Part 4/9:
Bashar's leadership faced growing challenges despite apparent economic progress. Agricultural communities suffered severely from a prolonged drought from 2006 to 2010, leading to mass migration to urban areas. Economic issues were exacerbated by rising unemployment and rampant corruption. Additionally, the influx of over a million Iraqi refugees strained the country’s resources.
By 2011, discontent boiled over as the Arab Spring spread through the region. Inspired by protests in Tunisia, hundreds of thousands of Syrians took to the streets, demanding political reform. However, the government's violent repression of these protests transformed local dissent into a nationwide uprising.