The Syrian Revolution

They are syrious.

Siddhant Agarwal

Syrian Uprising
Syria is currently engaged in an ongoing civil war since March 2011 which has resulted in massive armed conflict between the civilians and the Syrian Armed Forces or the Syrian army. Since 1970, Syria was ruled by president Hafez al-Assad of the Baath party. Under the rule of Hafez al-Assad, Syria had grown into a strong country unlike before the 1970s. He revolutionized Syrias economy and infrastructure to a huge extent. Assad remained in power for three decades, longer than anyone in the history of the Syrian state. Hafez al-Assad died on 10 June 2000, after 30 years in power. Immediately following al-Assad's death, the Parliament amended the constitution, reducing the mandatory minimum age of the President from 40 to 34, thus allowing his son, Bashar al-Assad, to become legally eligible for nomination by the ruling Ba'ath party. On 10 July 2000, Bashar al-Assad was elected President by referendum in which he ran unopposed, garnering 97.29% of the vote, according to Syrian Government statistics. After taking office, Bashar al-Assad sought to present himself as a reformer. After his taking seat as the president of Syria, there came what is known as the Damascus Spring, where people started to meet in different places and discussed the political issues. Most importantly for democratic elections, cancellation of state emergencies, abolition of marital law and special courts, release of political prisoners who were tortured by the police for trying to bring political reforms and most importantly the right to form political parties and civil organization, a rule that was passed by former president Hafez al-Assad. However, the movement was suppressed by autumn 2001.