Syria: The war and the

international answer

The beggining of the civil war

• The Syrian Uprising,  begun on 15 March 2011, is an actual  armed conflict in Syria between forces loyal to the Ba’ath government and those seeking to oust it.

• By April 2011 the protests grew nationwide becaming part of the North African and Middle Eastern protest movements: The Arab Spring.

The roots of the conflict

• The Syrian uprising started as a reaction to the Arab Spring, a series of anti-government protests across the Arab world inspired by the fall of the Tunisian regime in early 2011. But at the root of the conflict was anger over unemployment, decades of dictatorship, corruption and state violence under of the Middle East’s most repressive regimes.

Bashar al-Assad

• Bashar Assad presented himself as a reformer in 2000 snd he has served as President since then, when he succeeded his father, Hafez al-Assad, who led Syria for 30 years until his death. Critics have called any changes largely superficial, and Assad's crackdown on protests in March 2011 sparked the current civil war.

Timeline

MARCH 2011: Syrian government troops open fire on crowds of people protesting the regime of Bashar al-Assad. The upheaval spirals into armed conflict as members of the military defect to join the demonstrators.

JUNE 2012: The Action Group for Syria – which includes the U.S., Russia, the Arab League and other world powers – agrees to a peace plan. The Geneva communiqué sets out a blueprint to end the fighting and create a political settlement. The government and opposition are urged to follow it to negotiate a peace.

Timeline

JULY 2012: The Red Cross declares the conflict a civil war, crossing an important symbolic threshold with implications for potential war crimes prosecutions in the future. As the fighting continues, the death toll continues to rise.

MAY 2013:U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry meets with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. They agree to work towards bringing the Syrian government and opposition to peace talks in a few months’ time. The 2012 Geneva communiqué would be the basis for

discussion.

SEPTEMBER 2013: Negotiations between U.S. and Russian diplomats produce a sweeping agreement about securing and destroying Syria's chemical weapons stockpile. The deal averts a potential military attack and is said to restart the peace process.

AUGUST 2013: The Assad regime is accused of using chemical weapons in an attack on Syrian civilians that killed hundreds. U.S. President Barack Obama had said a year earlier that such an attack would cross a “red line.” The Americans contemplate a military response as tensions escalate across the board.

JANUARY 2014: The first round of peace talks around the 2012 Geneva communiqué finally take place after a number of delays. The discussions last for one week, with future talks planned for a few weeks' time. .

FEBRUARY 2014: A second round of talks is held. Discussion grinds to a halt when the Syrian regime refuses to discuss opposition demands for an interim government to be formed, says UN mediator Lakhdar Brahimi. "I apologize that these two rounds have not come out with very much," he adds.

JANUARY 2014: The first round of peace talks around the 2012 Geneva communiqué finally take place after a number of delays. The discussions last for one week, with future talks planned for a few weeks' time. .

FEBRUARY 2014: A second round of talks is held. Discussion grinds to a halt when the Syrian regime refuses to discuss opposition demands for an interim government to be formed, says UN mediator Lakhdar Brahimi. "I apologize that these two rounds have not

come out with very much," he adds.

International answer• USA

• U.K

• RUSSIA

• EGYPT

• TURKEY

• ISRAEL

•IRAQ

•SAUDI ARABIA

USA

In August 2012, President Barack Obama said the U.S. would reconsider its opposition to military involvement in the Syrian civil war if Assad's regime deployed or used chemical or biological weapons. He called such action a "red line" for the United States.

In June 2013, U.S. officials said that line had been crossed.

They reported that Syria has used sarin gas on multiple occasions, killing up to 150 people.

Shortly after, Obama authorized sending weapons to the Syrian rebels for the first time.

A purported chemical attack in August 2013 pushed the U.S. even closer to action.

Obama labelled the alleged attack an "assault on human dignity" and called for direct military action in Syria However, he agreed to pursue a diplomatic solution backed by Russia before launching any strikes.

U.K British politicians  voted against a military response in Syria on

Aug. 29, 2013. Prime Minister David Cameron, pictured, lost the vote with 285 against the idea compared to 272 in favour.

Cameron said he "strongly" believes in the need for a tough response to alleged chemical weapons use, but also believes in respecting the will of the House of Commons.

The U.K. vote was not binding, but in practice the rejection of military strikes effectively tied Cameron's hands.

In the days leading up to the vote, the U.K. had seemed a likely participant, along with the U.S. and several other allies, in a possible military strike against the Assad regime.

Russia

Russia is one of Syria's most important international allies. Syria has been among Russia's top customers for international arms exports, with contracts in the billions, according to reports. The trade, while legal, raised concerns over whether Russia was arming Assad's regime with weapons to use against the rebels.

An official said in July 2012, however, that Russia would not deliver weapons to Syria while the situation remains unresolved. And by December, as Assad's grip weakened, Moscow sought to distance itself from the regime.

In June 2013, President Vladimir Putin told Obama that Russian and U.S. positions on Syria do not "coincide". But the two leaders said during that month's G8 summit that they shared an interest in stopping the violence.

Russia firmly opposed the American plan for military action after the August 2013 chemical weapons accusations. It backed a diplomatic solution that saw the Assad regime turn over its chemical arsenal.

Egypt Mohammed Morsi, then Egypt's Islamist president, announced

on June 15, 2013, that he was cutting off diplomatic relations with Syria and closing Damascus' embassy in Cairo. The decisions were made amid growing calls from hard-line Sunni clerics in Egypt and elsewhere to launch a "holy war" against Syria's embattled regime.

Morsi also called on Lebanon's Hezbollah to leave Syria. But weeks later, Morsi was ousted as president, leaving Egypt

in the hands of an interim government. And that government has signalled a change in direction.

Egypt's foreign minister told reporters in July that "there are no intentions for jihad in Syria," while still supporting a change of regime in the country.

The country refused to back a military strike on Syria and has urged the warring parties to launch peace talks.

Turkey Relations with Syria had been strained for decades, but the

chilliness thawed somewhat throughout the 2000s. The uprising and civil war have changed all that.

Syrian forces have shot down a Turkish military set near the countries' shared border; the Syrian government maintains the flight had violated its airspace.

The latest blow to relations came in May 2013: Turkey accused a group with links to the Syrian intelligence service of setting of car bombs that killed 46 people in a Turkish border town. Syria has rejected allegations it was behind the attacks.

Turkey has said it will defend its interests by force if necessary, and has received the backing of its NATO allies.

Israel

A top Israeli military intelligence official said in April 2013 that the Assad regime used chemical weapons the previous month in its battle against insurgent groups.

The claim was based on visual evidence of alleged attacks. It was the first time that a senior Israeli official had levelled such an accusation against the Syrian regime.

Israel launched an airstrike against a suspected Syrian weapons site in May 2013.

Iraq

Dozens of Syrian regime soldiers  were killed in an ambush inside Iraqui  in March 2013, amid heightened concerns that Iraq could be drawn into Syria's civil war.

The fact that the soldiers were on Iraqi soil in the first place raises questions about Baghdad's apparent willingness to quietly aid the Assad's embattled regime.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, pictured, has told The Associated Press that he feared a victory for the anti-Assad side would create a new extremist haven and destabilize the wider Middle East.

His comments reflect fears by many Shiite Muslims that Sunnis would come to dominate Syria should Assad be toppled. Assad's regime is backed by Shiite powerhouse Iran, which has been building ties with the Shiite-led government in Baghdad in recent years.

Saudi Arabia

Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia has backed the opposition groups that are trying to topple Assad's Shiite regime.

It's suspected that the Saudis have even provided the opposition with arms, as have its allies in Qatar and Turkey.

The Saudis are also believed to have strong ties with opposition leader Ahmad Jarba.