In 2014 the US-led international coalition officially began conducting air and ground operations–primarily against the Islamic State, al-Qaeda elements such as Hurras al-Din and the Khorasan group, and occasionally against pro-Assad forces–and has been militarily and logistically supporting factions such as the Syrian Free Army and the SDF.

While officially neutral, Israel exchanged border fire and conducted repeated strikes against Hezbollah and Iranian elements inside Syria, whose presence in the country it viewed as a security threat.

[27][28] International organizations had accused virtually all sides involved—the Assad government, the Islamic State, opposition groups, Iran, Russia,[29] Turkey[30] and the US-led coalition[31]—of severe human rights violations and massacres.

[35] In October 2019, Kurdish leaders of the AANES announced they had reached a major deal with the Assad government, allowing for Syrian Army forces to enter Kurdish-held towns along the Syria–Turkey border.

[53] On 27 November 2024, a coalition of opposition groups called the Military Operations Command,[54] led by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, launched a major offensive[55] against the Syrian Army and other pro-government forces in Aleppo, Idlib, Hama and Homs Governorates.

[75] On 8 December 2024, Israel invaded southern Syria, subsuming the Golan Heights buffer zone and capturing Quneitra, the Syrian portion of Mount Hermon, and surrounding towns and villages.

[78] This marked the beginning of the domination of personality cults centred around the Assad family that pervaded all aspects of Syrian daily life and was accompanied by a systematic suppression of civil and political freedoms, becoming the central feature of state propaganda.

Eventually the party organisation itself became a rubber stamp and the power structures became deeply dependent on sectarian affiliation to the Assad family and the central role of armed forces needed to crack down on dissent in the society.

[84] Hafez al-Assad's nearly three-decade rule was marked by its methods, ranging from censorship to violent measures of state terror such as mass murders, forced deportations and brutal practices such as torture, which were unleashed collectively upon the civilian population.

The unrest coincided with the most intense drought ever recorded in Syria, which lasted from 2006 to 2011 and resulted in widespread crop failure, an increase in food prices and a mass migration of farming families to urban centers.

In 2010, he imposed a controversial national ban on female Islamic dress codes (such as face veils) across universities, where reportedly over a thousand primary school teachers that wore the niqab were reassigned to administrative jobs.

Syrian rebel groups received political, logistic and military support from the United States,[117][118] Turkey,[119] Saudi Arabia,[120] Qatar,[121] Britain, France,[122] Israel[123][124] and the Netherlands.

[140] The UN Deputy ambassador from Britain, Jonathan Allen, stated that the report by the OPCW's Investigation Identification Team (IIT) claimed that the Syrian regime is responsible for using chemical weapons in the war on at least four occasions.

Steve Goose, director of the Arms Division at Human Rights Watch, said "Syria is expanding its relentless use of cluster munitions, a banned weapon, and civilians are paying the price with their lives and limbs."

[156] The successive governments of Hafez and Bashar al-Assad have been closely associated with the country's minority Alawite religious group, an offshoot of Shia, whereas the majority of the population, and most of the opposition, is Sunni.

[255] On 2 January 2013, the United Nations stated that 60,000 had been killed since the civil war began, with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay saying "The number of casualties is much higher than we expected, and is truly shocking".

[g] On 15 April 2017, a convoy of buses carrying evacuees from the besieged Shia towns of al-Fu'ah and Kafriya, which were surrounded by the Army of Conquest,[281] was attacked by a suicide bomber west of Aleppo,[282] killing more than 126 people, including at least 80 children.

According to three international lawyers,[300] Syrian government officials could face war crimes charges in the light of a huge cache of evidence smuggled out of the country showing the "systematic killing" of about 11,000 detainees.

The report pointed to four places besieged by the government forces: Muadamiyah, Daraya, Yarmouk camp and Old City of Homs, as well as two areas under siege of rebel groups: Aleppo and Hama.

[303][304] In Yarmouk Camp 20,000 residents faced death by starvation due to blockade by the Syrian government forces and fighting between the army and Jabhat al-Nusra, which prevents food distribution by UNRWA.

By July 2012, the human rights group Women Under Siege had documented over 100 cases of rape and sexual assault during the conflict, with many of these crimes reported to have been perpetrated by the Shabiha and other pro-government militias.

[316][better source needed] On 11 September 2019, the UN investigators said that air strikes conducted by the US-led coalition in Syria have killed or wounded several civilians, denoting that necessary precautions were not taken leading to potential war crimes.

[30] According to a 2020 report by UN-backed investigators into the Syrian civil war, young girls aged nine and above have been raped and inveigled into sexual slavery, while boys have been put through torture and forcefully trained to execute killings in public.

[321] On 8 May 2020, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, raised serious concern that rebel groups, including ISIL terrorist fighters, may be using the COVID-19 pandemic as "an opportunity to re-group and inflict violence in the country".

[347] Israel supplied aid through Operation Good Neighbor, providing medical treatment to 750 Syrians in a field hospital located in Golan Heights where rebels say that 250 of their fighters were treated.

[352] It also demanded the World Health Organization to keep pushing the UN to allow medical aid and other essentials to reach Syria via the Iraq border crossing, to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the war-torn nation.

Russia and China vetoed Western-drafted United Nations Security Council resolutions in 2011 and 2012, which would have threatened the Syrian government with targeted sanctions if it continued military actions against protestors.

[391] On 17 June 2020, James F. Jeffrey, Special Representative for Syria Engagement, signalled that the UAE could be hit with sanctions under the Caesar Act if it pushed ahead with normalisation efforts with the Syrian regime.

[401] On 28 September 2019, Syria's top diplomat demanded the foreign forces, including that of US and Turkey, to immediately leave the country, saying that the Syrian government holds the right to protect its territory in all possible ways if they remain.

The memorandum sees Syria join the initiative whose aim is to help expand cooperation with China and other partner countries in areas such as trade, technology, capital, human movement and cultural exchange.