Syria's Uprising. Process of a Country’s Militarization

Résumé ou Introduction

This essay gives an answer to following questions: How did the opposition to Syrian president Assad develop from peaceful urban protest to militant Islamist resistance? How did regime violence contribute to the radicalization of the protesters? What role did foreign powers play in militarizing the conflict and preventing a peaceful solution? And, finally, how could a possible demilitarization and a lasting peace be brought about?

Addressing these questions involves examining the political landscape at the onset of the Syrian civil war in March 2011. Subsequently, a closer analysis is needed of the processes of militarization that occurred within both the regime and the opposition. Why did the Assad regime respond with brutal violence to an uprising whose slogan, as chanted in the streets of Damascus, sought nothing more than "God, Syria, Freedom and that’s all"?

When the popular uprisings against Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad (b. 1965) began in early 2011, the Syrian demonstrators aimed to follow the wave of protests witnessed in Tunisia and Egypt. However, unlike Tunisia and Egypt, where the autocratic rulers Ben ʿAli (b. 1936) and Mubarak (b. 1928) were toppled by the uprisings in 2011, Syria descended into a brutal civil war resulting in approximately 400,000 casualties and millions displaced. Syria's President Assad managed to hold onto power, receiving diplomatic and military support from Russia, China, and Iran.