This document provides background information on Syria. It discusses Syria's population, languages spoken, and the Assad family's decades-long rule over Syria through a military dictatorship with no political or religious freedoms. In 2011, anti-government protests erupted in Syria inspired by the Arab Spring, leading to a violent crackdown and civil war that has continued for years and caused over 220,000 deaths. As the conflict drags on, the extremist group ISIS has gained control of territory in Syria, exacerbating the crisis, though most Syrians still hope for an end to the violence and their country to remain united.

1. THE STORY OF
SYRIA
By Maizatul Ranai
MCT 485
REPORTING THE MIDDLE EAST
MA INTERNATIONAL JOURNALISM
CARDIFF UNIVERSITY, UK
1

2. SYRIA
❖ Population : 22,087,048
❖ 5,000 people flee Syria
everyday (UN, 2014)
❖ Language Spoken : Arabic,
Kurdish, Armenian, and
Turkish.
❖ Religion : Islam, Christianity,
Druze and Judaism

3. WHEN SYRIA MAKES
HEADLINES?
❖ In March 2007, Arab Spring protest were raging across the
middle east.
❖ The protest inspired the people to rise up against the
President Basyar Al-Assad.
1. Commander-in-chief of Syrian Armed Forces
2. Second son of second son of former Syrian
President Hafez al-Assad
3. Born on Sept 11, 1965
4. Fluent in English and French
5. Graduated from University of Damascus in
Medicine
6. Aims to reform the corruption in the government,
and spoke of moving Syria toward the computer
technology, internet and cell phones of the 21st
century.

4. Baath Rule
AL-ASSAD FAMILY
1. Part of Military Junta that
seizes power in Syria in March
1963.
2. Became Syrian President from
1970 - 2000
3. Died on June 10, 2000 at the
age of 69.
Hafez al-Assad Basyar al-Assad

5. AL-ASSAD REGIME
1. The Assad’s family has ruled Syria for
five decades through MILITARY
DICTATORSHIP
NO POLITICAL FREEDOM
NO FREEDOM OF SPEECH
NO FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE
1. A State-run system
2. Income Inequality
3. High Unemployment
ECONOMIC PAIN

6. SYRIAN FLAME, 2011
1. The spark that lit the flame in Syrian began in 2011, when 15
school kids in the southern Syria city of Daraa painted anti-
government graffiti on the walls of a school. The kids were
arrested and harshly punished.
2. The community was outrage over the children’s arrest and
mistreatment, of which it has helped spread the Syrian opposition.
More at :
1. http://edition.cnn.com/2012/03/01/world/meast/syria-crisis-beginnings/
2. http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2060788,00.html

7. SYRIAN FLAME, 2012
❖ The uprising around the country has sparked and lasted
for months.
❖ The regime controlled the protest by force, gunfire and
shelling.
❖ The protestors reacted by organising a rebel army of
loose group of fighting brigades.

8. Residents protest against Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad after a burial ceremony for
what activists say are victims of shelling by the Syrian army, in the Khalidiya
neighborhood in Homs, on February 4, 2012. Syrian forces killed more than 200 people in
an assault on the city of Homs, activists said, the bloodiest day of an 11-month uprising
against Assad. (Reuters)
SYRIAN FLAME, 2012

9. SYRIAN CIVIL WAR
❖ 1. In July 2012, the Red Cross officially call it the Civil
War (also known as Syrian Revolution).2.The Syrian regime
is accused of
torturing prisoners
and targeting civilians
in deadly
rage.
3. AL QAEDA STEPS
IN.

10. UN PRESSURE
FRANCE
UNITED STATES
BRITAIN
TURKEY
CHINA
RUSSIA
IRAN
Death Toll in Syria : 220,000 people
15 March 2011 – 15 January 2015
Source : United Nation

11. ISIS IN SYRIA
❖ Starts as Al-Qaeda-inspired Sunni Islamist
Brigade.
❖ ISIS split from Al-Qaeda in February 2014, as the
latter claimed that ISIS was too brutal for Al-
Qaeda.
❖ The organisation folded the Baathist regime into
their sunni structure, of which Baathist eventually
forms the core of ISIS. (Khan, Veryan (2014).
Terrorism Research & Analysis Consortium.
❖ The chaos in Syria allowed ISIS to hold its
territory pretty securely (weaponry & money).
.
❖ A study by the London-based Conflict Armanent
Research consultancy found that IS militants had
access to large numbers of US weapons. No
conclusions are retrieved on how the weapon are
sourced.

12. HOPE FOR SYRIANS
❖ The war is about to enter its 5th year, with no end at
sight.
❖ Despite the unraveling of their state and violence, most
Syrians still want their tattered nation to remain whole.

13. THE END
THANK YOU FOR LISTENING
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