Syrian revolt against Bashar al-Assad

• The video titled "La revolte des Syriens contre Bachar El Assad" discusses the Syrian uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.
• The video is a news report from Journal de 20 Heures, broadcasted on March 23, 2011.
• The report highlights the beginning of the Syrian protests in Deraa against Assad's regime.

Historical Context

• Since its independence after World War II, Syria has lacked a truly democratic government.
• The nationalist Baas party, dominated by military figures, seized power.
• Hafez El Assad took control in 1970 and ruled using the army, secret services, and militias from ethnic and religious minorities, brutally suppressing dissent.
• In 1982, he violently suppressed a Muslim Brotherhood revolt in Hama, causing thousands of deaths.
• In 2000, his son Bashar, an ophthalmologist from London, succeeded him in a succession that occurred due to the death or sidelining of other potential candidates.
• Initially, Bashar seemed more open and modern than his father, but this quickly proved false, and the state of emergency from 1963 continued.
• The Baas party remained the only legal party, and a personality cult persisted.
• Bashar's regime relied on Russia for arms and was allied with Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah, forming a Shia arc.
• This Shia arc was against the Sunni populations in the Gulf and Egypt, which conflicted with Syria's majority-Sunni population.

The 2011 Uprising

• Inspired by the Arab Spring, protests against Bashar al-Assad's regime began on March 15, 2011, following a Facebook call, demanding freedom and an end to the state of emergency.
• Syrian authorities responded with force, attempting to crush the movement early on.
• In Deraa, police arrested and mistreated children who had written anti-regime slogans, leading to protests where police opened fire.
• On March 20, 2011, protesters burned the Baas party headquarters in Deraa, leading to civil war.
• The army besieged and bombarded Deraa, and militiamen shot at demonstrators.
• Despite concessions such as ending the state of emergency and promising elections, the unrest spread nationwide.
• The pattern of protests after Friday prayers followed by military and militia violence recurred throughout Syria.
• By May 2011, Homs was under siege, and it took the army two months to seize Hama.
• Opposition forces formed the Free Syrian Army, comprising defected soldiers and officers, alongside local militias and Islamist groups funded by Saudi Arabia and Gulf monarchies.
• By the end of 2011, the civil war had caused over 5,000 deaths, according to the UN.
• Over 40,000 refugees fled to neighboring Lebanon and Turkey.
• The military situation reached a stalemate, and attempts to resolve the conflict politically failed.
• In October 2011, the Syrian National Council was created in Turkey to unite the opposition.
• Russia and China vetoed interventions against Bashar at the UN.
• The Arab League attempted mediation but ended in failure by early 2012.
• The civil war continued, and by 2014, over a million Syrians had become refugees in Lebanon.

Media Coverage

• France 2's television news clearly stated that the focus was shifting from Libya, where rebels fought Gaddafi, to Syria, where an uprising began in Deraa, near the Jordanian border.
• The report featured amateur footage and cellphone videos due to the absence of Western journalists on the ground.
• The quality was poor, the source identification was difficult, and transmission occurred via social networks.
• The footage provided information that local authorities struggled to conceal.
• The targets of the protesters included symbols of Bashar El-Assad's power, such as the Baas party headquarters and the Syriatel company.
• Gunfire was heard in the background of the footage, and the violence resulted in about 15 deaths.
• The hospital in Deraa remained undamaged, and the street featured a banner glorifying Assad.
• The regime attempted to counter rebel images by providing state television images of a foreign conspiracy, showing weapons, explosives, and money.

Locations Mentioned

• Turkey
• Iran
• Lebanon
• Syria
• Damas
• Deraa
• Hama
• Homs

Key Figures

• Hafez El Assad
• Bachar El-Assad

Themes

• International Relations
• Wars and Conflicts