Part 2/12:
The seeds of the Syrian Civil War were sown before the outbreak of the Arab Spring in 2011. For decades, Syria had been a repressive one-party state ruled by the Assad family, with Hafez al-Assad leading from 1970 until his death in 2000, after which his son Bashar took over. The regime’s intolerance for dissent stifled any opposition, and state-sponsored violence decimated countless lives.
Initial unrest began in March 2011 when security forces cracked down on teenagers in Daraa writing anti-regime graffiti. The repressive actions ignited mass protests across the country, where citizens called not only for the release of political prisoners but also for fundamental political reforms.