Unfinished journey (67)

ISIS Territory

Unfinished journey (67)

(Part sixty-seven, Depok, West Java, Indonesia, 12 September 2014, 7:06 pm)

Existence of Iraq and Syria as a country seems not yet finished, although the two countries have a long history. Upheaval that occurred in both countries continue in Iraq as a result of the majority Shiite government that does not give the same opportunities to the minority Sunni groups, giving rise to the Sunni insurgency that wants to establish an Islamic State (Islamic State / ISIS) in northern Iraq and Syria. The same is happening in Syria, Assad's authoritarian regime continued to suppress opposition (Sunni Islam) Assadyang troops backed Hezbollah (Shia) and Iran also fought against the insurgency of the Islamic State (ISIS).

Arab countries supported the United States fight ISIS

John Kerry met with leaders of the Arab countries and Turkey.

United States Secretary of State John Kerry said 10 Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, agreed to play an important role in the coalition against militia Daulah Islamiyah or ISIS.

The assurance was conveyed by Kerry after holding talks in Jeddah, Thursday (11/09).

"The Arab states play an important role in the coalition, leading role on all fronts: military, humanitarian aid, efforts to stop the flow of illicit funds and foreign fighters are required ISIS or Daulah Islamiyah, Islamic distortion ISIS to be deployed in the region and the world," Foreign Minister John Kerry.

He tried to build a coalition against the militia group that controls vast territory in Syria and Iraq.

But Russia warned the United States not to launch air strikes into Syria.

In a meeting in Jeddah, issued a joint statement stating "shared commitment to unite against the threat of all terrorism" including ISIS.

In addition to Saudi Arabia, the countries that attended the meeting were Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. NATO member, Turkey, was also present although not down to sign a joint statement.

Previous President Barack Obama unveiled plans Click to air attack various targets Daulah Islamiyah for the first time.

Syria's official news agency said Obama's plan shows that he is not serious about combating terrorism. (BBC)

History of Iraq

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Part of a series on the

History of Iraq

Detail from the Ishtar Gate

Ancient Iraq

Sumer Assyria Akkadian Empire Babylonia Neo-Assyrian Empire Neo-Babylonian Empire

Classical Iraq

Achaemenid Assyria Seleucid Babylonia Parthian Babylonia Roman Mesopotamia Sasanian Asorestan

Medieval Iraq

Rashidun Caliphate Umayyad Caliphate Abbasid Caliphate Hamdanids Buyid amirate of Iraq Marwanids Uqaylids Al-Mazeedi Seljuk Empire Zengids Ayyubids Arbil Emirate Ilkhanate Jalairid Sultanate Karakoyunlu Aq Qoyunlu Safavids Ottoman Iraq Mamluk dynasty

20th-century Iraq

Mandatory Iraq Kingdom of Iraq

Republic of Iraq

Iraqi Republic (1958–68) Ba'athist Iraq Occupation of Iraq Modern Iraq

Portal icon Iraq portal

v t e

Iraq, known in classical antiquity as Mesopotamia, was home to the oldest civilizations in the world,[1][2] with a cultural history of over 10,000 years,[3][4][5] hence its common epithet, the Cradle of Civilization. Mesopotamia, as part of the larger Fertile Crescent, was a significant part of the Ancient Near East throughout the Bronze Age and the Iron Age.

Arabs have been the majority of Iraq's population since Sassanid times.[6] Iraq was ruled by the indigenous empires, Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, Assyrian and also by foreign empires; Median, Achaemenid, Seleucid, Parthian and Sassanian empires during the Iron Age and Classical Antiquity, before Iraq was conquered by the Muslim Rashidun Caliphate in the 7th century, and became a center of the Islamic Golden Age during the medieval Abbasid Caliphate. After a series of invasions and conquest by the Mongols and Turks, Iraq fell under Ottoman rule in the 16th century, intermittently falling under Iranian Safavid and Mamluk control.

Ottoman rule ended with World War I, and Iraq came to be administered by the British Empire until the establishment of the Kingdom of Iraq in 1933. The Republic of Iraq was established in 1958 following a coup d'état. The Republic was controlled by Saddam Hussein from 1979 to 2003, into which period falls the Iran-Iraq war and the Persian Gulf War. Saddam Hussein was deposed following the 2003 US-led invasion of the country. Following the invasion, the situation deteriorated to the extent that in 2006–2007, Iraq was on the brink of civil war. However, conditions improved following a surge in U.S. troops in 2007–2008, and the war was declared formally over in December 2011, with the U.S. troops leaving the country.

Contents  [hide]

1 Prehistory

2 Ancient Mesopotamia

2.1 Sumer, Akkad and early Assyria

2.2 Assyria and Babylonia

2.3 Assyria

2.4 Neo-Assyrian Empire

2.5 Babylonia

2.6 Neo-Babylonian Empire

3 Classical Antiquity

3.1 Achaemenid and Seleucid rule

3.2 Parthian and Roman rule

3.3 Sassanid Empire

4 Muslim Rule and the Abbasid Caliphate

5 Mongol conquest

6 Ottoman Iraq and Mamluk rule

7 20th century

7.1 British mandate

7.2 Independent Kingdom of Iraq

7.3 Republic of Iraq

7.3.1 Ba'athist Iraq

7.3.2 Under Saddam Hussein

8 Recent history (2003–present)

8.1 2003 invasion of Iraq

8.2 History of Iraq (2003–11)

8.3 History of Iraq (2011–present)

9 See also

10 References

11 Further reading

12 External links

Prehistory[edit]

Shanidar 1

During 1957–1961 Shanidar Cave was excavated by Ralph Solecki and his team from Columbia University, and nine skeletons of Neanderthal man of varying ages and states of preservation and completeness (labelled Shanidar I – IX) were discovered dating from 60–80,000 years BP. A tenth individual was recently discovered by M. Zeder during examination of a faunal assemblage from the site at the Smithsonian Institution. The remains seemed to Zeder to suggest that Neandertals had funeral ceremonies, burying their dead with flowers (although the flowers are now thought to be a modern contaminant), and that they took care of injured and elderly individuals.

Putin and Obama

Ancient Mesopotamia[edit]

Main articles: Mesopotamia and History of Mesopotamia

See also: Ancient Near East

Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution from around 10,000 BC. It has been identified as having "inspired some of the most important developments in human history including the invention of the wheel, the planting of the first cereal crops and the development of cursive script, Mathematics, Astronomy and Agriculture."[7]

Sumer, Akkad and early Assyria[edit]

Main articles: Sumer and Akkadian Empire

See also: Third Dynasty of Ur

Sumer was a civilization and historical region in southern Iraq. It is the earliest known civilization in the world, making Iraq one of the Cradles of Civilization. The Sumerian civilization spanned over 3000 years[8] and began with the first settlement of Eridu in the Ubaid period (mid-6th millennium BC) through the Uruk period (4th millennium BC) and the Early Dynastic periods (3rd millennium BC) until the rise of Assyria and Babylonia in the late 3rd and early 2nd millennium BC respectively.

The Ubaid period marks the Pottery Neolithic to Chalcolithic phase in Mesopotamia, which represents the earliest settlement on the alluvial plain in the south. Early urbanization begins with the Ubaid period, around 5300 BC. The Ubaid culture gives way to the Uruk period from c. 4000 BC. The invention of the wheel and the beginning of the Chalcolithic period fall into the Ubaid period. The Sumerian historical record remains obscure until the Early Dynastic period, when a now deciphered syllabary writing system was developed, which has allowed archaeologists to read contemporary records and inscriptions.

Classical Sumer ends with the rise of the Semitic Akkadian kings in the 24th century BC. Following the Gutian period, there is a brief Sumerian renaissance in the 21st century, cut short in the 20th century BC by Amorite invasions, a Semitic people from the north east Levant who founded Babylon as an independent state in 1894 BC. The Amorite dynasty of Isin persisted until c. 1600 BC, when southern Mesopotamia was united under Kassite Babylonian rule.

The north of Mesopotamia had become the Akkadian speaking state of Assyria by the late 25th century BC. Along with the rest of Mesopotamia it was ruled by the Akkadian kings from the late 24th to mid 22nd centuries BC, after which it once again became independent.[9]

Kerry and Ban Ki Moon

Ubaid period: 5300 – 4100 BC (Pottery Neolithic to Chalcolithic)

Uruk period: 4100 – 2900 BC (Late Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age I)

Uruk XIV-V: 4100 – 3300 BC

Uruk IV period: 3300 – 3000 BC

Jemdet Nasr period (Uruk III): 3100 – 2900 BC[10]

Early Dynastic period (Early Bronze Age II-IV)

Early Dynastic I period: 2900–2800 BC

Early Dynastic II period: 2800–2600 BC (Gilgamesh)

Early Dynastic IIIa period: 2600–2500 BC

Early Dynastic IIIb period: c. 2500–2334 BC

Early Assyria c. 2400 BC

Akkadian Empire period: c. 2334–2218 BC (Sargon)

Gutian period: c. 2218–2047 BC (Early Bronze Age IV)

Ur III period: c. 2047–1940 BC

Assyrian Dynastic period c. 2035 BC

Assyria and Babylonia[edit]

Main articles: Babylonia and Assyria

Assyria[edit]

Main articles: Assyria, Neo-Assyrian Empire and Achaemenid Assyria

King Jehu of Israel bows before Shalmaneser III of Assyria, 825 BC

Assyria was a Semitic Akkadian kingdom in what is now Northern Iraq, extant as a nation state from the late 25th or early–24th century BC to 605 BC. After this it survived as a geo-political entity until the 7th century.[11] centred on the Upper Tigris river, in northern Mesopotamia (present day northern Iraq), that came to rule regional empires a number of times through history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur (Akkadian: 𒀸𒋗𒁺 𐎹 Aššūrāyu; Aramaic: אתור Aṯur; Hebrew: אַשּׁוּר Aššûr; Arabic: آشور Āšūr).

Of the early history of the kingdom of Assyria, little is positively known. In the Assyrian King List, the earliest king recorded was Tudiya. He was a contemporary of Ibrium of Ebla who appears to have lived in the late 25th or early 24th century BC, according to the king list. The foundation of the first true urbanised Assyrian monarchy was traditionally ascribed to Ushpia a contemporary of Ishbi-Erra of Isin and Naplanum of Larsa.[12] c. 2030 BC. Assyria had a period of empire from the 19th to 18th centuries BC. From the 14th to 11th centuries BC Assyria once more became a major power with the rise of the Middle Assyrian Empire which dominated the whole of Mesopotamia and much of the Near East and Anatolia. After an interregnum of a hundred or so years, Assyria began to expand once more with the rise of the Neo Assyrian Empire.

Neo-Assyrian Empire[edit]

The Neo-Assyrian Empire is usually considered to have begun with the accession of Adad-nirari II, in 911 BC, lasting until the fall of Nineveh at the hands of the Babylonians in 612 BC.[13]

Beginning with the campaigns of Adad-nirari II in the 10th century BC, Assyria became a great regional power, growing to be the largest empire the world had yet seen, conquering the 25th dynasty Egypt and much of the Near East, Asia Minor, the Caucasus, Arabia, Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean. It began reaching the peak of its power with the reforms of Tiglath-Pileser III (ruled 745 – 727 BC).[14][15] This period is well-referenced in several sources, including the Assyro-Babylonian Chronicles and the Hebrew Bible. Assyria finally succumbed to a combined attack by the Babylonians, Medes and Scythians, following a bitter series of weakening civil wars within Assyria itself. Nineveh was sacked in 612 BC, Harran overrun in 608 BC and a final defeat was suffered at Carchemish in 605 BC.[11]

Babylonia[edit]

Babylonia was a state in central and southern Iraq with Babylon as its capital. It was founded as an independent state by an Amorite king named Sumuabum in 1894 BC.[11] During the 3rd millennium BCE, there developed a very intimate cultural symbiosis between the Sumerians and the Akkadians, which included widespread bilingualism.[16] The influence of Sumerian on Akkadian (and vice versa) is evident in all areas, from lexical borrowing on a massive scale, to syntactic, morphological, and phonological convergence.[16] This has prompted scholars to refer to Sumerian and Akkadian in the 3rd millennium BC as a sprachbund.[16]

Akkadian gradually replaced Sumerian as the spoken language of Mesopotamia somewhere around the turn of the 3rd and the 2nd millennium BCE (the exact dating being a matter of debate),[17] but Sumerian continued to be used as a sacred, ceremonial, literary and scientific language in Mesopotamia until the 1st century CE.

Babylonia emerged from the Amorite dynasties (c. 1900 BC) when Hammurabi (c. 1792–1750 BC), unified the territories of the former kingdoms of Sumer and Akkad. The Babylonian (and Assyrian) culture was a synthesis of Akkadian and Sumerian culture. Babylonians spoke the Akkadian language, and retained the Sumerian language for religious use, which by Hammurabi's time was declining as a spoken language. The rulers of Babylonia carried the title "King of Sumer and Akkad".

The earliest mention of the city of Babylon can be found in a tablet from the reign of Sargon of Akkad, dating back to the 24th century BC. Following the collapse of the Ur-III dynasty at the hands of the Elamites (2002 BC traditional, 1940 BC short), the Amorites gained control over most of Mesopotamia, where they formed a series of small kingdoms. During the 1st centuries of what is called the "Amorite period", the most powerful city states were Isin and Larsa, although Shamshi-Adad I came close to uniting the more northern regions around Assur and Mari. One of these Amorite dynasties was established in the city-state of Babylon, which would ultimately take over the others and form the first Babylonian empire, during what is also called the Old Babylonian Period.

Neo-Babylonian Empire[edit]

Main articles: Neo-Babylonian Empire and Chaldea

Eventually, during the 9th century BC, one of the most powerful tribes outside Babylon, the Semitic Chaldeans (Latin Chaldaeus, Greek Khaldaios, Assyrian Kaldu), gained prominence in the far south east of Mesopotamia, and along with the Elamites made a number of failed attempts to loosen the Assyrian grip on Babylon.

In 620 BC, the Chaldeans helped Nabopolassar to take power in Babylonia. At that time, Assyria riven by a series of bitter civil wars being fought for control of the kingdom after the death of its last great ruler, Ashurbanipal. Nabo-Polassar allied Babylonia with the Medes, Persians, Cimmerians and Scythians. A weakened Assyria could not withstand this added pressure, and in 612 BC, Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, fell. The entire city, was sacked.

Later, Nebuchadnezzar II (Nabopolassar's son) inherited a proportion of the former Assyrian empire for Babylonia. He added territory to Babylonia and undertook much building work in the city.

In the 6th century BC (586 BC), Nebuchadnezzar II conquered Judea (Judah), destroyed Jerusalem; Solomon's Temple was also destroyed; Nebuchadnezzar II carried away an estimated 15,000 captives, and sent most of its population into exile in Babylonia. Nebuchadnezzar II (604-562 BC) is credited for building the legendary Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

Chaldean rule eventually ended in Babylon, its final king Nabonidus was ironically from the final Assyrian capital of Harran.[11]

Classical Antiquity[edit]

Achaemenid and Seleucid rule[edit]

Main articles: Babylonia (Persian province), Achaemenid Assyria and Seleucid Empire

Various invaders conquered Mesopotamia after the death of Nabonidus the Assyrian born last king of Babylon, including Cyrus the Great in 539 BC and Alexander of Macedon in 331 BC, who died there in 323 BC. In the 6th century BC, it became part of the Achaemenid Empire, then was conquered by Alexander and remained under Greek rule under the Seleucid dynasty for nearly two centuries. Babylon declined after the founding of Seleucia on the Tigris, the new Seleucid Empire capital. Assyria continued to exist as a Geo-Political entity, and was known as Athura by the Achaemenids.

Parthian and Roman rule[edit]

Main articles: Asuristan, Osroene, Adiabene, Mesopotamia (Roman province) and Assyria (Roman province)

The Seleucids were succeeded by the Parthian Empire in the 3rd century BC. At the beginning of the 2nd century AD, the Romans, led by emperor Trajan, invaded Parthia and conquered Mesopotamia, making it an imperial province. It was returned to the Parthians shortly after by Trajan's successor, Hadrian.

Christianity entered Mesopotamia in the 1st century AD, and Assyria in particular became the center of Eastern Rite Christianity and the Syriac literary tradition. Native Mesopotamian Religion began to die out during this period, although temples were still being dedicated to the Assyrian national god Ashur in his home city as late as the 4th century.[9]

Sassanid Empire[edit]

Main article: Asuristan

In the 3rd century AD, the Parthians were in turn succeeded by the Sassanid dynasty, which ruled Mesopotamia until the 7th century Islamic caliphate rule, after which point Assyria (Assuristan) was dissolved. The Sassanids conquered the independent Neo-Assyrian states of Adiabene, Osroene, Hatra and finally Assur during the 3rd century AD.

In the mid-6th century the Persian Empire under the Sassanid dynasty was divided by Khosrow I into four quarters, of which the western one, called Khvārvarān, included most of modern Iraq, and subdivided to provinces of Mishān, Asuristān (Assyria), Adiabene (which was for a time an independent Assyrian state) and Lower Media. The term Iraq is widely used in the medieval Arabic sources for the area in the center and south of the modern republic as a geographic rather than a political term, implying no greater precision of boundaries than the term "Mesopotamia" or, indeed, many of the names of modern states before the 20th century.

The area of modern Iraq north of Tikrit was known in Arab Muslim times as Al-Jazirah, which means "The Island" and refers to the "island" between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. To the south of Mesopotamia lay the Arabian deserts, inhabited largely by ethnic Arab tribesmen who acknowledged the overlordship of the Sassanian Emperors, as they had to the Assyrian, Babylonian, Achaemenid, Seleucid and Parthian emperors before them.

Until 602, the desert frontier of the Persian Empire had been guarded by the Arab Lakhmid kings of Al-Hirah, who were themselves Arabs but who ruled a settled buffer state subject to Persia. In that year Shahanshah Khosrow II Aparviz (Persian خسرو پرويز) abolished the Lakhmid kingdom and laid the frontier open to nomad incursions. Farther north, the western quarter was bounded by the Byzantine Empire. The frontier more or less followed the modern Syria-Iraq border and continued northward into modern Turkey, leaving Nisibis (modern Nusaybin) as the Sassanian frontier fortress while the Byzantines held Dara and the nearby Assyrian populated Amida (modern Diyarbakır).

Muslim Rule and the Abbasid Caliphate[edit]

Main articles: Muslim conquest of Iraq, Abbasid Caliphate and Islamic Age

The Age of the Caliphs

  Prophet Mohammad, 622-632

  Rashidun Caliphate, 632-661

  Umayyad Caliphate, 661-750

ISIS Fighter

This earthenware dish was made in 9th century Iraq. It is housed in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

The first organised conflict between local Arab tribes and Persian forces seems to have been in 634, when the Arabs were defeated at the Battle of the Bridge. There was a force of some 5,000 Muslims under Abū `Ubayd ath-Thaqafī, which was routed by the Persians. This was followed by Khalid ibn al-Walid's successful campaign which saw all of Iraq come under Arab rule within a year, with the exception of the Persian Empire's capital, Ctesiphon. Around 636, a larger Arab Muslim force under Sa`d ibn Abī Waqqās defeated the main Persian army at the Battle of al-Qādisiyyah and moved on to capture the Persian capital of Ctesiphon. By the end of 638, the Muslims had conquered all of the Western Sassanid provinces (including modern Iraq), and the last Sassanid Emperor, Yazdegerd III, had fled to central and then northern Persia, where he was killed in 651.

The Islamic invasion was followed by immigration from the Arabian Peninsula. Though this was by no means the first of such emigrations, as migration from the Arabian peninsula to the Fertile Crescent has been a pattern of human behaviour since antiquity, the Islamic expansions constituted the largest of the Semitic expansions in history. These new arrivals did not disperse and settle throughout the country; instead they established two new garrison cities, at al-Kūfah, near ancient Babylon, and at Basrah in the south, while the north remained largely Assyrian and Christian in character.

Iraq thus became a province of the Muslim caliphate. The city of Baghdad was built in the 8th century and became the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate. During this period, Baghdad served as the intellectual center of the Muslim world for several centuries, up until the sack of Baghdad in 1258. Many famous Muslim scientists, philosophers, inventors, poets and writers were active in Iraq during the 8th to 13th centuries.

Mongol conquest[edit]

[icon] This section requires expansion with: Prose, instead of just a gallery. e.g. siege of baghdad etc.. (August 2012)

Mongol invasion of Iraq

The sacking of Baghdad, 1258

Siege of Irbil, 1258-1259

Siege of Mosul, 1261-1262.

Illustrations from the Jami' al-tawarikh by Rashid-al-Din Hamadani Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Département des Manuscrits, Division Orientale.

Ottoman Iraq and Mamluk rule[edit]

Further information: Ottoman Empire and Mamluk dynasty of Iraq

During the late 14th and early 15th centuries, the Black Sheep Turkmen ruled the area now known as Iraq. In 1466, the White Sheep Turkmen defeated the Black Sheep and took control. In the 16th century, most of the territory of present-day Iraq came under the control of Ottoman Empire as the pashalik of Baghdad. Throughout most of the period of Ottoman rule (1533-1918) the territory of present-day Iraq was a battle zone between the rival regional empires and tribal alliances. Iraq was divided into three vilayets:

Mosul Province

Baghdad Province

Basra Province

The Safavid dynasty of Iran briefly asserted their hegemony over Iraq in the periods of 1508-1533 and 1622-1638. During the years 1747-1831 Iraq was ruled by the Mamluk officers of Georgian origin who succeeded in obtaining autonomy from the Ottoman Empire, suppressed tribal revolts, curbed the power of the Janissaries, restored order and introduced a program of modernization of economy and military. In 1831, the Ottomans managed to overthrow the Mamluk regime and again imposed their direct control over Iraq.[18]

20th century[edit]

Main article: 20th century history of Iraq

British mandate[edit]

Main article: Mandatory Iraq

Iraqi market in Mosul, 1932

Ottoman rule over Iraq lasted until World War I, when the Ottomans sided with Germany and the Central Powers. In the Mesopotamian campaign against the Central Powers, British forces invaded the country and suffered a defeat at the hands of the Turkish army during the Siege of Kut (1915–16). However the British finally won in the Mesopotamian Campaign with the capture of Baghdad in March 1917. During the war the British employed the help of a number of Assyrian, Armenian and Arab tribes against the Ottomans, who in turn employed the Kurds as allies. After the war the Ottoman Empire was divided up, and the British Mandate of Mesopotamia was established by League of Nations mandate. Britain imposed a Hāshimite monarchy on Iraq and defined the territorial limits of Iraq without taking into account the politics of the different ethnic and religious groups in the country, in particular those of the Kurds and the Christian Assyrians to the north. During the British occupation, the Shi'ites and Kurds fought for independence, and the British employed Assyrian Levies to help quell these insurrections. Iraq also became an oligarchy government at this time.

Although the monarch Faisal I of Iraq was legitimized and proclaimed King by a plebiscite in 1921, independence was achieved in 1932, when the British Mandate officially ended.

Independent Kingdom of Iraq[edit]

Establishment of Arab Sunni domination in Iraq was followed by Assyrian, Yazidi and Shi'a unrests, which were all brutally suppressed. In 1936, the first military coup took place in the Kingdom of Iraq, as Bakr Sidqi succeeded in replacing the acting Prime Minister with his associate. Multiple coups followed in a period of political instability, peaking in 1941.

During World War II, Iraqi regime of Regent 'Abd al-Ilah was overthrown in 1941 by the Golden Square officers, headed by Rashid Ali. The short lived pro-Nazi government of Iraq was defeated in May 1941 by the allied forces (with local Assyrian and Kurdish help) in Anglo-Iraqi War. Iraq was later used as a base for allied attacks on Vichy-French held Mandate of Syria and support for the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran.[19]

In 1945, Iraq joined the United Nations and became a founding member of the Arab League. At the same time, the Kurdish leader Mustafa Barzani led a rebellion against the central government in Baghdad. After the failure of the uprising Barzani and his followers fled to the Soviet Union.

In 1948, massive violent protests, known as the Al-Wathbah uprising broke out across Baghdad as a popular demand against the government treaty with the British, and with communist part support. More protests continued in spring, but were interrupted in May, with the marshal law, when Iraq entered the failed 1948 Arab-Israeli War along with other members of the Arab League.

In February 1958, King Hussein of Jordan and `Abd al-Ilāh proposed a union of Hāshimite monarchies to counter the recently formed Egyptian-Syrian union. The prime minister Nuri as-Said wanted Kuwait to be part of the proposed Arab-Hāshimite Union. Shaykh `Abd-Allāh as-Salīm, the ruler of Kuwait, was invited to Baghdad to discuss Kuwait's future. This policy brought the government of Iraq into direct conflict with Britain, which did not want to grant independence to Kuwait. At that point, the monarchy found itself completely isolated. Nuri as-Said was able to contain the rising discontent only by resorting to even greater political oppression.

Republic of Iraq[edit]

Further information: History of Iraq (1958–1968)

Inspired by Nasser, officers from the Nineteenth Brigade, 3rd Division known as "The Four Colonials", under the leadership of Brigadier Abd al-Karīm Qāsim (known as "az-Za`īm", 'the leader') and Colonel Abdul Salam Arif overthrew the Hashimite monarchy on July 14, 1958. The new government proclaimed Iraq to be a republic and rejected the idea of a union with Jordan. Iraq's activity in the Baghdad Pact ceased.

In 1961, Kuwait gained independence from Britain and Iraq claimed sovereignty over Kuwait. A period of considerable instability followed. The same year, Mustafa Barzani, who had been invited to return to Iraq by Qasim three years earlier, began engaging Iraqi government forces and establishing Kurdish control in the north in what was the beginning of the First Kurdish Iraqi War.

Ba'athist Iraq[edit]

Main article: History of Iraq (1968–2003)

Qāsim was assassinated in February 1963, when the Ba'ath Party took power under the leadership of General Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr (prime minister) and Colonel Abdul Salam Arif (president). In June 1963, Syria, which meanwhile had also fell under Ba'athist rule, took part in the Iraqi military campaign against the Kurds by providing aircraft, armoured vehicles and a force of 6,000 soldiers. Several months later, `Abd as-Salam Muhammad `Arif led a successful coup against the Ba'ath government. Arif declared a ceasefire in February 1964 which provoked a split among Kurdish urban radicals on one hand and Peshmerga (Freedom fighters) forces led by Barzani on the other.

On April 13, 1966, President Abdul Salam Arif died in a helicopter crash and was succeeded by his brother, General Abdul Rahman Arif. Following the unexpected death of Arif, whereupon he was replaced by his brother, Abdul Rahman Arif, the Iraqi government launched a last-ditch effort to defeat the Kurds. This campaign failed in May 1966, when Barzani forces thoroughly defeated the Iraqi Army at the Battle of Mount Handrin, near Rawanduz. Following the Six Day War of 1967, the Ba'ath Party felt strong enough to retake power in 1968. Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr became president and chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC). The Ba'ath government started a campaign to end the Kurdish insurrection, which stalled in 1969. This can be partly attributed to the internal power struggle in Baghdad and also tensions with Iran. Moreover, the Soviet Union pressured the Iraqis to come to terms with Barzani. The war ended with more than 100,000 mortal casualties, with little achievements to both Kurdish rebels and the Iraqi government.

In the aftermath of the First Kurdish Iraqi War, a peace plan was announced in March 1970 and provided for broader Kurdish autonomy. The plan also gave Kurds representation in government bodies, to be implemented in four years.[20] Despite this, the Iraqi government embarked on an Arabization program in the oil rich regions of Kirkuk and Khanaqin in the same period.[21] In the following years, Baghdad government overcame its internal divisions and concluded a treaty of friendship with the Soviet Union in April 1972 and ended its isolation within the Arab world. On the other hand, Kurds remained dependent on the Iranian military support and could do little to strengthen their forces. By 1974 the situation in the north escalated again into the Second Kurdish Iraqi War, to last until 1975.

Under Saddam Hussein[edit]

Promoting women's education in the 1970s.

In July 1979, President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr was forced to resign by Saddam Hussein, who assumed the offices of both President and Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council.

Territorial disputes with Iran led to an inconclusive and costly eight-year war, the Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988, termed Qādisiyyat-Saddām – 'Saddam's Qādisiyyah'), which devastated the economy. Iraq declared victory in 1988 but actually achieved a weary return to the status quo ante bellum, meaning both sides retained their original borders.

The war began when Iraq invaded Iran, launching a simultaneous invasion by air and land into Iranian territory on 22 September 1980, following a long history of border disputes, and fears of Shia insurgency among Iraq's long-suppressed Shia majority influenced by the Iranian Revolution. Iraq was also aiming to replace Iran as the dominant Persian Gulf state. The United States supported Saddam Hussein in the war against Iran.[22] Although Iraq hoped to take advantage of the revolutionary chaos in Iran and attacked without formal warning, they made only limited progress into Iran and within several months were repelled by the Iranians who regained virtually all lost territory by June 1982. For the next six years, Iran was on the offensive.[23] Despite calls for a ceasefire by the United Nations Security Council, hostilities continued until 20 August 1988. The war finally ended with a United Nations brokered ceasefire in the form of United Nations Security Council Resolution 598, which was accepted by both sides. It took several weeks for the Iranian armed forces to evacuate Iraqi territory to honor pre-war international borders between the two nations (see 1975 Algiers Agreement). The last prisoners of war were exchanged in 2003.[23][24]

Saddam Hussain during Iran-Iraq War, which cost an estimated 1 million casualties

The war came at a great cost in lives and economic damage—half a million Iraqi and Iranian soldiers as well as civilians are believed to have died in the war with many more injured—but it brought neither reparations nor change in borders. The conflict is often compared to World War I,[25] in that the tactics used closely mirrored those of that conflict, including large scale trench warfare, manned machine-gun posts, bayonet charges, use of barbed wire across trenches, human wave attacks across no-man's land, and extensive use of chemical weapons such as mustard gas by the Iraqi government against Iranian troops and civilians as well as Iraqi Kurds. At the time, the UN Security Council issued statements that "chemical weapons had been used in the war." However, in these UN statements it was never made clear that it was only Iraq that was using chemical weapons, so it has been said that "the international community remained silent as Iraq used weapons of mass destruction against Iranian as well as Iraqi Kurds" and it is believed.

A long-standing territorial dispute was the ostensible reason for Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. In November 1990, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 678, permitting member states to use all necessary means, authorizing military action against the Iraqi forces occupying Kuwait and demanded a complete withdrawal by January 15, 1991. When Saddam Hussein failed to comply with this demand, the Persian Gulf War (Operation "Desert Storm") ensued on January 17, 1991. Probably as many as 30,000 Iraqi soldiers and a few thousand civilians were killed.[citation needed]

In March 1991 revolts in the Shia-dominated southern Iraq started involving demoralized Iraqi Army troops and the anti-government Shia parties. Another wave of insurgency broke out shortly afterwards in the Kurdish populated northern Iraq (see 1991 uprisings in Iraq). Although they presented a serious threat to the Iraqi Ba'ath Party regime, Saddam Hussein managed to suppress the rebellions with massive and indiscriminate force and maintained power. They were ruthlessly crushed by the loyalist forces spearheaded by the Iraqi Republican Guard and the population was successfully terrorized. During the few weeks of unrest tens of thousands of people were killed. Many more died during the following months, while nearly two million Iraqis fled for their lives. In the aftermath, the government intensified the forced relocating of Marsh Arabs and the draining of the Iraqi marshlands, while the Coalition established the Iraqi no-fly zones.

On 6 August 1990, after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, the U.N. Security Council adopted Resolution 661 which imposed economic sanctions on Iraq, providing for a full trade embargo, excluding medical supplies, food and other items of humanitarian necessity, these to be determined by the Security Council sanctions committee. After the end of the Gulf War and after the Iraqi withdrawal from Kuwait, the sanctions were linked to removal of weapons of mass destruction by Resolution 687 [2]. From 1991 until 2003 Iraq underwent hyperinflation, increased poverty and malnutrition. To varying degrees, the effects of government policy, the aftermath of Gulf War and the sanctions regime have been blamed for these conditions.

Iraq map

During the late 1990s, the U.N. considered relaxing the sanctions imposed because of the hardships suffered by ordinary Iraqis. Studies dispute the number of people who died in south and central Iraq during the years of the sanctions. It is also disputed whether any extra hardship was caused by the sanctions or whether this was the result of other factors.[26][27][28] However, an oil for food program was established in 1996 to ease the effects of sanctions.

Iraqi cooperation with UN weapons inspection teams was questioned on several occasions during the 1990s. UNSCOM chief weapons inspector Richard Butler withdrew his team from Iraq in November 1998 because of Iraq's lack of cooperation. The team returned in December.[29] Butler prepared a report for the UN Security Council afterwards in which he expressed dissatisfaction with the level of compliance [3]. The same month, US President Bill Clinton authorized air strikes on government targets and military facilities. Air strikes against military facilities and alleged WMD sites continued into 2002.

Recent history (2003–present)[edit]

2003 invasion of Iraq[edit]

Main article: 2003 invasion of Iraq

After the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington in the United States in 2001 were linked to the group formed by the multi-millionaire Saudi Osama bin Laden, American foreign policy began to call for the removal of the Ba'ath government in Iraq. Conservative think-tanks in Washington had for years been urging regime change in Baghdad, but until the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998, official US policy was to simply keep Iraq complying with UN sanctions. The Iraq Liberation Act, codified regime change in Iraq as the official policy of the United States government. It was passed 99-0 by the United States Senate in 1998.

The US urged the United Nations to take military action against Iraq. American president George W. Bush stated that Saddām had repeatedly violated 16 UN Security Council resolutions. The Iraqi government rejected Bush's assertions. A team of U.N. inspectors, led by Swedish diplomat Hans Blix was admitted, into the country; their final report stated that Iraqis capability in producing "weapons of mass destruction" was not significantly different from 1992 when the country dismantled the bulk of their remaining arsenals under terms of the ceasefire agreement with U.N. forces, but did not completely rule out the possibility that Saddam still had Weapons of Mass Destruction. The United States and the United Kingdom charged that Iraq was hiding Weapons and opposed the team's requests for more time to further investigate the matter. Resolution 1441 was passed unanimously by the UN Security Council on November 8, 2002, offering Iraq "a final opportunity to comply with its disarmament obligations" that had been set out in several previous UN resolutions, threatening "serious consequences" if the obligations were not fulfilled. The UN Security Council did not issue a resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraq.

In March 2003 the United States and the United Kingdom, with military aid from other nations, invaded Iraq.

History of Iraq (2003–11)[edit]

Main article: History of Iraq (2003–11)

Occupation zones in Iraq as of September 2003.

U.S. Army soldier searches an Iraqi boy, March 2011

In 2003, after the American and British invasion, Iraq was occupied by Coalition forces. On May 23, 2003, the UN Security Council unanimously approved a resolution lifting all economic sanctions against Iraq.

As the country struggled to rebuild after three wars and a decade of sanctions, it was plagued by violence between a growing Iraqi insurgency and occupation forces. Saddam Hussein, who vanished in April, was captured on December 13, 2003.

Jay Garner was appointed Interim Civil Administrator with three deputies, including Tim Cross. Garner was replaced in May 2003 by L. Paul Bremer, who was himself replaced by John Negroponte on April 19, 2004 who left Iraq in 2005. Negroponte was the last US interim administrator.

Terrorism emerged as a threat to Iraq's people not long after the invasion of 2003. Al Qaeda now has a presence in the country, in the form of several terrorist groups formerly led by Abu Musab Al Zarqawi. Al-Zarqawi was a Jordanian militant Islamist who ran a militant training camp in Afghanistan. He became known after going to Iraq and being responsible for a series of bombings, beheadings and attacks during the Iraq war. Al-zarqawi was killed on June 7, 2006. Many foreign fighters and former Ba'ath Party officials have also joined the insurgency, which is mainly aimed at attacking American forces and Iraqis who work with them. The most dangerous insurgent area is the Sunni Triangle, a mostly Sunni-Muslim area just north of Baghdad.

By the end of 2006 violence continued as the new Iraqi Government struggled to extend complete security within Iraq.

U.S. and Coalition forces remained in Iraq. An increasingly disturbing trend had arisen - sectarian fighting. This new phase of conflict was waged predominately along religious sectarian lines. Fighting was primarily between the majority Shia and the minority Sunni. But there were reports of infighting as well. Reported acts of violence conducted by an uneasy tapestry of insurgents steadily increased by the end of 2006. According to official US figures, these attacks were overwhelming directed at American forces.[30] Also, criminal elements within Iraq's society seemed to perpetuate violence for their own means and ambitions. Further, Islamic Jihadist - of which Al Qaeda in Iraq is a member - continued to use terror and extreme acts of violence promarily against Shia civilians to advance their religious and political agenda(s). The aims of these attacks were not completely clear, but it was argued in 2006/7 that these attacks were aimed at fomenting civil conflict within Iraq to destroy the legitimacy of the newly elected Iraqi government and create an unsustainable position for the U.S. forces within Iraq. The most widely reported evidence of this argument stemmed from the 23 February 2006 attack on the Al Askari Mosque in Samarra, one of Shi'ite Islam's holiest sites. Analysis of the attack suggested that the Mujahideen Shura Council and Al-Qaeda in Iraq were responsible, and that the motivation was to provoke further violence by outraging the Shia population. [4] The Mujahideen Shura Council was said to have been headed by Abdullah Rashid al-Baghdadi.[31] In mid-October 2006, a statement was released, stating that the Mujahideen Shura Council had been disbanded and was replaced by the "Islamic State of Iraq". It was formed to resist efforts by the U.S. and Iraqi authorities to win over Sunni supporters of the insurgency.

In response to attacks like the one against the Askari Mosque, violence escalated. Shia militias, some of whom were associated with elements in the Iraq government, reacted with violence against Sunnis. Additionally, the militias, it appeared in late 2006, had the capability to act outside the scope of government. As a result these powerful militias, it seemed as of late 2006, were leading reprisal acts of violence against the Sunni minority. A cycle of violence thus ensued whereby Sunni insurgent attacks were followed reprisals by Shiite militias- often in the form of Shi'ite death squads that sought out and killed Sunnis. Many commentators on the Iraq War began, by the end of 2006, to refer to this violent escalation as a civil war.

Following a surge in U.S. troops in 2007 and 2008, violence in Iraq began to decrease. The war was declared formally over in December 2011. The U.S. ended their main military presence in 2011.[32]

History of Iraq (2011–present)[edit]

[icon] This section requires expansion. (August 2014)

Main articles: History of Iraq (2011–present), Northern Iraq offensive (June 2014) and Northern Iraq offensive (August 2014)

In December 2013, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) began a broad campaign in northern and western Iraq. By January 2014, they had captured Fallujah and Ramadi.[33] In June 2014, they captured Mosul.[34]

Under pressure from the United States, al-Maiki stepped down in August 2014. [35]

Syria Maps

History of Syria

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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This article or section may be slanted towards recent events. Please try to keep recent events in historical perspective. (December 2012)

Part of a series on the

History of Syria

Tablet featuring the Ugaritic alphabet

Prehistory

Levantine corridor Halaf culture Natufian culture Halaf Abu Hureyra Aswad

Bronze Age

Amorites Aramaeans Canaanites Ebla Yamhad Mari Ugarit Bronze Age collapse

Antiquity

Syro–Hittite states Phoenicia Seleucid Empire Roman Syria Syria Palaestina Palmyrene Empire

Middle Ages

Muslim conquest Umayyad Caliphate (Bilad al-Sham) Seljuk Empire County of Edessa Principality of Antioch County of Tripoli Ilkhanate Mamluk Sultanate

Early modern

Ottoman Syria

Modern

French Mandate

(Arab Kingdom of Syria)

State of Syria Republic of Syria

Timeline

Portal icon Syria portal

v t e

The history of the region now known as Syria, and the nations (or pre-national civilizations) previously occupying its territory:

Prehistory and Ancient Near East: see Pre-history of the Southern Levant, Fertile Crescent, Ebla, Mitanni

Antiquity: see Syro-Hittite states, Greater Syria, Roman Syria

Middle Ages: see Muslim conquest of Syria, Umayyad Caliphate, Seljuk Empire, County of Edessa, Principality of Antioch, Mongol invasions of Syria, Ilkhanate, Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo)

Modern era: see Ottoman Syria, French Mandate of Syria, Modern history of Syria (1946 to present)

Contents  [hide]

1 Prehistory

2 Ancient Syria

3 Medieval era

4 Ottoman era

5 French Mandate

6 Independence, war and instability

7 Syria under Hafez al-Assad (1970–2000)

8 Syria under Bashar al-Assad (2000–present)

9 Civil War (2011–present)

10 See also

11 References

12 Bibliography

13 External links

Prehistory[edit]

Female figurine, Syria, 5000 BC. Ancient Orient Museum.

The oldest remains found in Syria date from the Palaeolithic era (c.800,000 BC). On 23 August 1993 a joint Japan-Syria excavation team discovered fossilized Paleolithic human remains at the Dederiyeh Cave some 400 km north of Damascus. The bones found in this massive cave were those of a Neanderthal child, estimated to have been about two years old, who lived in the Middle Palaeolithic era (ca. 200,000 to 40,000 years ago). Although many Neanderthal bones had been discovered already, this was practically the first time that an almost complete child's skeleton had been found in its original burial state.[1]

Archaeologists have demonstrated that civilization in Syria was one of the most ancient on earth. Syria is part of the Fertile Crescent, and since approximately 10,000 BC it was one of the centers of Neolithic culture (PPNA) where agriculture and cattle breeding appeared for the first time in the world. The Neolithic period (PPNB) is represented by rectangular houses of the Mureybet culture. In the early Neolithic period, people used vessels made of stone, gyps and burnt lime. Finds of obsidian tools from Anatolia are evidence of early trade relations. The cities of Hamoukar and Emar flourished during the late Neolithic and Bronze Age.

Ancient Syria[edit]

See also: Ebla and Syria (Roman province)

Clay tablet from Ebla's archive

The ruins of Ebla, near Idlib in northern Syria, were discovered and excavated in 1975. Ebla appears to have been an East Semitic speaking city-state founded around 3000 BC. At its zenith, from about 2500 to 2400 BC, it may have controlled an empire reaching north to Anatolia, east to Mesopotamia and south to the Red Sea. Ebla traded with the Mesopotamian states of Sumer Akkad and Assyria, as well as with peoples to the northwest.[2] Gifts from Pharaohs, found during excavations, confirm Ebla's contact with Egypt. Scholars believe the language of Ebla was closely related to the fellow East Semitic Akkadian language of Mesopotamia[3] and to be among the oldest known written languages.[2]

Ebla was probably conquered by Sargon of Akkad around 2330 BC. The city re-emerged, as the part of the nation of the Northwest Semitic speaking Amorites, a few centuries later, and flourished through the early second millennium BC until conquered by the Indo-European Hittites.[4] From the third millennium BC, Syria was occupied successively by Sumerians, Egyptians, Hittites, Assyrians and Babylonians.[2] The region was fought over by the rival empires of the Hittites, Egyptians, Assyrians and Mitanni between the 15th and 13th centuries BC, with the Middle Assyrian Empire eventually left controlling Syria.

When the Middle Assyrian Empire began to deteriorate in the late 11th century BC, Canaanites and Phoenicians, came to the fore and occupied the coast, and Arameans supplanted the Amorites in the interior, as part of the general disruptions and exchanges associated with the Bronze Age Collapse and the Sea Peoples. From the 10th century BC the Neo-Assyrian Empire arose, and Syria was ruled by Assyria for the next three centuries, until the late 7th century BC. After this empire finally collapsed, Mesopotamian dominance continued for a time with the short lived Neo-Babylonian Empire, which ruled the region for 70 or so years.

Eventually, in 539 BC, the Persians took Syria as part of their empire. This dominion ended with the conquests of the Macedonian Greek king, Alexander the Great in 333-332 BC. Syria was then incorporated into the Seleucid Empire. The capital of this Empire (founded in 312 BC) was situated at Antioch, then a part of historical Syria, but just inside the Turkish border today. The Roman general Pompey the Great captured Antioch in 64 BC, turning Syria into a Roman province.[2]

The city of Antioch was the third largest city in the Roman Empire, after Rome and Alexandria. With an estimated population of 500,000 at its peak, Antioch was one of the major centers of trade and industry in the ancient world. The largely Aramaic speaking population of Syria during the heyday of the empire was probably not exceeded again until the 19th century. Syria's large and prosperous population made it one of the most important Roman provinces, particularly during the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE.[5]

Roman theatre in Bosra

Philip the Arab, Roman Emperor

Syria is significant in the history of Christianity; Paul the Apostle was converted on the Road to Damascus and emerged as a significant figure in the Christian Church at Antioch, from where he set off on many of his missionary journeys. (Acts 9:1–43)

The Roman emperor Elagabalus (218-222) was half-Aramean, and his family held hereditary rights to the high priesthood of the sun god El-Gabal at Emesa, (modern Homs) in Syria. He was succeeded by his cousin Alexander Severus (222 to 235) who was also from Syria. Another Roman emperor who was Syrian was Philip the Arab (Marcus Julius Philippus), emperor from 244 to 249.[5]

Palmyra, a wealthy and powerful indigenous Aramean state arose in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, and for a short time it was the center of the Palmyrene Empire, which briefly rivalled Rome.

With the decline of the empire in the west, Syria became part of the East Roman, or Byzantine, Empire in 395.

Medieval era[edit]

Main articles: Umayyad Caliphate, Abbasid Caliphate, Ayyubid dynasty, Zengid dynasty and Hamdanid dynasty

Church of Saint Simeon Stylites near Aleppo is considered to be one of the oldest surviving churches in the world

The Umayyad Mosque, Damascus

In 634-640, Syria was conquered by the Muslim Arabs in the form of the Rashidun army led by Khalid ibn al-Walid, resulting in the region becoming part of the Islamic empire. In the mid-7th century, the Umayyad dynasty, then rulers of the empire, placed the capital of the empire in Damascus. Syria was divided into four districts: Damascus, Homs, Palestine and Jordan. The Islamic empire expanded rapidly and at its height stretched from Spain to India and parts of Central Asia; thus Syria prospered economically, being the centre of the empire. Early Umayyad rulers such as Abd al-Malik and Al-Walid I constructed several splendid palaces and mosques throughout Syria, particularly in Damascus, Aleppo and Homs.

There was complete toleration of Christians (mostly ethnic Arameans and in the north east, Assyrians) in this era and several held governmental posts. In the mid-8th century, the Caliphate collapsed amid dynastic struggles, regional revolts and religious disputes. The Umayyad dynasty was overthrown by the Abbasid dynasty in 750, who moved the capital of empire to Baghdad. Arabic — made official under Umayyad rule — became the dominant language, replacing Greek and Aramaic in the Abbasid era. For periods, Syria was ruled from Egypt, under the Tulunids (887-905), and then, after a period of anarchy, the Ikhshidids (941-969). Northern Syria came under the Hamdanids of Aleppo.[6]

Krak des Chevaliers from the South-West

The court of Ali Saif al-Daula, 'Sword of the State,' (944-967) was a center of culture, thanks to its nurturing of Arabic literature. He resisted Byzantine expansion by skillful defensive tactics and counter-raids into Anatolia. After his death, the Byzantines captured Antioch and Aleppo (969). Syria was then in turmoil as a battleground between the Hamdanids, Byzantines and Damascus-based Fatimids. The Byzantines had conquered all of Syria by 996, but the chaos continued for much of the 11th century as the Byzantines, Fatimids and Buyids of Baghdad engaged in a struggle for supremacy. Syria was then conquered by the Seljuk Turks (1084-1086). After a century of Seljuk rule, Syria was conquered (1175-1185) by Saladin, founder of the Ayyubid dynasty of Egypt.

During the 12th-13th centuries, parts of Syria were held by Crusader states: the County of Edessa (1098-1149), the Principality of Antioch (1098-1268) and County of Tripoli (1109-1289). The area was also threatened by Shi'a extremists known as Assassins (Hassassin) and in 1260 the Mongols briefly swept through Syria. The withdrawal of the main Mongol army prompted the Mamluks of Egypt to invade and conquer Syria. In addition to the sultanate's capital in Cairo, the Mamluk leader, Baibars, made Damascus a provincial capital, with the cities linked by a mail service that traveled by both horses and carrier pigeons. The Mamluks eliminated the last of the Crusader footholds in Syria and repulsed several Mongol invasions.

Citadel of Aleppo is considered to be one of the oldest and largest castles in the world.

In 1400, Timur Lenk, or Tamerlane, invaded Syria, defeated the Mamluk army at Aleppo and captured Damascus. Many of the city's inhabitants were massacred, except for the artisans, who were deported to Samarkand.[7][8] At this time the Christian population of Syria suffered persecution.

By the end of the 15th century, the discovery of a sea route from Europe to the Far East ended the need for an overland trade route through Syria. In 1516, the Ottoman Empire conquered Syria.

Ottoman era[edit]

Main article: Ottoman Syria

Ottoman-Syrian dress in the 19th century.

Ottoman Sultan Selim I conquered most of Syria in 1516 after defeating the Mamlukes at the Battle of Marj Dabiq near Aleppo. Syria was part of the Ottoman Empire from 1516 to 1918, although with 2 brief captures by the Iranian Safavids, notably under Shah Ismail I and Shah Abbas. Ottoman rule was not burdensome to the Syrians because the Turks, as Muslims, respected Arabic as the language of the Koran, and accepted the mantle of defenders of the faith. Damascus became the major entrepot for Mecca, and as such it acquired a holy character to Muslims, because of the barakah (spiritual force or blessing) of the countless pilgrims who passed through on the hadj, the pilgrimage to Mecca.[9]

The Ottoman Turks reorganized Syria into one large province or eyalet. The eyalet was subdivided into several districts or sanjaks. In 1549, Syria was reorganized into two eyalets; the Eyalet of Damascus and the new Eyalet of Aleppo. In 1579, the Eyalet of Tripoli which included Latakia, Hama and Homs was established. In 1586, the Eyalet of Raqqa was established in eastern Syria. Ottoman administration was such that it fostered a peaceful coexistence amongst the different sections of Syrian society for over four hundred years. Each religious minority — Shia Muslim, Greek Orthodox, Maronite, Armenian, and Jewish — constituted a millet. The religious heads of each community administered all personal status law and performed certain civil functions as well.[9]

As part of the Tanzimat reforms, an Ottoman law passed in 1864 provided for a standard provincial administration throughout the empire with the Eyalets becoming smaller Vilayets governed by a Wali, or governor, still appointed by the Sultan but with new provincial assemblies participating in administration. The territory of Greater Syria in the final period of Ottoman rule included modern Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Palestinian Authority, Gaza Strip and parts of Turkey and Iraq.

During World War I, French diplomat François Georges-Picot and British diplomat Mark Sykes secretly agreed on the post war division of the Ottoman Empire into respective zones of influence in the Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916. In October 1918, Arab and British troops advanced into Syria and captured Damascus and Aleppo. In line with the Sykes-Picot agreement, Syria became a League of Nations mandate under French control in 1920.[10]

French Mandate[edit]

Main article: French Mandate for Syria and Lebanon

The States of the French Mandate

Map marking boundary between British and French territory

In 1920, a short-lived independent Kingdom of Syria was established under Emir Faisal I of the Hashemite dynasty, who later became the king of Iraq. In March 1920, the Syrian National Congress proclaimed Faisal as king of Syria "in its natural boundaries" from the Taurus mountains in Turkey to the Sinai desert in Egypt. However, his rule in Syria ended after only a few months, following a clash between his Syrian Arab forces and French forces at the Battle of Maysalun. French troops took control of Syria and forced Faisal to flee. Later that year the San Remo conference split up Faisal's kingdom by placing Syria-Lebanon under a French mandate, and Palestine under British control. Syria was divided into three autonomous regions by the French, with separate areas for the Alawis on the coast and the Druze in the south.[11]

Nationalist agitation against French rule led to Sultan al-Atrash leading a revolt that broke out in the Druze Mountain in 1925 and spread across the whole of Syria and parts of Lebanon. The revolt saw fierce battles between rebel and French forces in Damascus, Homs and Hama before it was suppressed in 1926.

The inauguration of President Hashim al-Atassi in 1936

The French sentenced Sultan al-Atrash to death, but he had escaped with the rebels to Transjordan and was eventually pardoned. He returned to Syria in 1937 and was met with a huge public reception. Elections were held in 1928 for a constituent assembly, which drafted a constitution for Syria. However, the French High Commissioner rejected the proposals, sparking nationalist protests.

Syria and France negotiated a treaty of independence in September 1936. France agreed to Syrian independence in principle although maintained French military and economic dominance. Hashim al-Atassi, who had been Prime Minister under King Faisal's brief reign, was the first president to be elected under a new constitution, effectively the first incarnation of the modern republic of Syria. However, the treaty never came into force because the French Legislature refused to ratify it. With the fall of France in 1940 during World War II, Syria came under the control of Vichy France until the British and Free French occupied the country in the Syria-Lebanon campaign in July 1941. Syria proclaimed its independence again in 1941, but it was not until 1 January 1944 that it was recognised as an independent republic. There were protests in 1945 over the slow pace of French withdrawal. Continuing pressure from Syrian nationalist groups forced the French to evacuate the last of their troops in April 1946, leaving the country in the hands of a republican government that had been formed during the mandate.[12]

Independence, war and instability[edit]

Main articles: Syrian Republic (1930–1958), United Arab Republic and 1963 Syrian coup d'état

Syria became independent on 17 April 1946. Syrian politics from independence through the late 1960s were marked by upheaval. Between 1946 and 1956, Syria had 20 different cabinets and drafted four separate constitutions.

In 1948, Syria was involved in the Arab-Israeli War, aligning with the other local Arab states who were opposed to the establishment of the state of Israel.[13] The Syrian army entered northern Palestine but, after bitter fighting, was gradually driven back to the Golan Heights by the Israelis. An armistice was agreed in July 1949. A "supposed" demilitarized zone under UN supervision was established; the status of these territories proved a stumbling-block for all future Syrian-Israeli negotiations. It was during this period that many Syrian Jews, who faced growing discrimination, left Syria as part of Jewish exodus from Arab countries.

Iraq Troops

President Adib Shishakli

The outcome of the war was one of factors behind the March 1949 Syrian coup d'état by Col. Husni al-Za'im, in what has been described as the first military overthrow of the Arab World[13] since the Second World War. This was soon followed by another coup by Col. Sami al-Hinnawi.[13] Army officer Adib Shishakli seized power in the third military coup of 1949. A Jabal al-Druze uprising was suppressed after extensive fighting (1953–54). Growing discontent eventually led to another coup, in which Shishakli was overthrown in February 1954. The Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, founded in 1947, played a part in the overthrow of Shishakli. Veteran nationalist Shukri al-Quwatli was president from 1955 until 1958, but by then his post was largely ceremonial.

Power was increasingly concentrated in the military and security establishment, which had proved itself to be the only force capable of seizing and, perhaps, keeping power.[13] Parliamentary institutions remained weak, dominated by competing parties representing the landowning elites and various Sunni urban notables, whilst the economy was mismanaged and little was done to better the role of Syria's peasant majority. In November 1956, as a direct result of the Suez Crisis,[14] Syria signed a pact with the Soviet Union, providing a foothold for Communist influence within the government in exchange for planes, tanks, and other military equipment being sent to Syria.[13] This increase in Syrian military strength worried Turkey, as it seemed feasible that Syria might attempt to retake İskenderun, a matter of dispute between Syria and Turkey. On the other hand, Syria and the Soviet Union accused Turkey of massing its troops on the Syrian border. Only heated debates in the United Nations (of which Syria was an original member) lessened the threat of war.[15]

In this context, the influence of Nasserism, Pan-Arab and anti-imperial ideologies created fertile ground for the idea of closer ties with Egypt.[13][16] 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.[13] On 1 February 1958, Syrian President al-Quwatli and Nasser announced the merging of the two states, creating the United Arab Republic.[12] The union was not a success, however.[13] Discontent with Egyptian dominance of the UAR, led elements opposed to the union under Abd al-Karim al-Nahlawi, to seize power on 28 September 1961. Two days later, Syria re-established itself as the Syrian Arab Republic. Frequent coups, military revolts, civil disorders and bloody riots characterized the 1960s. The 8 March 1963 coup, resulted in installation 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. The takeover was engineered by members of the Ba'ath Party led by Michel Aflaq and Salah al-Din al-Bitar. The new cabinet was dominated by Ba'ath members; the moderate al-Bitar became premier.[12][13] He was overthrown early in 1966 by left-wing military dissidents of the party led by General Salah Jadid.

Under Jadid's rule, Syria aligned itself with the Soviet bloc and pursued hardline policies towards Israel[17] and "reactionary" Arab states especially Saudi Arabia, calling for the mobilization of a "people's war" against Zionism rather than inter-Arab military alliances. Domestically, Jadid attempted a socialist transformation of Syrian society at forced pace, creating unrest and economical difficulties. Opponents of the regime were harshly suppressed, while the Ba'ath Party replaced parliament as law-making body and other parties were banned. Public support for his regime, such as it was, declined sharply following Syria's defeat in the 1967 Six Day War,[18] when Israel destroyed much of Syria's air force and captured the Golan Heights.[19][20]

Conflicts also arose over different interpretations of the legal status of the Demilitarized Zone. Israel maintained that it had sovereign rights over the zone, allowing the civilian use of farmland. Syria and the UN maintained that no party had sovereign rights over the zone.[21] Israel was accused by Syria of cultivating lands in the Demilitarized Zone, using armored tractors backed by Israel forces. Syria claimed that the situation was the result of an Israeli aim to increase tension so as to justify large-scale aggression, and to expand its occupation of the Demilitarized Zone by liquidating the rights of Arab cultivators.[22] The Israeli defense minister Moshe Dayan said in a 1976 interview that Israel provoked more than 80% of the clashes with Syria.[23][24]

Conflict developed between right-wing army officers and the 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.[25] On 13 November 1970, Minister of Defense Hafez al-Assad seized power in a bloodless military overthrow ("The Corrective Movement").[26]

Syria under Hafez al-Assad (1970–2000)[edit]

See also: Ba'ath Party (Syrian-led faction) and Hafez al-Assad

Upon assuming power, Hafez al-Assad moved quickly to create an organizational infrastructure for his government and to consolidate control. The Provisional Regional Command of Assad's Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party nominated a 173-member legislature, the People's Council, in which the Ba'ath 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.

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 Ba'ath Party, and elections were held to establish local councils in each of Syria's 14 governorates. 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.[12] The 1973 Constitution defined Syria as a secular socialist state with Islam recognised as the majority religion.

On 6 October 1973, Syria and Egypt initiated the Yom Kippur War by launching a surprise attack on Israel. After intense fighting, the Syrians were repulsed in the Golan Heights. The Israelis pushed deeper into Syrian territory, beyond the 1967 boundary. As a result, Israel continues to occupy the Golan Heights as part of the Israeli-occupied territories.[27] In 1975, Assad said he would be prepared to make peace with Israel in return for an Israeli withdrawal from "all occupied Arab land".

In 1976, the Syrian army intervened in the Lebanese civil war to ensure that the status quo was maintained, and the Maronite Christians remained in power. This was the beginning of what turned out to be a thirty-year Syrian military occupation. Many crimes in Lebanon, including the accused assassinations of Rafik Hariri, Kamal Jumblat and Bachir Gemayel were attributed to the Syrian forces and intelligence services although were not proven to this day.[28] In 1981 Israel declared its annexation of the Golan Heights. The following year, Israel invaded Lebanon and attacked the Syrian army, forcing it to withdraw from several areas. When Lebanon and Israel announced the end of hostilities in 1983, Syrian forces remained in Lebanon. Through extensive use of proxy militias, Syria attempted to stop Israel from taking over southern Lebanon. Assad sent troops into Lebanon for a second time in 1987 to enforce a ceasefire in Beirut.

The Syrian-sponsored Taif Agreement finally brought the Lebanese civil war to an end in 1990. However, the Syrian Army's presence in Lebanon continued until 2005, exerting a strong influence over Lebanese politics. The assassination of the popular former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, was blamed on Syria, and pressure was put on Syria to withdraw their forces from Lebanon. On 26 April 2005 the bulk of the Syrian forces withdrew from Lebanon[29] although some of its intelligence operatives remained, drawing further international rebuke.[30]

Hafez al-Assad greets Richard Nixon on his arrival at Damascus airport in 1974

About one million Syrian workers went to Lebanon after the war to find jobs in the reconstruction of the country.[31] In 1994 the Lebanese government controversially granted citizenship to over 200,000 Syrian residents in the country.[32] (For more on these issues, see Demographics of Lebanon)

The government was not without its critics, though open dissent was repressed. A serious challenge arose in the late 1970s, however, from fundamentalist Sunni Muslims, who rejected the secular values of the Ba'ath program and objected to rule by the Shia Alawis. After the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Muslim groups instigated uprisings and riots in Aleppo, Homs and Hama and attempted to assassinate Assad in 1980. In response, Assad began to stress Syria's adherence to Islam. At the start of Iran-Iraq war, in September 1980, Syria supported Iran, in keeping with the traditional rivalry between Ba'athist leaderships in Iraq and Syria. The arch-conservative Muslim Brotherhood, centered in the city of Hama, was finally crushed in February 1982 when parts of the city were hit by artillery fire and leaving between 10,000 and 25,000 people, mostly civilians, dead or wounded (see Hama massacre).[33] The government's actions at Hama have been described as possibly being "the single deadliest act by any Arab government against its own people in the modern Middle East".[34] Since then, public manifestations of anti-government activity have been limited.[12]

When Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, Syria joined the US-led coalition against Iraq. This led to improved relations with the US and other Arab states. Syria participated in the multilateral Southwest Asia Peace Conference in Madrid in October 1991, and during the 1990s engaged in direct negotiations with Israel. These negotiations failed over the Golan Heights issue and there have been no further direct Syrian-Israeli talks since President Hafez al-Assad's meeting with then President Bill Clinton in Geneva in March 2000.[35]

In 1994, Assad's son Bassel al-Assad, who was likely to succeed his father, was killed in a car accident. Assad's brother, Rifaat al-Assad, was "relieved of his post" as vice-president in 1998. Thus, when Assad died in 2000, his second son, Bashar al-Assad was chosen as his successor.

Syria under Bashar al-Assad (2000–present)[edit]

See also: Bashar al-Assad

Syrian president Bashar al-Assad (left) with Brazilian then-president Lula da Silva (right), 2010

Hafez al-Assad died on 10 June 2000, after 30 years in power. Immediately following al-Assad's death, the Syrian Parliament amended the constitution, reducing the mandatory minimum age of the President from 40 to 34. This allowed Bashar Assad to become eligible for nomination by the ruling Ba'ath 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.[12]

The period after Bashar al-Assad's election in the summer of 2000 saw new hopes of reform and was dubbed the Damascus Spring. 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. The phenomenon of salons spread rapidly in Damascus and to a lesser extent in other cities. Political activists, such as Riad Seif, Haitham al-Maleh, Kamal al-Labwani, Riyad al-Turk, and Aref Dalila were important in mobilizing the movement.[36] The most famous of the forums were the Riad Seif Forum and the Jamal al-Atassi Forum. Pro-democracy activists mobilized around a number of political demands, expressed in the "Manifesto of the 99". Assad ordered the release of some 600 political prisoners in November 2000. The outlawed Muslim Brotherhood resumed its political activity. In May 2001 Pope John Paul II paid a historic visit to Syria.

However, by the autumn of 2001, the authorities had suppressed the pro-reform movement, crushing hopes of a break with the authoritarian past of Hafez al-Assad. Arrests of leading intellectuals continued, punctuated by occasional amnesties, over the following decade. Although the Damascus Spring had lasted for a short period, its effects still echo during the political, cultural and intellectual debates in Syria today.[37]

Tensions with the USA grew worse after 2002, when the US claimed Damascus was acquiring weapons of mass destruction and included Syria in a list of states that they said made-up an "axis of evil". The USA was critical of Syria because of its strong relationships with Hamas, the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine and Hezbollah, which the USA, Israel and EU regard as terrorist groups. In 2003 the US threatened sanctions if Damascus failed to make what Washington called the "right decisions". Syria denied US allegations that it was developing chemical weapons and helping fugitive Iraqis. An Israeli air strike against a Palestinian militant camp near Damascus in October 2003 was described by Syria as "military aggression".[38] President Assad visited Turkey in January 2004, the first Syrian leader to do so. The trip marked the end of decades of frosty relations, although ties were to sour again after 2011. In May 2004, the USA imposed economic sanctions on Syria over what it called its support for terrorism and failure to stop militants entering Iraq.[39] Tensions with the US escalated in early 2005 after the killing of the former Lebanese PM Hariri in Beirut. Washington cited Syrian influence in Lebanon behind the assassination. Damascus was urged to withdraw its forces from Lebanon, which it did by April.[40]

Following 2004 al-Qamishli riots, the Syrian Kurds protested in Brussels, in Geneva, in Germany, at the US and UK embassies, and in Turkey. The protesters pledged against violence in north-east Syria starting Friday, 12 March 2004, and reportedly extending over the weekend resulting in several deaths, according to reports. The Kurds allege the Syrian government encouraged and armed the attackers. Signs of rioting were seen in the towns of Qameshli and Hassakeh.[41]

Renewed opposition activity occurred in October 2005 when activist Michel Kilo and other opposition figures launched the Damascus Declaration, which criticized the Syrian government as "authoritarian, totalitarian and cliquish" and called for democratic reform.[42] Leading dissidents Kamal al-Labwani and Michel Kilo were sentenced to a long jail terms in 2007, only weeks after human rights lawyer Anwar al-Bunni was jailed. Although Bashar al-Assad said he would reform, the reforms have been limited to some market reforms.[33][43][44]

Over the years the authorities have tightened Internet censorship with laws such as forcing Internet cafes to record all the comments users post on chat forums.[45] While the authorities have relaxed rules so that radio channels can now play Western pop music, websites such as Wikipedia, YouTube, Facebook and Amazon have been blocked,[46] but were recently unblocked throughout the nation.[47][48]

Syria's international relations improved for a period. Diplomatic relations with Iraq were restored in 2006, after nearly a quarter century. In March 2007, dialogue between Syria and the European Union was relaunched. The following month saw US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi meet President Assad in Damascus, although President Bush objected.[49][50][51][52] Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice then met with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem in Egypt, in the first contact at this level for two years.[53][54][55]

An Israeli air strike against a site in northern Syria in September 2007 was a setback to improving relations. The Israelis claimed the site was a nuclear facility under construction with North Korean help.[56] 2008 March - When Syria hosted an Arab League summit in 2008, many Western states sent low-level delegations in protest at Syria's stance on Lebanon. However, the diplomatic thaw was resumed when President Assad met the then French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris in July 2008. The visit signaled the end of Syria's diplomatic isolation by the West that followed the assassination of Hariri in 2005. While in Paris, President Assad also met the recently elected Lebanese president, Michel Suleiman. The two men laid the foundations for establishing full diplomatic relations between their countries. Later in the year, Damascus hosted a four-way summit between Syria, France, Turkey and Qatar, in a bid to boost efforts towards Middle East peace.

In April 2008, President Assad told a Qatari newspaper that Syria and Israel had been discussing a peace treaty for a year, with Turkey acting as a mediator. This was confirmed in May 2008 by a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. The status of the Golan Heights, a major obstacle to a peace treaty, was being discussed.[57]

In 2008, an explosion killed 17 on the outskirts of Damascus, the most deadly attack in Syria in several years. The government blamed Islamist militants.[58][59][60]

2009 saw a number of high level meetings between Syrian and US government diplomats and officials. US special envoy George J. Mitchell visited for talks with President Assad on Middle East peace.[61][62][63][64] Trading launched on Syria's stock exchange in a gesture towards liberalising the state-controlled economy.[65][66][67] The Syrian writer and pro-democracy campaigner Michel Kilo was released from prison after serving a three-year sentence.[68][69] In 2010, the USA posted its first ambassador to Syria after a five-year break.[70][71][72]

The thaw in diplomatic relations came to an abrupt end. In May 2010, the USA renewed sanctions against Syria, saying that it supported terrorist groups, seeks weapons of mass destruction and has provided Lebanon's Hezbollah with Scud missiles in violation of UN resolutions.[73][74][75] In 2011 the UN's IAEA nuclear watchdog reported Syria to the UN Security Council over its alleged covert nuclear programme.[76][77]

Civil War (2011–present)[edit]

Main article: Syrian civil war

Current military situation in Syria.

  Controlled by the Syrian government

  Controlled by Kurdish forces

  Controlled by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant

  Controlled by other rebels

-----------------------------------------------------------

  (under Israeli occupation)

(For a more detailed map, see Cities and towns during the Syrian Civil War)

Flag of Syria (1932-58) used by the Syrian opposition[78][79][80][81]

The Syrian Uprising (later known as the Syrian civil war) is an ongoing internal conflict between the Syrian army and the rebel groups composed by many heterogeneos branches, as Takfiris. Al Qaeda linked terrorists like Al Nostra and also some Syrian opponents Free Syrian Army. Encouraged by the Arab Spring, there were pro-reform protests in Damascus and the southern city of Deraa in March 2011. Protestors demanded political freedom and the release of political prisoners. This was immediately followed by a government crackdown whereby the Syrian Army was deployed to quell unrest.[82][83]

Security forces shot and killed a number of people in Deraa, triggering days of violent unrest that steadily spread nationwide over the following months. There were unconfirmed reports that soldiers who refused to open fire on civilians were summarily executed.[84] The Syrian government denied reports of executions and defections, and blamed militant armed groups for causing trouble.[85] President Assad announced some conciliatory measures: dozens of political prisoners were released, he dismissed the government, and in April he lifted the 48-year-old state of emergency. The government accused protesters of being stirred up by Israeli agents, and in May, army tanks entered Deraa, Banyas, Homs and the suburbs of Damascus in an effort to crush anti-regime protests. In June, the government claimed that in 120 members of the security forces had been killed by "armed gangs" in the northwestern town of Jisr al-Shughour. Troops besieged the town, whose inhabitants mostly fled to Turkey. At the same time, President Assad pledged to start a "national dialogue" on reform. He sacked the governor of the northern province of Hama and sent in more troops to restore order.

In July 2011, some of the anti-Assad groups met in Istanbul with a view to bringing the various internal and external opposition groups together. They agreed to form the Syrian National Council. Rebel fighters were joined by army defectors on the Turkish-Syrian border and declared the formation of the Free Syrian Army (FSA). They began forming fighting units to escalate the insurgency from September 2011. From the outset, the FSA was a disparate collection of loosely organized and largely independent units.

In December 2011, Syria agreed to an Arab League initiative allowing Arab observers into the country. Thousand of people gathered in Homs to greet them, but the League suspended the mission in January 2012, citing worsening violence. Twin suicide bomb attacks outside security buildings in Damascus killed 44 people in December 2011. This was the first in a series of bombings and suicide attacks in the Syrian capital that continued throughout 2012. The opposition accuses the government itself of staging the attacks. The government accuses the Western media of turning a blind eye to the rebels' use of al-Qaeda-style terrorist attacks.

As the Syrian army recaptured the Homs district of Baba Amr in March 2012, the UN Security Council endorsed a non-binding peace plan drafted by UN envoy Kofi Annan. However, the violence continued unabated. A number of Western nations expelled senior Syrian diplomats in protest. In May, the UN Security Council strongly condemned both the Syrian government's use of heavy weaponry and the massacre by rebels of over a hundred civilians in Houla, near Homs.

The UN reported that, in the first six months alone, 9,100–11,000 people had been killed during the insurgency, of which 2,470–3,500 were actual combatants and rest were civilians.[86][87][88] The Syrian government estimated that more than 3,000 civilians, 2,000–2,500 members of the security forces and over 800 rebels had been killed.[89] UN observers estimated that the death toll in the first six months included over 400 children.[90][91][92][93][94] Additionally, some media reported that over 600 political prisoners and detainees, some of them children, have died in custody.[95] A prominent case was that of Hamza Al-Khateeb. Syria's government has disputed Western and UN casualty estimates, characterizing their claims as being based on false reports originating from rebel groups.[96]

According to the UN, about 1.2 million Syrians had been internally displaced within the country[97] and over 355,000 Syrian refugees had fled to the neighboring countries of Jordan,[98] Iraq,[99] Lebanon and Turkey during the first year of fighting.[97][100]

Both sides have been accused of human rights abuses. The United Nations Human Rights Council has found numerous incidents of torture, summary executions and attacks on cultural property. The Syrian government has been accused of committing the majority of war crimes, although independent verification has proven extremely difficult.[101] The conflict has the hallmarks of a sectarian civil war; the leading government figures are Shia Alawites, whilst the rebels are mainly Sunni Muslims. Although neither side in the conflict has described sectarianism as playing a major role,[102] the UN Human Rights Council has warned that "entire communities are at risk of being forced out of the country or of being killed."[103] The conflict has increasingly forced minorities to align themselves with one side or another, with Christians, Druze and Armenians largely siding with the government while Turkmen are mostly anti-government. Palestinians have split, while Kurds have fought against both rebels and government forces. Some Christian communities have formed militias to protect their neighborhoods from rebel fighters. International religious freedom groups have been drawing attention to the plight of Syria’s Christian minority at the hands of the rebel jihadist elements. Churches have been destroyed, killings and kidnapping reported, and Christians driven out of their homes. Almost the entire Christian population of Homs - 50,000-60,000 people - have fled the city.[104]

The Arab League, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, GCC states, the USA and the European Union have condemned the use of violence by the Syrian government and applied sanctions against Syria. China and Russia have sought to avoid foreign intervention and called for a negotiated settlement. They have avoided condemning the Syrian government and disagree with sanctions. China has sought to engage with the Syrian opposition.[105] The Arab League and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation have both suspended Syria's membership.[106][107]

In June 2012 a number of high-ranking military and political personnel, such as Manaf Tlas[108] and Nawaf al-Fares, fled the country. Nawaf al-Fares stated in a video that this was in response to crimes against humanity by the Assad regime.[109] In August 2012, the country’s Deputy Prime Minister Qadri Jamil said President Assad's resignation could not be a condition for starting peace negotiations.[110]

Syria-Turkish tension increased in October 2012, when Syrian mortar fire hit a Turkish border town and killed five civilians. Turkey returned fire and intercepted a Syrian plane allegedly carrying arms from Russia. Both countries banned each other's planes from their air space. In the south, the Israeli military fired on Syrian units after alleging shelling from Syrian positions across the Golan Heights.

After heavy fighting, a fire destroyed much of the historic market of Aleppo in October. A UN-brokered ceasefire during the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha soon broke down as fighting and bomb attacks continued in several cities. By this time, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent estimated that 2.5 million people had been displaced within Syria, double the previous estimate. According to the anti-Assad Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, almost 44,000 people have died since the insurgency against began. According to a UN report, the humanitarian situation has been "aggravated by widespread destruction and razing of residential areas." "Towns and villages across Latakia, Idlib, Hama and Dara’a governorates have been effectively emptied of their populations," the report said. "Entire neighborhoods in southern and eastern Damascus, Deir al-Zour and Aleppo have been razed. The downtown of Homs city has been devastated."[103]

In November 2012, the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, commonly named the 'Syrian National Coalition' was formed at a meeting hosted by Qatar. Islamist militias in Aleppo, including the Al-Nusra and Al-Tawhid groups, refused to join the Coalition, denouncing it as a "conspiracy". There is also concern over Muslim Brotherhood or Islamist domination of the anti-Assad coalition.[104] Despite this, in December 2012, the USA, the Gulf states, Turkey and many EU members moved quickly to recognise the coalition as the "sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people" rather than the former main rebel group, the Syrian National Council. The USA and Gulf states wanted a reshaped opposition coalition to include more Syrians who were fighting on the ground – as opposed to those who had been in exile for decades – and one that was more broadly representative of all Syria’s regions. At the same times, the U.S. has added al-Nusra - one of the most successful rebel military groups - to its terrorist list, citing ties to al-Qaeda.

On 20 December 2012, a UN Independent Commission of Inquiry said that Syria's newest insurgent groups increasingly operate independently of the rebel command and some are affiliated with al-Qaeda. Many of the insurgents are foreign fighters; "Sunnis hailing from countries in the Middle East and North Africa," and are linked to extremist groups.[103]

A sarin gas attack occurred in Syria, near Damascus, on 21 August 2013. The attack is alleged to have been carried out by the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad according to French and United States' government's intelligence.[111][112][113] However, Russia, one of the Syrian government's international supporters, seems unconvinced of the origins of the attack.[114] The attack has led to increased international pressure on the Assad government and threat of international military intervention in Syria led by United States armed forces. (Continoe)

Salafiyyun And Islamic State

by

Shaikh Salim bin Al-Hilali Id hafizhahullahu

Question.

Shaikh Salim bin Id al-Hilali asked: How does our attitude in dealing with doubtful that leveled directed toward as-Salafiyyun, that as-Salafiyyun not concerned with the problem Iqamatud Daulah or Khilafah Al-Islamiyah (Establishing or building the state and the rule of Islam)?

Answer

Alhamdulillah, wash-shalatu was-salamu 'ala Rasulillah, wa' ala alihi wa wa ash habihi walah man.

As was already mentioned by Shaikh Ali Hafizhahullah that doubtful-doubtful that many [1]. So the answer it was taking a long time. Therefore, he summed it up. And what he has to say is enough.

However, when the problem in question relating to the affairs of state and government, then this problem is the biggest problem, and is the biggest reason that raised up and inflame the youth is very easy to do takfir (pengkafiran) and uprisings or demonstrations, and even act anarchist. Most of these problems have been described by Shaikh Ali Hafizhahullah and I will explain from the other side, which is more closely related to political issues or state briefly anyway, God willing.

The first time that we should understand is that the country where the Muslim call to prayer echoed inside, enforced prayer, the majority of the Muslims lawless state with Islamic law, then this country is an Islamic state. Because of the differences between the Islamic state with the heathen nations, as already mentioned by Al-Sunnah Ushulus Muzani in the book, is the call to prayer echoed and enforced prayer in it.

Therefore, the people who say "you do not care about the iqamatud Daulatil Islamiyah (an Islamic state)", then we tell them the true Islamic countries already exist and stand! However, the problem, the majority of laws are now applied in most Islamic countries, both in the fields of economy, politics, education, culture and so on, almost entirely a man-made laws, import laws (which to come from pagan countries, ed).

The scholars have explained in detail about this issue [2]. Namely, about arbitrate with laws or man-made laws. The scholars explained that someone who arbitrate with the law other than the law of God, then he has done a little disbelief, that does not remove it from the religion of Islam. However, it is possible that this small little disbelief to disbelief issuing large as I have explained in detail at the Istiqlal Mosque yesterday [3] .Yaitu when he assumes and believes bolehnya lawful or unlawful confiscation by law other than Allah; or he said, I do not feel obligated or must arbitrate with the law of God; or said in addition to arbitrate with the law of God is better than arbitrate with the law of God; or say, the laws and other laws is tantamount to the law of God; or say, I am free (I want to arbitrate is up to God's law or otherwise, the same); and other matching words with him. So, it means that he-with consensus of the scholars of Ahlus Sunnah- has done a great disbelief (out of Islam, ed). Wal 'iyadzu billahi tabaraka wa ta'ala.

Means, during the Islamic countries and now there are upright, we are required to do is to improve the state of Islamic countries, the methods that have been taught by the Prophet Muhammad sallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam; either in the way of preaching, coaching people based method at-Tasfiyah wat-Tarbiyah (purify the people of shirk, bid'ah and sinners, then develop guiding them to understand Islam properly), not in ways that are currently intensively conducted by most of the classes or parties. Such conduct military coups, uprisings, strikes, or even more ironic held alliances with pagan nations, for the sake mnggulingkan Islamic governments, or other endeavors.

Know! Precisely all adds to the divisions and weakness of the Muslims in many Islamic countries!

So, what we do is to hold the government fixes the Islamic countries today. We also tried to unify all Islamic countries, so that they work together, united, help from each other; and finally they were like the word of Allah Almighty follows.

والمؤمنون والمؤمنات بعضهم أولياء بعض

"And those who believe, men and women, their friends one (is) be a helper for friends one another ..." [at-Tawbah / 9: 71]

We should always remember and do not forget that the pagans, even though they vary disbelief, their country was different, but we should remain vigilant and alert for they always do-unification unification organized their neighbors, both in politics , economy, science, and others. Because (they also know) that a united force.

Therefore, among our goals (in holding the improvements in all areas of life) is like our Shaykh (Al-Albani rahimahullah) always writes in his books, striving for an Islamic life.

Of course, he did not mean that the current Islamic life does not exist at all! But what he meant, that the existing Islamic life is still a lot of shortcomings and still far from the religion of Allah Almighty. Therefore, we need to preach to the people and the Muslims entirely, to the enforcement of shari'ah of Allah Almighty in all areas of their life; both in the fields of politics, perekonmian, or science. Similarly, in national and international relations, either with friends or opponents.

Here's a glimpse and our view (of the state) in general and brief. Our method is to make improvements to the way of preaching invite the people to Almighty Allah, purifying them from shirk pollution, heresy, and immorality, and to guide and nurture them to the understanding and practice of Islam are good and true. As word of Allah Almighty.

ادع إلى سبيل ربك بالحكمة والموعظة الحسنة وجادلهم بالتي هي أحسن

"Call upon (human) to the way of thy Lord with wisdom and good lessons and bantahlah them ... in a good way." [An-Nahl / 16: 125]

We also do not forget, O my brothers, that the establishment of a Daulah Islamiyah and the gift of God's only provision for His servants the righteous and pious. If we do good, righteous people also do good, then indeed the strength, power and glory of Islam is God's promise.

Allah Almighty says.

وعد الله الذين آمنوا منكم وعملوا الصالحات ليستخلفنهم في الأرض كما استخلف الذين من قبلهم وليمكنن لهم دينهم الذي ارتضى لهم وليبدلنهم من بعد خوفهم أمنا يعبدونني لا يشركون بي شيئا

"And God has promised to those among you who believe and work righteous deeds, that He will truly make their power in the face of the earth, as He made ​​those before them, and indeed he would establish for them their religion which has diridahiNya for them, and He will actually swap (the state of) them, after they are in fear of being safe sentosa, they still worship with no associating anything with Me ... "[an-Nur / 24: 55]

And we gave the good news to you all, that the future belongs to Islam were true and straight, which is above the manhaj as-Salih Salafush. Manhaj blessed God, which binds the human family to stay in touch with God and implementing the Sunnah Prophet sallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam. That will bring them all to their faith, security and peace.

We ask God Almighty to give taufiqNya always to every Muslim.

(Adapted from the lecture of Sheikh Salim bin Id al-Hilali in Jakarta Islamic Center, Sunday 23 Muharram 1428H / February 11 2007M)

[Copied from the Sunnah magazine Issue 03 / Year XI / 1428H / 2007. Published Istiqomah Standing Committee Foundation Surakarta, Jl. Solo - Solo Gondangrejo Purwodadi Selokaton Km.8 Ph 57 183. 0271-858197 Fax 0271-858197]

______

footnote

[1]. See As-Sunna magazine, issue coverage 01 / XI / 1428H / 1427M, rubric Manhaj, Salafiyyun Dismissed Accusations Lies, lectures Fadhilatusy-Shaikh Ali bin Hasan Al-Halabi al-Atsari -haizhahumullahu, in the center of Jakarta Islamic mosques, 23 Sunday of Muharram 1428H / February 11 2007M

[2]. See Shaikh Salim bin scientific treatise Id al-Hilali that explains this issue in a clear and detailed, Tash-Fi Uyun Qurratu hihi Tafsiri Abdillah Ibni Abbas Li Qaulihi Exalted: Wa Ma Man ​​lamYahkum Anzalalluhu fa bi-ika Hummul Kafirun Ula.

[3]. Lecture in Al-Istiqlal mosque in Jakarta, Saturday 22 Muharram 1428H / 10 February 2007 which meant we foster discussion on this issue in a series of Manhaj rubric. See answer Shaikh Salim bin Fadhilatusy Id al-Hilali hafizhahullahu about Duna Kufrun kufrin.