Transcript SYRIA File - FBE Moodle

Syria
• Independence 1946, French Mandate
• number of military coups and coup attempts shook the country in
the period 1949–1971.
• 1949 coup d'état by Col. Husni al-Za'im, described as the first
military overthrow of the Arab World. followed by another
overthrow, by Col. Sami al-Hinnawi, who was himself quickly
deposed by Col. Adib Shishakli,
• November 1956, as a direct result of the Suez Crisis Syria signed a
pact with the Soviet Union
• 1958 – 61 UAR
• Ba’athist Secret Military Committee; Captain Hafez al-Assad
• 1963 Ba’ath coup (Party split in Iraq and Syria)
• Six-Day War, Israel capturing two-thirds of the Golan Heights in
under 48 hours.
• The defeat caused a split between Jadid and Assad over what
steps to take next
• 1970 Corrective Movement, a
bloodless military coup by
Hafez al-Assad
• 1976, Syria entered Lebanon,
beginning the thirty-year
occupation
• late 1970s, an Islamist
uprising by the Muslim
Brotherhood
• Attacks on civilians and offduty military personnel,
leading security forces
• The uprising had reached
climax in the 1982 Hama
massacre, 40,000 people were
killed by regular Syrian Army
troops.
• 1990 participated in the
US-led Gulf War
• Hafez al-Assad died on
10 June 2000.
• Basher al Assad
President
• A reformer?
Government
• a unitary republic.
• Allows individuals to be elected which do not form part of the
National Progressive Front.
• The President is Head of State
• Prime Minister is Head of Government.
• legislature, the Peoples Council passing laws, approving
government appropriations and debating policy.
• The executive branch consists of the president, two vice
presidents, the prime minister, and the Council of Ministers
(cabinet).
• constitution requires the president to be a Muslim, but does
not make Islam the state religion.
• The Supreme State Security Court (SSSC) was abolished by alAssad 2011.
•
judicial system has elements of Ottoman, French, and Islamic laws. Syria has three
levels of courts:
2012 Constitutional Reforms
• The constitution 2012 semi-presidential republic
• the president is elected by Syrian citizens in a
direct election.
• Under the previous constitution no multi-party
elections for the legislature with two-thirds of the
seats automatically allocated to the ruling
coalition.
• 7 May 2012, Syria held its first elections in which
parties outside the ruling coalition could take
part.
People
• Sunni Arab Majoritty,
• Aramean-Syriac Christians, Armenians, Assyrians,
Kurds, Circassians, Mhallami, Mandeans, Turks.
• Sunni, Christians, Alawite, Druze, Yezidi.
• about 10 million Syrians, half the population,
have been displaced
Economy
• "lower middle income country."
• oil sector provides about 40% of export earnings
• The agriculture sector contributes to about 20% of GDP and
20% of employment.
• Since the civil war began, the economy shrank by 35%, and
the Syrian pound has fallen to one-sixth of its prewar value.
• The government increasingly relies on credit from Iran,
Russia and China.
• 2005 30% of the Syrian population lives in poverty and
11.4% live below the subsistence level.[66]
• Prior tot the conflict unemployment 10 %
Economic Effects of the Conflict
• value of overall exports reduced by two-thirds,
• 12$ billion in 2010 to only US$4 billion]
• oil and tourism industries in devastated, with US$5
billion lost to the ongoing conflict of the civil war.[
• Reconstruction needed because US$10 billion.[140]
Sanctions estimated to cost about $400 million a
month.
• hotel occupancy rates from 90% before the war to less
than 15%
• Around 40% of all employees have lost their jobs since
the beginning of the war.
From Protests to Civil War
• Protests March – July 2011
Damascus, Daraa , Aleppo
• April 2011: Concessions Lifting
of Emergency laws, Limited
conscription, more press
freedoms, social services
• May 2011: Crackdown
• July – October, escalation of
armed insurgence
• November: Civil War