Live updates: Syria civil war news and latest developments



The Renewed Fighting in Syria’s Civil War: What You Need to Know

The renewed fighting in Syria’s civil war, which has killed over 300,000 people and sent nearly 6 million refugees out of the country since 2011, will have far-reaching consequences across the Middle East and beyond. Here’s a concise guide to understanding the conflict:

At the height of the Arab Spring in 2011, pro-democracy protests in Syria were met with deadly force, prompting the formation of an armed opposition. The opposition, composed of small organic militias and defectors from the Syrian military, received support from foreign powers, including Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States.

In response, Syria’s allies, Iran and Russia, bolstered their support for the government, with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hezbollah, and Russia’s warplanes backing the Syrian Air Force. The extremist group ISIS emerged in 2014, and the international coalition led by the US focused on eliminating the group without confronting the Syrian regime.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-backed alliance of Kurdish fighters, successfully eliminated ISIS’s territorial control. In 2020, Russia and Turkey agreed to a ceasefire in the last remaining opposition-held province, Idlib, but the conflict never fully subsided.

The latest development began with the formation of the “Military Operations Command,” a new rebel coalition that quickly captured villages outside Aleppo and claimed control of much of the city, facing little resistance. The fighters aim to liberate occupied territory and respond to stepped-up attacks from government forces and pro-Iranian militia groups.

This renewed violence is set to have significant ramification across the Middle East and beyond.

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