The Basics
From the lead up to the uprising to Russia’s military intervention, click here to understand the ins and outs of the last five years of violence.
Background
Gain a deeper understanding of the war in Syria, including the major stakeholders, humanitarian players and militant groups involved in the current war and the country’s future.
The Regime
For more than four decades, power in Syria has been concentrated around the Baath party and the Assad family’s inner circle.
The Opposition
In response to a brutal government crackdown on peaceful protests in 2011, defectors from Assad’s army and regular civilians took up arms to fight back. Today, there are about a hundred distinct armed factions fighting across the country. Secular groups have been sidelined by increasingly hard-line Islamist factions, and coalitions have come and gone – all while foreign funding and agendas have worked to shape narratives of their own.
Understanding ISIS
Born out of a merger between al-Qaeda in Iraq and the political chaos following the U.S. invasion of Iraq, click here for an overview of the group that today refers to itself as the Islamic State (ISIS).
Global Players
From Russia to the United States, from Iran to Turkey, click here for a break down of the global players that have, over the past five years, increasingly shaped Syria’s civil war into a mutli-pronged proxy war.