What You know About Syrian Civil War / Part I

Just today and for the first time I feel,
it is the time to highlight some facts about Syrian Civil War..

It has been more than 6 years now, Syria is destroyed,
Syrians are refugees everywhere in the world.

What happened in early 2011 ?

It all started with very small protests in January 2011.

On 28 January 2011, Hasan Ali Akleh soaked himself with gasoline and set himself afire.
Various other incident happened in February including the intelligence/police beating shop keepers, demonstrators and political activists.

March 6th 2011, a dozen of teenagers wrote the walls of Daraa "The people want the regime to fall". Military police came to the teenagers' schools the same week and carried them out from their classroom handcuffed. When their fathers went to the detention center and asked for clarification surrounding the arrests the police responded by: "Send your women here and we will give you new sons."

March 15th,16th 2011, (this date is considered the birthday of the revolution) hundreds (mostly relatives of political prisoners) protested in Damascus and Aleppo. The police arrested a dozen protester in Marjeh Square Damascus. Also, smaller protests erupted in Daraa, Hasakah, Deir el Zoor and Hama.

Friday the 18th of March, by this time Mosques became the headquarters of the protests and protests after the Friday prayers were common. In Daraa, people demanded for the release of the teenagers, 4 protesters were killed by police. Other protests also erupted in Damascus and Homs which consisted of more than 2000 protester (biggest one so far).

The next day, 19th of March, more than 10,000 people participated in the funerals of the killed protestors. Security forces used tear gas, and shot live ammunition at the mourners killing several protestor (number is not known, BBC say it was one and NYTimes say six).

20 March 2011, Assad sent a delegation to Daraa to offer condolences. They were met with protesters in front of the Omari Mosque. Police faced them with tear gaz and live munition. Protesters then proceeded to burn the Baath Party HQ, the courthouse and a branch of the SyriaTel killing 7 policemen and several other protestors (also number is not known).

Several other protests erupted later in March killing more civilians and policemen. One thing to note is that the number of killed civilians was always conflicted between several news agencies. Probably the most important one was on 23 March where police stormed on thousand demonstrators near the Omari mosque in Daraa killing at least 37 according to the local hospital.

On Friday 25 March, the number of protestors in Daraa reached 100,000, protestors destroyed the governor office in Daraa and then burned his home.

Friday the 30th of March 2011, Bachar al Assad delivered his first speech since the demonstration started. He promised reforms, replacing the emergency law and solving the issue of 150,000 Kurds in Hasakah.

It is also worth noting that a lot of pro-government demonstration where happening in Damascus.

By the end of March, the old neighbourhood al-Balad in Daraa was locked and surrounded by the Syrian Army.

One week later, in early April, the whole town of Daraa was surrounded by the army who deployed automatic weapons, missiles and tanks.

More protests around the country took place, especially in Douma where several protestors where killed. The government blamed the incident on gangs who fired from the rooftop of buildings.

Delegations were being sent everywhere in the country to calm things down, promising reforms and listening to concerns.

Part II coming soon ..