Syria

learn about what's happening in Syria & how to help
compiled by Syrians

Syria's Economic Crisis

80% of Syrians in Syria live in poverty. Many factors have contributed to Syria’s economic crisis, such as the Syrian regime’s devastation of many areas and infrastructure, rampant corruption, the Lebanese banking crisis, and the sanctions imposed by the US & the EU. While Syrians are standing in long lines just to purchase bread, the Assad family and their friends celebrate lavish parties, buy expensive cars, smuggle drugs and launch museums.

Recently, due to the huge crash of the Lebanese economy, the Syrian pound reached an all-time low, with 1 USD = 4,000 SYP. Prices continue increasing, while salaries decrease.
When asked about his plan for Syria’s economy, Assad said that “television channels should cancel cooking shows so as not to taunt Syrians with images of unattainable food.”

Introduction: Answering Common Questions

Who's Hafez Al Assad?
Hafez al-Assad was a Syrian politician who served as Syria’s president from 1971 until his death in 2000. Hafez seized power through a coup d’etat in 1970 under the guise of “reform.” Under the emergency rule established in 1963, Hafez was known for his cultish and dictatorial rule, torture prisons, and violence towards any opponent or critic. In February 1982, Hafez and his brother Rifa’at lead the massacre against Hama, in which 20,000-40,000 civilians were killed.

The Hama Massacre
The Hama Massacre 2
Tadmur Prison Massacre
Censorship & the silencing of Syrian intellectuals
On Torture in Sednaya

Who's Bashar Al Assad?
Bashar al-Assad is Syria’s current president. After his father’s death in 2000, the Ba’ath party quickly worked to amend the constitution, lowering the president’s minimum age from 40 to 34 in order to allow Bashar to assume power as quickly as possible. The beginning of his rule was met with hope of reform and change from Hafez’s rule, and a period of intense social and political debate known as the Damascus Spring ensued. However, it was all suppressed by the government and Bashar’s rule proved to be as cruel as Hafez.

Bashar inherited his father’s cruel torture prisons and secret police, the mukhabarat. In 2011, when the peaceful uprisings against Assad began, he responded with violence, shutting down protests with live ammunition, as well as detaining and torturing anyone who participated in demonstrations.

As the Syrian revolution intensified, Bashar’s response to any rebel activity was to bomb, shell, and even use chemical weapons in civilian areas indiscriminately.

Assad’s use of chemical weapons
Assad’s torture prisons
Assad's torture prisons 2
War crimes
The mass execution of 13,000 political prisoners in Sednaya prison between 2011-2016
More on war crimes.

What's "Assadist propaganda" or "an Assadist"?

An Assadist is any person who supports and upholds Assad’s rule. Assadists use Assadist propaganda to absolve Assad of his role in Syria’s war. Most Assadist propaganda can be debunked very, very easily.

Debunking Assadist rhetoric

What's the "Mukhabarat"?

The “mukhabarat” is Syria’s secret intelligence force. The mukhabarat have free reign to detain, torture and kill anyone they suspect is a threat to Assad’s rule. The mukhabarat is often used to scare Syrians into silence. Many Syrians in Syria would think that the mukhabarat have ears and microphones everywhere, even in the walls of Syrians’ houses.

Introduction: the Syrian Revolution

How did the Syrian Revolution start?

The Syrian revolution started in 2011. Young boys from the city of Dara’a, inspired by the Arab Spring, a movement in the Arab world against dictatorial leaders, sprayed “It’s your turn, doctor” on the walls of a school. “Doctor” referred to Bashar al-Assad, who was an ophthalmologist. The next day, the young boys were arrested by the mukhabarat, moved to the headquarters in Suweida where they would be subjected to all kinds of torture. When their families pleaded with Atef Najib, Bashar’s cousin and head of one of the branches of the mukhabarat, to return their children, he said: “Forget you have children, and if you want new children in their place, then send your wives over and we’ll impregnate them for you.” This was one of the sparks of the revolution, but the main cause was that Syrians had endured humiliation, injustice and cruelty for over forty years.

On March 12, Kurdish protestors in Qamishlo took to the streets in honor of the protests of March 12, 2004 where Ba’athist troops invaded Qamishlo and opened fire on Kurdish protestors. On March 15th, small protests broke out in Souk al Hamadiya in Damascus. On March 18th, thousands of community members took to the streets in Dara’a, fueled by the boys’ story. The chants heard were “hurriyeh!” (freedom) and “selmiyeh!” (peaceful). The rest of Syria, especially areas such as Homs, Hama, Idlib, and Aleppo joined in soon.

The Syrian regime responded with increasing violence, firing bullets on the peaceful protestors. Protests always ended in bloodshed, such as the April 18th Homs Clock Tower sit-in. Protestors, dissidents and activists were detained by the mukhabarat and subjected to all kinds of torture. Artists and activists of the revolution were in imminent danger, such as Ali Ferzat, a political cartoonist who had his hands broken by Assad’s thugs, and Ibrahim Qashoush, a singer who sang against al-Assad, who eventually was killed and had his throat torn out. Starting late April 2011, Bashar ordered the army to carry out military operations in several of the cities and towns that had risen up against him— Baniyas, Daraa, Douma, and Homs, among others.

Although the uprising’s initial demands were freedom, democracy and reform, as the regime continued to respond with violence, people began to demand the downfall of the regime. The uprising remained peaceful for eight months, despite the regime’s growing hostility. Eventually, forced to protect themselves and their towns, many officers in the Syrian army defected. Many civillains also took up arms to defend protests and neighbourhoods. The Free Syrian Army was formed, but due to lack of organization and proper leadership, the FSA began to deteriorate. Factions started fighting amongst themselves, subscribing to extremist views, and committing war crimes. It is important to recognize that the FSA, SNA and other armed & extremist factions do not and will never represent the Syrian revolution and the Syrian people. The Syrian revolution’s goal is to create a democratic, civil Syria where everyone is given equal rights and liberty. Anyone who goes against these principles is an enemy of the Syrian Revolution, whether it is the Assad regime and his allies, or so-called “opposition” factions.

Interactive Timeline of the Syrian Revolution
Twitter Thread: Timeline of the Syrian Revolution
Twitter Thread: the Syrian Revolution
Book: Assad or We Burn the Country by Sam Dagher
Book: The Impossible Revolution by Yassin al-Haj Saleh, a Syrian Leftist
Book: Burning Country

Debunking Assadist Rhetoric

"Assad is a communist, what's happening in Syria is just another US attempt to bring down a communist leader"

The notion that Assad is a communist is quite easily debunkable. First, Bashar’s cousin, Rami Makhlouf, controls about 65% of Syria’s economy through his private company SyriaTel. Second, it is important to recognize that throughout the Assads’ rule, communists and leftists are deemed enemies, often imprisoned and tortured.

Since the 1970’s Ba’athist neoliberal economic and agricultural policies included intensive irrigation, the Euprates Dam “modernization projects,” and other large scale hydroprojects which led to unsustainable water and agricultural practices that polluted and devastated rural working class farmworking families in Syria.

Syrian communists have been very active in the Syrian revolution and adamant in their position against the Assads and the Baath Party.

Read about Yassin al-Haj Saleh, a Syrian communist writer who spent time in Assad’s prisons
Learn more about the pro-revolution Syrian left
A Marxist Defense of the Syrian Revolution
How the US facilitated Assad's victory

"Assad is the protector of Palestine and fights against Zionism"

1976: Hafez al Assad supported the Lebanese Christian fascist Phalangists against the Lebanese Communist-PLO alliance that had formed in opposition to both Phalangist and Ba’athist tyranny. The Syrian military’s invasion of Lebanon in 1976 was approved by the US. However, the Lebanese Communist-PLO alliance wiped the floor with the Syrian occupation forces in June of that year. Two months later Hafez al Assad made an example out of such resistance. The Phalangists, backed by Hafez al Assad, committed a massacre of Palestinian people at the Tal al Zaatar refugee camp. With the blessing of the Arab League the Syrian government decided to ally itself with Israel to prevent the defeat of the Phalangists. They besieged the Palestinian camps of both Karantina and Tel al Zaatar with Syrian weaponry and 2,000 Palestinian people were slaughtered.

1980’s: As part of its vicious crackdown against leftist dissidents during the 1980’s, Hafez al Assad’s regime arrested hundreds of activists from both the Party for Communist Action and the Syrian Communist Party in an attempt to smother the last remaining voices of dissent after it had crushed the Muslim Brotherhood. It was the Syrian Communists who worked with a group of Palestinian dissidents called the Palestinian Popular Committee in the Yarmouk refugee camp in the Damascus governate. The Palestinian Popular Committee was founded in 1983 but was forced to dissolve two years later as a result of Hafez al Assad’s campaign of arrests. 200 members of the Party for Communist Action were arrested by the Syrian security forces in 1986.

2000: While Bashar al Assad was praising the second intifada, hundreds of Palestinians were languishing in his jails. Attiyeh Dhiab Attiyeh, a Palestinian in his early 30’s, died in Tadmur prison in early 2000 due to medical neglect. He was already very ill when he was transferred in Tadmur in 1996. Attieyeh was a member of Fatah, the faction led by Yasser Arafat, and had been arrested in 1989 in south Lebanon before being sent to Syria.

Fall 2012: The FSA set up a supply line through Yarmouk, and massive collective punishment at the hands of the regime ensued. Government security forces encircled Yarmouk. By October of 2012, the entrances to the camp were only open two or three days a week. The civilians bore the brunt of the violence; starvation, disease, and random shelling.

December 2012: Syrian regime warplanes bombed a mosque in Yarmouk that was housing internally displaced refugees. Dozens were killed. The excuse for this atrocity was that the FSA had hidden some weapons in the basement of the mosque.

Present day: Yarmouk refugee camp under siege by regime for over a year with no access to water, food, or medicine. Thousands of Palestinians are detained by the regime in Assad’s prisons, and hundreds of them have been tortured to death.

Source: A guide for the Palestinian or “pro-Palestinian” shabiha sympathizer in your life.
Crimes by Assad against Yarmouk Palestinian Refugee Camps
How Israeli Technology Saved Assad

"The protests started in mosques by Islamists"

Before the protests started in March, Syrians tried to protest in public places; such as on February 17 in Damascus’s old commercial center, or on February 23 in front of the Libyan embassy. Each time, they were met with threats of violence from the mukhabarat. The protest that took place on March 15th, which Syrians consider the start of the revolution, was in Damascus’s Himidiyeh market.. The protests took place outside the mosques because it was the only place people could gather without rousing the mukhabarat’s suspicion. Eventually, protests moved to public squares and main streets.

The revolution was supported by many Syrian secularists, such as Suhair Atassi, Yassin al-Haj Saleh and Burhan Ghalioun.

“Secular activists have been actively involved in various phases of the struggle against the ruling regime, both before and after the unrest of 2011. Numerous secular activists played an important role within the grassroots committees and in the development of peaceful actions against the regime.”

It is important to recognize that the “the revolution is Islamist” rhetoric was used by Assad to justify taking down any protest or opposition; and that the narrative often changes depending on who Assad is speaking to. In a speech in December, Assad called the protestors in 2011 “atheists chanting Allahu Akbar.”

“Assad didn’t actually use chemical weapons, it was all staged”

This claim is debunked here
NYT Visual Investigation

"Assad is the lesser of 2 evils, therefore we should support him"

Assadists often say this referring to the fact that if Bashar were to leave, Syria would come under the rule of ISIS or other extremist groups. First, saying this to Syrians who have experienced Assad’s tyranny, torture prisons, and shelling is very insensitive.

Second, victims of Bashar al-Assad’s persecution are much, much higher than those of extremists groups. Estimates from the Syrian Network for Human Rights put the number of civilians killed by Syrian regime forces and Iranian militias at 199,938, while the number of civilians killed by ISIS, Islamist extremist groups and armed rebels total 9,675 altogether. Figures from March 2011 to September 2020

It’s also important to recognize Assad’s rule in allowing extremist groups to fester and grow in Syria. Only three months after the Syrian uprising, Assad “released dozens of extremists from his jails in an effort to give the revolution a more Islamist character and present the false choice between him and the radical Islamists he nurtured. According to the Treasury Department, Assad continues to buy “a great deal of oil” from ISIS constituting millions of dollars in trade. At one point, oil sales to Assad accounted for 72 percent of ISIS’ income.”

Some of the most prominent salafist commanders released by the regime included: Abu Muhammad al-Joulani (founder of Jabhat al-Nusra), Muhammad Haydar Zammar (a top AQ recruiter), Zahran Alloush (the leader of the Army of Islam), Hassan Aboud (leader of Ahrar al-Sham), and Abu Eesa (the leader of Suqour il Sham).

“Starting in 2003, his (Assad’s) intelligence services worked closely with the terrorist fanatics who would eventually form ISIS because he wanted to prevent America from stabilizing Iraq.”

"Assad is Syrian minority groups' saviour"

Again, this is easily debunkable. Just search up the Syrian regime’s treatment of Kurds; who were subjected to Arabization, forbidden from practicing their language and culture, and denied Syrian citizenship.

Why Assad is no friend to Syria's Christian community
Why Assad is not secular
Twitter Thread: Crimes against Syria's minorities committed by the Syrian regime
Yazidis forced to submit to Islamic sharia courts
Syrian Christian Political Detainees

Read about anti-Assad activists from Syria’s minority groups:
Fadwa Soleiman, from Syria’s Alawite minority
Hanadi Zahlout, from Syria’s Alawite minority
Bassel Shehadeh, a Syrian Christian
Khalil Matouk, a Syrian Christian
Syrian Christians for Peace
Rima Dali, Alawite founder of the Stop the Killing: We Want to Build a Syria for All Syrians
Samar Yazbek, Alawite journalist and human rights activist in the revolution. Founder of Women Now for Development.
Salamiyah women’s coordination committee, an Ismaili Shia-a led women’s group

In a speech he gave in December, Assad spouted extremely transphobic and homophobic rhetoric and the Syrian government has been persecuting members of the LGBTQ+ community. (This article is in Arabic, but discusses the Syrian government’s efforts to persecute members of the LGBTQ+ community in Syria)

"The uprising was a sectarian movement"

Syria’s uprising included people of all faiths and sects. Check out Syrian activists such as:
Fadwa Soleiman, from Syria’s Alawite minority
Hanadi Zahlout, from Syria’s Alawite minority
Bassel Shehadeh, a Syrian Christian
Khalil Matouk, a Syrian Christian
Syrian Christians for Peace
Rima Dali, Alawite founder of the Stop the Killing: We Want to Build a Syria for All Syrians
Samar Yazbek, Alawite journalist and human rights activist in the revolution. Founder of Women Now for Development.
Salamiyah women’s coordination committee, an Ismaili Shia-a led women’s group

Check out this protest in Homs where people are chanting “Freedom, freedom, Islam & Christianity!”

Picture of a protest in the city of Saraqeb, with protestors carrying placards that say "I am Arab, Kurish, Sunni, Alawi, Druze, Christian"