies minerals deal
Updated 7 min 41 sec ago
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Russia and Ukraine report attacks despite Moscow-declared truce as Kyiv ratifies minerals deal

Russia and Ukraine report attacks despite Moscow-declared truce as Kyiv ratifies minerals deal
Russian bombs meanwhile struck northeast Ukraine in the opening hours of Moscow’s unilateral ceasefire
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha accused Russia of violating its own ceasefire 734 times between midnight and midday Thursday

KYIV: Russia and Ukraine both reported attacks on their forces on the first day of a 72-hour ceasefire called by Russian President Vladimir Putin, while Ukraine’s parliament unanimously approved a landmark minerals deal with the US.
The ratification is a key step in setting the deal in motion. It would allow Washington access to Ukraine’s largely untapped minerals, deepen strategic ties and create a joint investment fund with the US for the reconstruction of Ukraine.
Parliament approved the agreement with 338 members voting in favor out of the required 226 votes, Ukrainian lawmaker Yaroslav Zheleznyak wrote on his Telegram account. No lawmaker voted against it or abstained.
“This document is not merely a legal construct, it is the foundation of a new model of interaction with a key strategic partner,” Ukrainian Economy Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko wrote on X.
Russian bombs meanwhile struck northeast Ukraine in the opening hours of Moscow’s unilateral ceasefire, killing at least one civilian, Ukrainian officials said. Artillery assaults took place across the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, although with less intensity than in the previous 24 hours, officials said.
The ceasefire coincides with Russia’s biggest secular holiday, the 80th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany. Kyiv has pressed for a longer-term ceasefire.
Putin on Thursday welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping in the Kremlin. Xi, who Putin earlier described as “our main guest” at Friday’s Victory Day festivities, arrived in Russia on Wednesday for a four-day visit.
Both sides list attacks since the Moscow-declared truce
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha accused Russia of violating its own ceasefire 734 times between midnight and midday Thursday. He called the ceasefire a “farce” on the social media platform X.
He said Russia carried out 63 assault operations along the front line, 23 of which were still ongoing as of midday. Ukraine “responds appropriately” and is actively sharing information about the attacks with the U.S, the European Union and others. “We will not let Putin fool anyone when he does not even keep his own word,” Sybiha said.
Russian attacks also took place near Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region on Thursday morning, a press officer of Ukraine’s 24th Mechanized Brigade, Oleh Petrasiuk, told The Associated Press via phone.
One person died and two were wounded when Russian forces dropped guided air bombs on residential areas near the border in the northeast Sumy region, the regional prosecutor’s office said.
Large-scale missile and drone attacks, which have been a near-daily occurrence in Ukraine in recent weeks, were not recorded since 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Ukraine’s air force said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had previously cast doubt on the ceasefire, calling it “manipulation” as US-led peace efforts stalled. “For some reason, everyone is supposed to wait until May 8 before ceasing fire — just to provide Putin with silence for his parade,” Zelensky said.
In March, the United States proposed a 30-day truce in the war, which Ukraine accepted, but the Kremlin has held out for ceasefire terms more to its liking.
Russia’s Defense Ministry meanwhile accused Ukrainian forces of attacking its positions and said its forces would continue to “mirror” Ukraine’s actions during the Kremlin’s ceasefire.
The regions of Belgorod, Lipetsk, Orenburg, Ryazan and Tambov came under a drone threat alert overnight, but there were no reports of any drones being shot down or intercepted. Russia’s civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia also briefly imposed restrictions on flights to and from the airport in Nizhny Novgorod.
Putin praises relations with Xi
In welcoming Xi, Putin said that “the brotherhood of arms between our peoples, which developed during the harsh war years, is one of the fundamental foundations of modern Russian-Chinese relations of comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation.”
He added that Moscow and Beijing were developing ties “for the benefit of the peoples of both countries and not against anyone.”
Xi, in turn, said that “history and reality have fully proved that the continuous development and deepening of China-Russia relations is a necessity for the friendship between the two peoples from generation to generation.” He also called for safeguarding “international fairness and justice.”
Putin and Xi have met over 40 times and developed strong personal ties that bolstered the countries’ “strategic partnership” as both face tensions with the West.
China has offered robust diplomatic support to Moscow after its 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine and has emerged as a top market for Russian oil and gas, helping fill the Kremlin’s war coffers. Russia has relied on China as the main source of machinery and electronics to keep its military machine running after Western sanctions curtailed high-tech supplies.

King Charles leads UK service to mark end of WWII

Britain’s King Charles III and Queen Camilla arrive to attend a Service of Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey on V-E Day.
Britain’s King Charles III and Queen Camilla arrive to attend a Service of Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey on V-E Day.
Updated 21 min 14 sec ago
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King Charles leads UK service to mark end of WWII

Britain’s King Charles III and Queen Camilla arrive to attend a Service of Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey on V-E Day.
  • Eighty years ago on May 8, 1945, central London was thronged with huge crowds celebrating the end of the war
  • In a radio address to the nation Churchill announced that the day would be “Victory in Europe Day”

LONDON: King Charles III on Thursday joined veterans and other members of the royal family at London’s Westminster Abbey for a service to mark 80 years since the end of World War II.
Arriving at the abbey, Charles and his eldest son Prince William laid wreaths at the church’s tomb of the unknown warrior.
The King’s message on the wreath read simply: “We will never forget” and was signed Charles R.
William’s message, which was signed “William” and “Catherine,” added: “For those who made the ultimate sacrifice during the Second World War. We will remember them.”
This year’s commemorations have had an extra poignancy due to the great age of the dwindling numbers of surviving veterans.
War-time prime minister Winston Churchill’s 10-year-old great-great-grandson Alexander lit a candle of peace during the service, which was preceded by a nationwide two-minute silence.
“It feels really amazing that I can represent my family and also the younger generation to know and remember everyone involved in World War II,” the younger Churchill said.
Other younger members of the congregation handed out white roses to veterans.
Charles, who is undergoing treatment for an unspecified cancer, was also accompanied by Queen Camilla, William’s wife Princess Catherine, also known as Kate, and other senior members of the royal family.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer and other politicians and dignitaries also attended.
Eighty years ago on May 8, 1945, central London was thronged with huge crowds celebrating the end of the war.
In a radio address to the nation Churchill announced that the day would be “Victory in Europe Day.”
He added: “We may allow ourselves a brief period of rejoicing,” despite the conflict with Japan not yet having ended.
Later that day the crowds even included the late Queen Elizabeth II, then a 19-year-old princess, and her younger sister Margaret, who were allowed to leave Buckingham Palace and join the jubilant crowds incognito.
The Westminster Abbey service featured a rendition of the favorite 1940s song “The White Cliffs of Dover,” readings of wartime letters to loved ones, and an excerpt of Churchill’s 1945 victory speech.
Before leaving, Charles and other members of the royal family spent time chatting to veterans and their families, some of whom are now over 100 years of age.
Kate and Camilla then led other royals in laying flowers at the Innocent Victims’ Memorial in tribute to all victims of war and oppression.
This year’s anniversary events will be the last major commemoration for which “anyone will still be alive who actually served in the Second World War,” monarchy specialist Robert Hazell of University College London told AFP earlier.
The four-day celebration which began on Monday was set to wrap up later Thursday with a concert at London’s Horse Guards Parade, with pubs allowed to stay open two hours later than usual.


PSX sees largest single-day decline in its history on escalation in India-Pakistan conflict

PSX sees largest single-day decline in its history on escalation in India-Pakistan conflict
Updated 24 min 38 sec ago
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PSX sees largest single-day decline in its history on escalation in India-Pakistan conflict

PSX sees largest single-day decline in its history on escalation in India-Pakistan conflict
  • Record-breaking 6,482-point plunge on Thursday stunned Pakistan Stock Exchange, which closed at 103,527
  • Market crash followed as army said it had neutralized 25 drones launched by India, with four troopers injured

KARACHI: A record-breaking 6,482-point plunge on Thursday stunned the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), marking the largest single-day decline in the index’s history as investors feared escalation amid an ongoing standoff between India and Pakistan.

The bloodbath comes as Pakistan and India indulged in the worst fighting between them in decades this week, with India striking multiple locations in Pakistan on Wednesday after a deadly April 22 attack targeting tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir that New Delhi blames on its neighbor. 

Pakistan, which denies any link to the Kashmir violence, said it had shot down five Indian fighter jets in retaliation. Thursday brought more violence as Pakistan said it had downed 25 drones from India overnight and New Delhi said it “neutralized” Pakistani attempts to strike military targets with drones and missiles.

“The market crash followed alarming geopolitical developments after ISPR Director General Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry announced that Pakistani forces had neutralized 25 drones sent by India,” Topline Securities said in its daily market review.

“He also confirmed that four army personnel were injured after one drone managed to partially strike a military target, despite the majority being intercepted.”

The statement sent shockwaves through financial markets, triggering widespread panic selling as investors rushed to offload positions, leading to a broad-based decline across sectors.

Pakistan’s benchmark KSE-100 Index started the day with a 1.7 percent rally but turned bearish and slumped as much as eight percent after reports of India’s drone strikes triggered panic selling at the bourse.

The stock gauge, bullish otherwise, ended the day with a 5.89 percent decline to 103,526, according to PSX data. 

The selling pressure came largely from leveraged investors, Shahid Ali Habib, the chief executive officer at Arif Habib Ltd., told Arab News.

“Pakistan’s stocks are under pressure as it now seems that Pakistan will also go on to respond [to India] and that response will also escalate further,” he said. 

“It’s not going to end actually soon and the escalation is happening.”

However, Habib said he expected a “sharp rebound” for Pakistan’s stocks once a third party like the US or longtime ally China mediated and defused the conflict.

The renewed geopolitical tension has caused Pakistan’s market to fall about 12 percent from April 23 to May 8.

The latest conflict with India is a setback for Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s effort to revive the country’s debt-ridden economy through increasing revenues and exports with the help of an International Monetary Fund’s $7 billion reforms-oriented loan program.


Cardinals vote in the Vatican for a second day to elect a new pope

Cardinals vote in the Vatican for a second day to elect a new pope
Updated 24 min 15 sec ago
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Cardinals vote in the Vatican for a second day to elect a new pope

Cardinals vote in the Vatican for a second day to elect a new pope
  • The 133 cardinals had resumed voting in the morning
  • The cardinals have been sworn to secrecy in the centuries-old ritual

VATICAN CITY: Black smoke again billowed out of the Sistine Chapel on Thursday, the second day of the conclave, indicating that no new pontiff has been chosen after the second or third ballots. There are still two more votes possible later in the day.
The 133 cardinals had resumed voting in the morning, after spending the night sequestered at the Vatican residences. On Wednesday evening, black smoke poured out of the Sistine Chapel chimney indicating no pope was elected on the first ballot of the conclave.
The cardinals have been sworn to secrecy in the centuries-old ritual to elect a new leader of the 1.4 billion-member Catholic Church. To become pope, a cardinal needs a two-thirds majority, or 89 votes. This conclave is the most geographically diverse conclave in the faith’s 2,000-year history.
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the dean of the College of Cardinals, expressed hope that a new pope would be elected within hours, according to reports in major Italian newspapers.
“I hope that when I return to Rome this evening, I’ll find the white smoke already rising,” he said, speaking from the city of Pompei on Thursday.
Re is 91 years old, which makes him too old to participate in the conclave of 133 cardinals who are electing the next pope and who all have to be under 80.
However, he has been prominent and delivered a Mass on Wednesday before the cardinals began their conclave.
As the Mass ended he was caught on a hot mic saying to Cardinal Pietro Parolin, viewed as a favorite for the papacy: “auguri doppi” (“double best wishes”)


Released Palestinian student to help launch immigrant legal aid initiative in Vermont

Released Palestinian student to help launch immigrant legal aid initiative in Vermont
Updated 37 min 18 sec ago
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Released Palestinian student to help launch immigrant legal aid initiative in Vermont

Released Palestinian student to help launch immigrant legal aid initiative in Vermont
  • Mohsen Mahdawi, 34, who led protests against Israel’s war in Gaza at Columbia University, spent 16 days in a state prison
  • “We will not fear anyone because our fight is a fight for love, a fight for democracy, a fight for humanity,” Mahdawi told supporters

VERMONT: A Palestinian student arrested during an interview about finalizing his US citizenship is helping to launch an initiative to help other immigrants facing deportation in Vermont on Thursday, a week after a federal judge freed him from custody.
Mohsen Mahdawi, 34, who led protests against Israel’s war in Gaza at Columbia University, spent 16 days in a state prison before a judge ordered him released on April 30. The Trump administration has said Mahdawi should be deported because his activism threatens its foreign policy goals, but the judge ruled that he has raised a “substantial claim” that the government arrested him to stifle speech with which it disagrees.
Immigration authorities have detained college students from around the country since the first days of the Trump administration. Many of them participated in campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war, which has killed more than 52,000 Palestinians. Mahdawi was among the first to win his freedom after challenging his arrest.
“Justice is inevitable. We will not fear anyone because our fight is a fight for love, a fight for democracy, a fight for humanity,” Mahdawi told supporters outside the courthouse last week.
He will join Vermont State Treasurer Mike Pieciak, Senate Majority Leader Kesha Ram Hinsdale and community advocates at the Statehouse to announce the Vermont Immigration Legal Defense Fund. The group, which also includes lawyers and philanthropists, says the goal is to improve access to legal advice for immigrants and build long-term infrastructure within the justice system as it pertains to immigration law.
Members of Vermont’s congressional delegation have spoken up on Mahdawi’s behalf, as have state politicians. Vermont’s House and Senate passed resolutions condemning the circumstances of his detention and advocating for his release and due process rights.
Republican Gov. Phil Scott has said there is no justification for the manner in which Mahdawi was arrested, at an immigration office in Colchester.
“Law enforcement officers in this country should not operate in the shadows or hide behind masks,” the governor said the next day. “The power of the executive branch of the federal government is immense, but it is not infinite, and it is not absolute.”
Mahdawi, a legal permanent resident, was born in a refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and moved to the United States in 2014. At Columbia, he organized campus protests and co-founded the Palestinian Student Union with Mahmoud Khalil, another Palestinian permanent resident of the US and graduate student who was arrested in March.
His release, which is being challenged by the government, allows him to travel outside of his home state of Vermont and attend his graduation from Columbia in New York later this month.