This document provides a summary of the Syrian catastrophe over the past 5 years since the popular uprising began in 2011. It notes that over half of Syria's population has been displaced, with over 4.7 million refugees and 6.1 million internally displaced people. The document outlines the key events that unfolded, including the initial peaceful protests being crushed by the Assad regime, the development of an armed resistance movement, the use of sieges and indiscriminate bombing campaigns by the regime, as well as the involvement of regional and international actors in the conflict. It also discusses the lack of adequate support and assistance provided to refugees from the international community. In conclusion, the document notes that the conflict continues to pulverize cities like Ale

1. Understanding
the Syrian
Catastrophe
five years of
revolution, reaction and inaction
October 23 2016 sarabiany.com

2. 2
“History will remember that the
scribbles of the children of Deraa
moved the fleets of the world.”
– Revolutionaries of Tel Rifaat
Cover Photo: Amer Almohibany/AFP

3. 3

4. 4
of Syria’s population has been
displaced since 2011
1/2
more than

5. 5
As if
160 million
Americans
had to flee their homes past 5+ years

6. 6
160
Katrinas
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0912/p01s01-ussc.html

7. 7
4,794,473
UNHCR registered refugees
As of Oct 10 2016: http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/regional.php
2,733,655
1,033,513
225,445
656,400
116,175

8. 8
6.1 million
internally displaced
Sept 2016: http://www.unocha.org/syria Photo: sarabiany.com

9. 9
6.1 million
internally displaced
Photo: sarabiany.comSept 2016: http://www.unocha.org/syria

10. 10
“Syria has become
a country of poor people,
with an estimated 4 in every 5
Syrians now living in poverty.”
UN Report 2015
http://bit.ly/1RVGaNU

11. 11
“life expectancy has shrunk from
76to 56 years old”
UN Report 2015 http://bit.ly/1RVGaNU

12. 12
13.5 million people in need of humanitarian assistance
Photo: sarabiany.comhttp://www.unocha.org/syria

13. 13
"has become the biggest humanitarian
emergency of our era, yet the world is
failing to meet the needs of refugees
and the countries hosting them.”
- António Guterres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
August 2014 http://www.unhcr.org/53ff76c99.html

14. 14
This is not a natural disaster.
This catastrophe is
manmade.

15. 15
45+ years of Assad family rule

16. 16
45+years of Assad
family rule
• absolute power
• sectarian, regional & business
networks
• police state
• utter brutality (Hama ’82)
• no independent civil society
• undermine the public space
• father to son hand-off in 2000

17. 17
Hafez Jr.
(2001)-
“We were
born under Hafez
and we’ll
die under Hafez.”

18. 18
REUTERS/Zohra Bensemrahttp://archive.boston.com/bigpicture/2011/01/an_uprising_in_tunisia.html

19. 19

20. 20

21. 21
“The Syrian people won’t be humiliated”
- Hariqa protest February 17 2011

22. 22
“Your turn has come, Doctor.”
- Deraa March 2011

23. 23
March 2011: “The people want…”
Photo: Daraa March 2011

24. 24

25. 25Photo: Homs,April 18, 2011
Protests spread regionally

26. 26Photo: Damascus, 2012
Rural towns & suburbs

27. 27
Photo: Baniyas, May, 2011 http://bit.ly/230vWr8https://www.opendemocracy.net/civilresistance/maciej-bartkowski-mohja-kahf/syrian-resistance-tale-of-two-struggles
“The Syrian
People are
One!
One, One,
One!”

28. 28
Photo: Baniyas, May, 2011 http://bit.ly/230vWr8https://www.opendemocracy.net/civilresistance/maciej-bartkowski-mohja-kahf/syrian-resistance-tale-of-two-struggles
“The Syrian
People are
One!
One, One,
One!”

29. 29Photo: Jobar, Damascus, 2012
Often led by youth

30. 30
Photo: Baniyas, May, 2011 http://bit.ly/230vWr8
Creative resistance

31. Photo: Baniyas, May, 2011 http://bit.ly/230vWr8

32. 32Photo: Damascus, 2012
Flash mobs

33. 33Photo: Homs,April 24 2011
Sit-ins & square takeovers

34. 34Photo: Hama, July 22, 2011.AP
“The people want…”

35. Photo: Hama, July 22, 2011.AP

36. 36
“We will sit here. We call it
a fight until the end…They
should know when we
suffer, we will not suffer
alone.” - Rami Makhlouf, May 2011 NY Times

37. 37
“Assad or we burn the country”
The war in Syria was started to crush dissent.

38. 38
The past five years
can be seen
through the prism of
those challenging,
or defending the
status quo.

39. international community
world powers
regional powers non-state actors
39
popular uprising vs a regime
international community

40. 40
Protest
suppression
http://thebea.st/1Tsj4Ur

42. 42
Mass detention &
'industrial scale'
killing of detainees
A painting for Abdulla Omari called “ Detainee”

43. 43http://sn4hr.org/blog/2015/06/16/8049/

44. 44
In 2012-13, the fear of rape was the #1
reason Syrians fled the country.
http://thebea.st/1Tsj4Ur

45. 45
Daily bombardment http://onlineathens.com/national-news/2012-01-28/children-among-74-dead-2-days-syrian-turmoil
http://onlineathens.com/national-news/2012-01-28/children-among-74-dead-2-days-syrian-turmoil
Militarized
resistance developed

46. 46
Daily bombardment http://onlineathens.com/national-news/2012-01-28/children-among-74-dead-2-days-syrian-turmoil
http://onlineathens.com/national-news/2012-01-28/children-among-74-dead-2-days-syrian-turmoil
Militarized
resistance developed

47. 47
Daily bombardment

48. 48
Ballistic missiles

50. 50
Broken “red lines”, chemical weapons attacks
https://www.hrw.org/report/2013/09/10/attacks-ghouta/analysis-alleged-use-chemical-weapons-syria

51. 51
“Starve
until
Submission”
Photo: Reuters,Yarmouk, 2014

52. 52https://t.co/96CrQWx8Av
1 million people under siege in 40
communities across Syria.
An additional 1.4 million people in
“watchlist” areas.
88% are under regime siege.
10% under regime/ISIS siege.

53. 53
Local coordinating
committees, councils
and an explosion of
civil defense, society
and administration

55. 55

56. international community
world powers
regional powers non-state actors
56
popular uprising vs a regime
international community

57. 57
regional hegemony

58. 58 Photo: Khaled Al-Hariri Reuters February 2011
long-standing, mutual
beneficial relationship

59. 59
By 2012,
Hezbollah
introduced to
extend regime
lines, and
supplement
manpower - by
2013 lead
campaigns

60. 60
In the summer of 2012,
regime militias were
reorganized into the
NDF by Iranian Quds
Force commander
Qasem Suleimani

61. 61
By the end of 2014, over
21,000
Iranian-backed
foreign fighters
to uphold the regime

62. 62
Assad became, under Iranian financial, technical
and military support became the best funded
and armed warlord in Syria.
And Iran, through thousands of loyal fighters, is
securing its interests in a post-Assad Syria.

63. 63

64. 64

65. 65
What helped create ISIS?
1
2
3
4
5
6
US invasion &
occupation of Iraq
Al-Qaeda schisms,
Salafist ideology
& Gulf networks
Assad’s war
on Syrians
Iranian influence in
Iraq & region
The Obama-doctrine
& policy of inaction
Decades of
autocratic rule &
Western exploitation
sarabiany.com 12.17.15

66. 66
Between 27,000 and
31,000 have travelled
to Syrian and Iraq,
most to join ISIS -
6,000 are European
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/03/29/iraq-and-syria-how-many-foreign-fighters-are-fighting-for-isil/

67. 67

68. 68

69. 69
The ISIS advance in
late 2014 added
to an already
desperate situationPhoto Reuters: http://bit.ly/1TukFcB

70. 70http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/kurdish-pyd-declares-federalism-northern-syria-1311505605

71. 71
Kobani

72. international community
world powers
regional powers non-state actors
72
popular uprising vs a regime
international community

73. 73
“managing
outcomes”,
difference between
rhetoric & action

74. 74
“There is a different
leader in Syria now.
Many of the members
of Congress of both
parties who have gone
to Syria in recent
months have said they
believe he’s a
reformer.”
- Secretary Clinton March 27 2011

75. 75
6 months later
“the time has come for President Assad to step aside.”
- President Obama August 18 2011

76. 76

77. 77
“impotent cocktail of appeasement, containment and
extremely non-lethal, passive support for the revolution” to
drive towards a negotiated settlement.
Outcome: ‘Assadism' with or
without Assad

78. 78
“We Will Degrade and
Ultimately Destroy ISIL”
- President Obama September 2014

79. 79Political cover and direct intervention

80. 80

81. 81
Russian
intervention in the
fall 2015 resulted in
another spike of
displaced Syrians
Photograph: Ghaith Omran/AFP/Getty Images

82. 82
Russian Intervention has
succeeded in:
- solidify regime periphery
- take control from Iran
- galvanize regime base
- assert current status quo

83. 83
Rebels & revolutionaries
Assad regime & allies
Kurdish groups
Jabhat Fateh al-Sham
(aka Jabhat-Nusra (AQ))
ISIS
1
2
3
4
5
5 Key Groupings
Anti-ISIS proxies (NSA)+

84. 84
470,000killed in 5+ Years
February 2016: Syrian Centre for Policy Research

85. 85

86. 86

87. 87

88. 88

89. 89

90. 90

91. 91

92. international community
world powers
regional powers non-state actors
92
popular uprising vs a regime
international community

93. 93
While the US and European Union are collectively
the largest donors of humanitarian aid to Syria,
providing about $4bn and$4.3bn respectively from
2012-2015, the contribution is still…
less than the $8.4bn the UN requested for 2015
alone.

94. 94 http://takingsides.thesyriacampaign.org/

95. 95
Systematic sectarian massacres + rape campaigns
Air bombardment
ISIS advance
Russian intervention
European exodus

96. 96
The catastrophe didn’t make international
headlines…

97. 97
Until…

98. 98
“death is a risk I was willing to take
so I could live.”
Photo: Yannis Behrakis/ReutersCover Photo: sarabiany.com

99. 99
image of refugees in europe

100. 100
Worst catastrophe since WW2

101. 101
Migrant is not a Refugee

102. 102
1,151,865asylum seekers in Europe between Apr 2011
and Aug 2016
http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/regional.php

103. 103

104. 104
What has been the response
in North America?

105. 105
"… accepting 25,000 Syrian refugees
does right by both the safety of
Canadians and by the values that define
us as a nation."
http://bit.ly/1ZV3kdj

106. 106
Syrian refugees
admitted to the US
since 2011
13,993
military aged males who
are unattached to
families
2%
Source: U.S. State Department Refugee Processing Center Custom Report: http://bit.ly/1LoVa3p http://bzfd.it/1ZV15qv
However, in the US…

107. 107
Last September, due to public pressure Obama
increased the quota to 10k Syrians in 2016 (out of 85k)
Photo: sarabiany.com

108. 108
“Ten thousand is not even close to
being commensurate with the massive
scale of the Syrian refugee crisis, nor in
line with this country’s historic global
leadership in refugee resettlement"
David Miliband, president and CEO

109. 109
Islamophobia
Election Season Refugees

110. 110
One of the goals of the ISIS Paris
attacks was to provide cover for a
bigoted response in Europe & the
US towards vulnerable
populations fleeing both the
regime & ISIS.
A fake Syrian passport was found
lying nearby, left by the attackers.

111. 111
Bush suggested a religious test for Syrian refugees

112. 112
Carson compared refugees to 'rabid' dogs

113. 113
Cruz supported Governor ‘rebellion’ to allow
states to ban refugees

114. 114
Trump said he would deport the refugees
already here & ban Muslims

115. 115
Rubio said ‘we can’t accept’ them and adjusted
based on political rhetoric

116. 116
Christie insisted that the U.S. not even accept
5-year-old orphans

117. 117

118. 118
Even when arriving in the US, life is difficult.
resettlement support
assimilation
language
commuting
schools
work
daily supplies
social network
bigotry

119. 119
Where are
we today?
"I am here with the entire
government to send a clear
message that we are determined
to retake every inch of Syria from
the terrorists, to restore peace and
stability in the country and to
rebuild everything that has been
destroyed in the past,”
- Bashar Assad 9/12/16

120. 120
Where are
we today?

121. 121
Where are
we today?

122. 122
Russian assertiveness calling the shots

123. 123
Aleppo is being pulverized
http://blogs.ft.com/photo-diary/tag/
syria/page/2/

124. 124
ISIS territorial decline

125. 125
Where are we today?
"We will not allow our
assistance to be
instrumentalized for a mass
expulsion operation, and we
refuse to be part of a system
that has no regard for the
humanitarian or protection
needs of asylum seekers and
migrants”
MSF on EU Plan
Photo by Alexander Koerner/Getty Images

126. 126
Where are
we today?

127. 127
“a whole generation is growing up in the camps
of exile – these children who’ve lost a father to
shelling, a friend’s brother to bullets, a sister’s
husband to torture. When they grow up and realize
that life is more than a refugee camp, that it isn’t
natural to lose everything to tyranny … this
generation will bear a culture of revenge and
anger, and a permanent sense of injustice.”
- Activist Aziz Asaad, Guardian

128. 128
“History will remember that the
scribbles of the children of Deraa
moved the fleets of the world.”
– Revolutionaries of Tel Rifaat

129. 129
@sarabiany sarabiany.com
Photo: sarabiany.com
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