There were almost twenty-one million people lives in Syria in 2010. In March 2011, protests erupted in Syria in the context of the Arab Spring. The government of Bashar Assad, in place since 2000, resorted to strong repression, in particular through the use of live ammunition against the demonstrators.
International organizations denounced human rights violations during the popular uprising. This led to the emergence of independent armed movements, founded by deserters from the regular army, such as the Free Syrian Army. The conflict turned into a civil war, with the government receiving support from outside armed forces such as Russia, Iran, and Hezbollah.
In light of the failed diplomatic attempts to resolve this crisis, it has resulted in the widespread destruction of infrastructure in much of the country, and the displacement of a large part of civilians. We deplore the destruction of archaeological sites and the collapse of the economy, as the high number of deaths, injuries, arrests, kidnappings, and disappearances.
Human Rights Watch says more than 400,000 people have been killed in Syria since 2011.
Political prisoners, at least 129,000, remain in custody by regime forces. 13,983 people have been killed as a result of torture in the regime's prisons since March 2011.
The number of Syrian refugees worldwide is 5,556,417, according to statistics from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as of January 30, 2020. What can be said, finally, of the more than six million internally displaced persons...
International organizations denounced human rights violations during the popular uprising. This led to the emergence of independent armed movements, founded by deserters from the regular army, such as the Free Syrian Army. The conflict turned into a civil war, with the government receiving support from outside armed forces such as Russia, Iran, and Hezbollah.
In light of the failed diplomatic attempts to resolve this crisis, it has resulted in the widespread destruction of infrastructure in much of the country, and the displacement of a large part of civilians. We deplore the destruction of archaeological sites and the collapse of the economy, as the high number of deaths, injuries, arrests, kidnappings, and disappearances.
Human Rights Watch says more than 400,000 people have been killed in Syria since 2011.
Political prisoners, at least 129,000, remain in custody by regime forces. 13,983 people have been killed as a result of torture in the regime's prisons since March 2011.
The number of Syrian refugees worldwide is 5,556,417, according to statistics from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as of January 30, 2020. What can be said, finally, of the more than six million internally displaced persons...
A man and boy evacuate an area in the rebel-held Hayy Aqyul neighborhood of Aleppo, following an airstrike, 22 April 2016.
Rescuers remove a baby from the rubble of a destroyed building in the al-Kalasa neighborhood, 28 April, 2016.
A man carries a wounded baby from the rubble, following a reported barrel-bomb attack on the rebel-held Bab al-Nairab neighborhood of Aleppo, 25 August, 2016.
A White Helmet civil defense volunteer evacuates a dead baby and a wounded child in the Maadi district of eastern Aleppo, 27 August, 2016
Men mourn over the body of a baby, following bombardment of the al-Marja neighborhood, 23 September, 2016.
A member of the civil defense volunteer group known as the White Helmets holds the body of a child, pulled from the rubble following an airstrike on the rebel-held neighborhood of Karm Homad in Aleppo, 04 October, 2016.
A man holds the body of his child after it was rescued from under the rubble of buildings destroyed in an airstrike on the rebel-held neighborhood of al-Marjah in Aleppo, 24 July, 2016.
Syrian civil defense volunteers, known as the White Helmets, rescue a boy from the rubble following a reported barrel-bomb attack on the Bab al-Nairab neighborhood of Aleppo, 24 November, 2016.
Men remove a victim from the rubble in the Bustan al-Qasr neighborhood, following an airstrike, 10 September, 2016.
Aleppo, once Syria’s largest city and the country’s financial and industrial center, was a key battleground in the war between forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and rebels who wanted to overthrow him. For four years the city had been roughly divided in half, with the opposition controlling the east and the government the west.
As fighting intensified in 2016, the rebels became increasingly besieged. Of the roughly 250,000 people who remained trapped in eastern Aleppo, around 100,000 were children. Besieged civilians faced severe food and fuel shortages, and basic infrastructure and healthcare facilities were obliterated.
Despite several international attempts at negotiating a ceasefire and allowing civilians passage out of eastern Aleppo, fighting escalated and people remained. Civil defense workers said civilians were mistrustful of government offers of safe passage; the government said rebels were preventing people from leaving.
Some were simply reluctant to abandon their homes and property. On 15 December the warring sides reached a ceasefire deal, and on 22 December, following days of evacuations, the Syrian government announced that it had taken control of the city.