Syria’s Current Protests
A Brief History
In 2011, amidst the cluster of Arab Spring uprisings surging across six Middle Eastern countries, Syria’s anti-government protests were responded to with state violence. The subsequent conflict, fought between an array of rebel brigades and Bashar al-Assad’s military regime, grew to become the ongoing Syrian Civil War.
Bashar al-Assad is the current president of Syria and has held office since 2000. His father and predecessor, General Hafez al-Assad, seized power in a series of violent coups in the 1960s, transforming the former Syrian Republic into a dynastic dictatorship. Both leaders are associated with the Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party, which supports authoritarian centralized governments that enforce their laws through military power.
When Bashar al-Assad succeeded his father in 2000, he promised reforms toward a more democratic, modernized Syria. However, over the course of the following decade, public reception of him soured as he failed to accomplish his plans, culminating in an outright Civil War when he exhibited brutal force against protesters. As of 2022, his regime and its Iranian and Russian allies were held responsible for 91% of civilian deaths in the war—just under 200,400 people.
The Contemporary Debate
While a series of ceasefires has limited government crackdowns on rebel groups, the Assad regime has continued to administer violence in scattered instances across the country. In February 2023, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Turkey and Syria, representing one of the worst natural disasters of the century and killing 8,400 Syrian citizens. With the already dire economic situation compounded by factors like the earthquake, Syria is in a humanitarian crisis.
Since the beginning of 2023, the Syrian pound has dropped to approximately half of its original value—from a conversion rate of 7,000 pounds to a U.S. dollar, to 15,000. At the beginning of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, the rate was 47 pounds to a dollar.
Two major decrees were attributed as the spark for ongoing protests: one which doubled public sector wages and pensions, and another which slashed gasoline subsidies to save state money. Both decrees were seen as worsening an already unlivable condition of poverty for the people of Syria.
Current Events
Surprisingly to many, protests first erupted in mid-August in Sweida, a city dominated by a minority ethnoreligious group called the Druze. Sweida has largely isolated itself from the decade of Syrian conflict with the Assad regime, though it has suffered severe casualties at the hands of the insurgent Islamic State group—and armed itself accordingly.
Protestors are calling for an end to Assad’s authoritarian regime, this time garnering newfound support from their religious leaders. While no arrests have been made in Sweida thus far, likely because Assad has long claimed to be a protector of religious minorities, demonstrators are bracing for a violent response to their largely peaceful protests.
With unrest breaking out in other major cities like Daraa, the current protests are some indication of hope for many Syrians. Others, like European University Institute’s researcher Joseph Daher, believe that unless the cities band together, there is little likelihood that they pose an existential threat to Assad’s rule.
Additional Reading Materials (Sorted Chronologically)
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