# data[].attributes.body
Hong Kong extradition law, police, democracy, Letters | Why the coronavirus need not kill the summer holidays Fears of infection and anger from months-long anti-government movement spill over

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
For seven months Ching Kwan Lee was immersed in the Hong Kong protest movement, visiting the front lines in full protest gear, and listening to the stories of students, seniors and white collar workers who risk injury and arrest to voice opposition to China's growing influence.

The Los Angeles-based sociology professor arrived in early June 2019 to begin a job at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, just as hundreds of thousands took to the streets. The unexpected ferocity of the movement became her research project.

"It is a wonderful opportunity for me to study this kind of political uprising in my hometown," Lee told IDEAS host Nahlah Ayed.

Building on 25 years of research into China's labour practices and global aspirations, Lee looks at the protest movement through the perspective of both China and the people of Hong Kong. She believes the battles that occurred from June to early January constitute a revolution against China over its incursions into the city's independence.

When the government is not accountable to the people everything is political. - Ching Kwan Lee

Lee brought her findings to Toronto, and presented them in a lecture at Ryerson University on Jan. 23. The same day, authorities in China suspended air and rail departures from the city of Wuhan, the first in an escalating series of developments in the outbreak of a novel coronavirus.

By the time Lee returned to Hong Kong, public institutions and businesses were closed, and the streets had emptied.

Response to coronavirus raises level of anger

The uprising began on June 9, 2019 over an extradition bill that would allow Hong Kong residents to be sent to China to face criminal trials. But the brutality of the police response quickly became the focus, even after Hong Kong's chief executive Carrie Lam agreed to abandon the contentious bill.

Lam, already a target of the angry protests, also came under criticism over her handling of coronavirus. The protesters claim she responded too slowly to curtail travel from China.

She is under fire for a controversial effort to ban people from wearing face masks. The move intended to help police identify protesters created confusion as coronavirus fears spread and the use of masks was seen as one way of preventing it.

"I think this epidemic has illustrated once again that when the government is not democratic, when the government is not accountable to the people, everything is political," Lee explained in an interview from Hong Kong.

She believes the Hong Kong government's handling of the coronavirus will only strengthen the pro-democracy movement.

Hong Kong's leverage

Lee's preliminary research suggests Hong Hong has coalesced as a community in its opposition to China's attempts to assert more control over the territory.

She has identified three revolutionary moments that arose from the 2019 protest movement:

People within the movement have forged new friendships and alliances and see themselves in a revolutionary role.

Many have accepted so-called "just" violence in response to the harsh actions of police.

Current and former residents of Hong Kong have created unofficial diplomatic channels, bypassing China in international relations.

Hong Kong's unique status as a global economic powerhouse will prevent China from imposing a Tiananmen Square style crackdown on the protests, Lee says. She cites Hong Kong's customs status which allows the importation of sensitive electronic and surveillance technology as one factor that keeps China from being seen as pushing too hard against the territory's autonomy.

In short, she says, the Communist state needs the capitalist territory to bolster its domestic economy.

"Hong Kong becomes the frontier for global China," she explained in her lecture.

Like many in Hong Kong she is hoping for a pragmatic solution where China respects the one country two systems principle which was enacted when Britain handed over control of the territory in 1997.

But Lee isn't making any predictions. She says no one could have anticipated the size and scope of the street protests which began in June. Nor could anyone foresee the coronavirus crisis which has paralyzed much of China, and cleared Hong Kong streets of protesters.

"I think it's very difficult for me to predict what the future would hold."
Ching Kwan Lee's lecture entitled, The Improbable Revolution: Hong Kong versus China, was delivered at Ryerson University in Toronto.

* This episode was produced by Terry Reith.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Hong Kong's revolutionary moment interrupted by coronavirus fears | CBC Radio

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The protest movement in Hong Kong has evolved into three distinct revolutionary moments, according to sociologist Ching Kwan Lee. It has led to the reimagining of community, the re-evaluation of violence, and Hong Kong's emergence as a global city, able to leverage its financial role to stand against China's absolutist authority.

# data[].attributes.body
The conflict has left more than 360,000 people dead, devastated cities and drawn in other countries.

# data[].attributes.body
New landslide hits China disaster area

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
At least 10 people have been confirmed dead and 93 are still missing.

BEIJING (AFP) - More rock and mud fell on Tuesday at the site of a major landslide that buried a mountain village and scores of people in southwest China last weekend, state media said.

No one was injured in the new and smaller avalanche as the area where Xinmo village once stood had been cordoned off following warnings on Monday, Xinhua news agency reported.

Rescuers workers who had been digging through the rubble since Saturdays disaster were evacuated from the area on Monday in anticipation of another slide.

At least 10 people have been confirmed dead and 93 are still missing after heavy rain brought down the side of a mountain onto the village in Sichuan province. Only three survivors have been found.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
New landslide hits China disaster area - World - Dunya News

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
At least 10 people have been confirmed dead and 93 are still missing. BEIJING (AFP) - More rock and mud fell on Tuesday at the site of a major landslide that buried a mountain village and scores of people in southwest China last weekend, state media said.

# data[].attributes.body
Lebanon Is Facing an Economic and Environmental Disaster

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Lebanon's fragile communitarian democracy is hobbling on. After more than 250 days of political deadlock that threatened to bring down the economy, Prime Minister Saad Hariri now presides over another unity government, Lebanon's sixth since the devastating 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah.

When analysts and policymakers assess Lebanon's long list of problems, political sectarianism and the general split between pro- and anti-Syrian factions in the country usually come first. The idea that sectarian tensions and proxy conflicts between regional hegemons Iran and Saudi Arabia are keeping Lebanon trapped is the general, tired storyline about the country. The Syrian war, so the logic goes, has ostensibly made good governance in Lebanon nearly impossible.

The new 30-member unity government will probably not change that picture. It includes all the major political parties in Lebanon. President Michel Aoun and his Free Patriotic Movement have the biggest share with 10 seats, while the Shiite duo Hezbollah and the Amal Movement holds six seats combined. Hariri has six seats, and his allies-the Christian Lebanese Forces-have four, the rest going to smaller groups. It is a divided cabinet with often opposing views on foreign policy; therefore, policymaking is likely to be lethargic and reactive, as has been the case for the past decade.

The U.S. response has been to beef up the Lebanese Armed Forces, while European aid has focused on mitigating the Syrian refugee crisis in the country. No one can doubt the serious implications of regional competition and sectarian tensions in Lebanon. In the past, they have threatened to bring the country back to the brink of war. Seen in this light, it is necessary to address both the security sector and refugee aid.

But, as the refugee crisis has only made clearer, the primary structural challenges to stability and security in Lebanon are now economic and ecological. Stopgap measures will not suffice much longer. Pollution is rampant; burned and dumped trash is spoiling the natural environment and contaminating water. Lebanon's economy is faltering under the weight of mismanagement, debt, and Syrian refugees. Western policymakers have to consider these factors if they care about protecting civil peace in the country.

The previous government did very little to prevent Lebanon's infrastructure from crumbling. Mainly due to corruption, Interior Minister Nohad Machnouk failed to find a permanent solution for trash collection. As a result, people continue to burn toxic trash near urban developments and dump rubbish into coastal landfills as well as the Mediterranean Sea with disastrous effects for the environment and public health. Contamination and depletion of the ground water have reached catastrophic levels. At the same time, electricity cuts are frequent, leaving the poorest parts of the country without power in the hot summer months and with no heating in the winter. For the one-third of the country living below the $1.90 per day international poverty line, Lebanon feels more like a failed state than a middle-income democracy.

The environment has deteriorated apace with public trust in the government and hope for the future. Elites have put their faith in Lebanon's famed flexible economy, which relies on remittances from abroad and people's general ability to innovate and ride out hard times. But in recent years, even for the middle class, the country's economic future has begun to look very uncertain. Growth rates have sunk from 8 to 1 percent since the years before the Syrian war, and the budget deficit has skyrocketed as the country's soaring debt passed $80 billion last year.

Nothing suggests that this government will be less dysfunctional than previous ones, even if some of the appointed ministers may be able to devise new policies to address the country's serious economic and ecological challenges. Raya al-Hassan, the first female interior minister in any Arab country, could push for sorely needed anti-corruption measures and an overhaul of Lebanon's endemic trash removal problems.

The urgency of the situation was highlighted recently when, on Jan. 21, Moody's Investors Service downgraded the country's credit rating amid concerns over its ability to service its debts. Bond prices rallied on the news of the new government's formation, but this could be a temporary reaction unless it produces results quickly. Lebanon is in real danger of defaulting in the coming years.

The outside world needs to see results now, and Hariri knows it. After announcing the new government on Jan. 31, he immediately emphasized the need to stabilize the economy by passing reform bills that would trigger more than $11 billion in aid and loans for infrastructure investment pledged at the April 2018 CEDRE donor conference. Here, Western governments, Saudi Arabia, and international monetary institutions pegged aid to structural reforms that would bring in foreign investments, improve infrastructure, and reduce corruption. To meet the demands, Lebanon has to reduce the budget deficit by 5 percent of GDP within five years. It is a tall order, with almost 50 percent of government revenues currently going toward servicing the country's already substantial debts of around 150 percent of GDP. Without drastic reforms, there is little chance of hitting the 5 percent target.

The loans were locked due to political infighting last year. Initially, Christian and Druze leaders disagreed over their representation. When parties reached a breakthrough, Hezbollah added a new demand, pushing for control of a ministry to be handed to the Consultative Gathering, a grouping of six pro-Syria Sunni members of parliament opposed to Hariri, whose Future Movement is the largest Sunni faction.

Hariri rejected Hezbollah's demands, fearing they would allow the Shiite party to increase its dominance. As international pressure mounted, however, he eventually accepted a compromise candidate, Hassan Mrad, to become the new state minister for foreign trade. Mrad formally belongs to Aoun's share of cabinet seats but also represents the Consultative Gathering. Under the agreement, Mrad will not vote against Aoun, the veteran Christian leader who struck a deal with Hezbollah in 2006 that eventually landed him the presidency in 2016.

Mrad will not make a big difference to the general picture. Hezbollah's "Loyalty to the Resistance" bloc formally controls just three ministries-the Ministry for Youth and Sports, the Ministry of Public Health, and the State Ministry for Parliamentary Affairs-but it can effectively lead from behind as it holds a parliamentary majority together with the Shiite party Amal, Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement, and other allies. They will use it to block legislation that contradicts their foreign policy, not least support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Hezbollah's control of the Ministry of Public Health is significant. It has the fourth-largest budget, and this is the first time that the party has taken charge of a major portfolio. It will allow Hezbollah to deliver on promises to its Shiite constituents by improving health services for low-income groups, pushing for free health care for its soldiers returning from Syria, and embedding itself further in state institutions.

These new powers are a double-edged sword because they will leave Hezbollah exposed to criticism if it fails to deliver. At the same time, by increasing its influence within the state, Hezbollah becomes a larger and more difficult target for the United States.

Last year, Washington imposed new sanctions on Hezbollah and threated to target Lebanon itself should Hezbollah take charge of a major ministry. The new minister, Jamil Jabak, is not formally a Hezbollah member but is extremely close to the movement and has served as a personal physician to its leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

The United States will see the appointment as an affront and may consider free health care to Hezbollah members, if the ministry were to provide it, as an example of "significant financial support"-a red line that could be used to justify a reduction in U.S. funding to the health ministry while pressuring other international donors to do the same. (The European Union and the World Bank are currently major donors to the Lebanese health sector.)

Washington could also impose sanctions on hospitals, preventing the export of U.S. medications to the country, or cut off military aid. Both would primarily harm civilians and risk undermining a country that the United States, along with the EU, wants to protect from collapse. Washington is therefore likely to give Hariri a chance to show his ability to rein in Hezbollah's power.

Jostling to punish Hezbollah is a dangerous distraction from the key challenge. Lebanese policymakers should keep their eyes on reforms which would help stabilize the economy in the short term. They must also introduce new and immediate assistance to the Ministry of Environment and other public bodies to help stop environmental disaster. There is an immediate need to strengthen the state's ability to address the crisis, but donors should also aid existing but underfunded civil society groups that promote conservation, environmental protection, and recycling.

These are the urgent challenges that ordinary Lebanese citizens face. They are also the ones that will, depending on how they are addressed, determine whether state failure spreads from the margins of the state to its core.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Lebanon Is Facing an Economic and Environmental Disaster

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Lebanon's fragile communitarian democracy is hobbling on. After more than 250 days of political deadlock that threatened to bring down the economy, Prime Minister Saad Hariri now presides over another unity government, Lebanon's sixth since the devastating 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah.

# data[].attributes.body
natural disaster canada

1.Floods and torrential rains

The 1997 Red River flood in Manitoba and the 2013 flood in southern and central Alberta wrought the worst damage in the country’s history.

2.Hurricanes
There are exceptions, however. Hurricane Hazel, which flooded the city of Toronto in 1954
3.Tornadoes
You may be surprised to learn that Canada is outranked only by the United States as the country with the highest number of tornadoes

# data[].attributes.body
So European. So close

# data[].attributes.body
Rockets hit Iraq military base near Baghdad amid US-Iran tensions

80km away from the capital, was hit by eight Katyusha rockets.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Several rockets have slammed into an Iraqi airbase north of Baghdad where US troops are based, officials and military sources said, adding that at least four Iraqi airmen were wounded.

A majority of US airmen stationed at the Balad airbase, 80km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, had already left, AFP news agency quoting military sources said on Sunday.

Some shells hit the runway of the Balad airbase while another shell struck the gate, said Colonel Mohammed Khalil, a police officer in the northern Iraqi province of Saladin.

"Three Iraqi soldiers, who were on guard at the airbase gate, were injured as a result of the shelling," he said.

So far, there has been no claim of responsibility for the attack that comes amid tensions between the United States and Iran over the last two weeks.

Earlier this week, Iran launched missile attacks on two Iraqi airbases hosting US troops in retaliation for the killing of top Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani in a US drone strike in Baghdad.

More to follow.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Rockets hit Iraq military base hosting US troops: Reports

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Several rockets have slammed into an Iraqi airbase north of Baghdad where US troops are based, officials and military sources said, adding that at least four Iraqi airmen were wounded. A majority of US airmen stationed at the Balad airbase, 80km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, had already left, AFP news agency quoting military sources said on Sunday.

# data[].attributes.body
Plane Crash
It was the second day of protests after the military acknowledged early Saturday that it had launched the missiles that near the Iranian capital on Wednesday, killing all 176 people on board

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Remarkably, some criticism is coming from some within the government's hard-line power base.

A vigil at Amirkabir University in Tehran for the victims of the plane downing. Credit... Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times

A top Iranian military commander made a rare public appeal for forgiveness on Sunday as security forces fired on protesters and outrage over the mistaken downing of a jetliner reignited opposition on the streets and stirred dissent within the government's conservative base.

It was the second day of protests after the military acknowledged early Saturday that it had launched the missiles that brought down a Ukraine International Airlines jet near the Iranian capital on Wednesday, killing all 176 people on board. The disaster unfolded amid escalating tensions with the United States over the killing of a revered Iranian commander, Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani.

For the first three days after the crash, Iran denied growing international accusations that it had shot the plane down, and looked as if it was engaged in a cover-up. The Iranian authorities insisted that the jetliner had gone down for mechanical reasons, and refused to cooperate with investigators. They also began to remove some evidence from the scene.

But then, as the uproar mounted, Iranian leaders admitted that they had shot the aircraft down, citing human error.

That admission limited the blowback from abroad - but threw a match on the volatile situation at home. Anti-government protests that had quieted when General Suleimani was killed in a drone strike in Iraq rekindled across the country.

Still, analysts argued that this latest wave of internal unrest could ultimately strengthen those in Iran who are pressing to confront the United States. Already, they were seeking to blame Washington for the protests.

On Sunday, the unrest spread outside Tehran, the capital, to at least a dozen cities. Security forces fired tear gas, rubber bullets and eventually live ammunition to disperse demonstrators in Tehran. By late Sunday night, several people had been wounded, witnesses said.

Unlike previous waves of opposition, some of the outrage this time has come from conservatives who ordinarily support the government, as well as from the usual critics.

Headlines in hard-line newspaper demanded resignations, and the commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Guards, Gen. Hossein Salami, issued a very rare public apology. In a televised address, he all but begged Iranians to return to the nationalist zeal that only days earlier had seemed to fill the country, after General Suleimani's killing.

Iran responded to his death by firing missiles at bases in Iraq where American forces were stationed. "We achieved a great victory," General Salami said, though the missile barrage injured no one and did little serious damage. "But the crash of the airplane has tarnished it."

He said he wished he, too, had "crashed and burned" on the jet.

Video

Iranians have taken to the streets in protest after the government admitted, following three days of denials, that it accidentally shot down a Ukrainian passenger jet. Here's everything we know about that seven-minute flight. Credit Credit... Akbar Tavakoli/Agence France-Presse - Getty Images

The editor in chief of the Revolutionary Guard's Tasnim news agency, Kian Abdollahi, said that attempts by government officials to lie about what had happened were as great a "catastrophe" as the crash itself.

"Officials who misled the media are guilty too," he said on Twitter. "We are all ashamed before the people."

Analysts say the uproar, however, is unlikely to dampen the Iranian appetite for confrontation with the West.

Iranian hard-liners habitually suspect that American covert operations are behind domestic protests, and the unvarnished pleasure the White House seemed to take in the events unfolding in Iran over the weekend may only harden that view, analysts said.

"We are following your protests closely and are inspired by your courage," President Trump tweeted on Sunday.

Ali Vaez, Iran project director at the International Crisis Group, said that even as they took tough measures to suppress protests at home, Iranian leaders might lash out against Washington, covertly or otherwise.

"They believe that the U.S. and its allies in the region are fueling and exploiting internal discontent in Iran," he said. "The game will return to Iran's comfort zone: indirect attacks against the United States and its allies in ways that would allow plausible deniability and minimal risks of reprisal."

Over the last year, the Trump administration has hit Iran with a so-called "maximum pressure campaign" of painful economic sanctions aimed at pressuring Tehran to submit to new restrictions on its military activities and nuclear program. Iranian officialsdescribe it as economic warfare.

If hawks in Washington view the protests as evidence of success, that could work against Iranians who favor compromise with the United States - and strengthen hard-liners who favor confrontation, said Sanam Vakil, a scholar at Chatham House.

"Security-focused conservatives are thinking they can't come to the table now because it would be weak," she said.

General Salami of the Revolutionary Guards, in his apology and plea for unity on Sunday, appeared eager to rally Iranians once again against their perennial rival since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

"We are at war with the United States," he said. "We do not consider the conflict with the United States over. We are the soldiers of the people, and we will sacrifice ourselves for you."

"Iran has risen," he said, noting that its military had dared fire missiles toward American forces on bases in Iraq - even if it did so without much chance of damage or casualties. "Iran is proud and the whole world has seen our power."

By acknowledging belatedly that Iran's own military had brought down the jet, Iranian leaders avoided the prospect of greater international isolation. European and other governments that had sought to trade with Iran or mediate its dispute with Washington had all begun to cite evidence that Iranian forces shot down the plane.

Canada, the final destination of most passengers on the downed jet, lost 57 citizens. At a memorial event on Sunday at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the crash "truly a Canadian tragedy."

"I want to assure all families and all Canadians: We will not rest until there are answers," he said. "We will not rest until there is justice and accountability."

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada said Sunday that two of its air accident investigators had obtained visas from Iran and would arrive in Tehran on Monday. It saidtwo experts in downloading and analyzing flight data and voice recorder information would follow.

In Tehran, the scale of the domestic backlash may have caught the government by surprise.

Uniformed members of the security forces and pro-government militia men were deployed in large numbers in cities around the country, apparently in an unsuccessful effort to discourage a second day of protests.

By the end of the night, at least several people had been shot in the back by security forces, according to witnesses and videos. Several protesters in Tehran said in interviews that a circle of militiamen had closed in and beaten them.

"The city is a security zone and special forces units are at every square," Siamak Ghasemi, an economist living in Tehran, wrote on his Instagram page. The wrong group, he said, was being punished: "It's as if civilians had brought down a military plane."

Despite the heavy security presence, large crowds turned out. In many places, they chanted caustic slogans. Some denounced the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which is a capital offense in Iran.

"The supreme leader is a murderer; his regime is obsolete," demonstrators chanted in Azadi Square in Tehran.

"Our enemy is right here," others chanted in a video circulating on social media. "They lie to us that it's America."

The protests in several cities were centered at universities and dominated by students, perhaps because many of those killed in the plane crash were recent graduates heading for further study in Canada.

"They killed our geniuses and replaced them with clerics," young men and women chanted in the city of Shiraz.

Dozens of prominent film directors, artists and performers issued statements condemning the government's handling of the crash and pulling their work from a prestigious competition.

"We are not citizens," Iran's best-known actress, Taraneh Alidoosti, wrote on her Instagram page; she has six million followers. "We are hostages, millions of hostages."

A member of the Tehran city council issued a stinging statement of resignation: "Today we are faced with systematic lies, cover-ups and lack of accountability. In the current environment I have no hope for reform."

And the only female Iranian athlete to win an Olympic medal also chose Sunday to announce that she had defected. "I am one of the millions of oppressed women in Iran who they have been playing with for years," the athlete, Kimia Alizadeh, wrote on Instagram. She won a bronze medal in taekwondo in 2016.

Officials appeared to be scrambling to get behind the outpouring of public grief for those killed on the plane.

A billboard in downtown Tehran that had displayed a photo of General Suleimani was taken down. In its place was a black banner with the names of the victims and a verse about grief. In Tabriz and Tehran, some protesters could be seen tearing up photos of General Suleimani that had been hanging from poles.

Iranian media reported that local officials, prayer leaders and Revolutionary Guard commanders were visiting the families of victims to offer apologies and condolences.

Like the commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Guards, though, Ayatollah Khamenei did his best to shift public attention back to the conflict with the Washington.

In a meeting with the visiting emir of Qatar, according to his website, he argued that the problems of the region were created by "the United States and its friends."

Ian Austen contributed reporting from Ottawa.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Iran Cracks Down as Protests Over Downing of Airliner Grow

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Remarkably, some criticism is coming from some within the government's hard-line power base. A top Iranian military commander made a rare public appeal for forgiveness on Sunday as security forces fired on protesters and outrage over the mistaken downing of a jetliner reignited opposition on the streets and stirred dissent within the government's conservative base.

# data[].attributes.body
Wildfires

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
australia wildfires: here's what you need to know about the deadly blazes - cnn

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What you need to know about Australia's deadly wildfires

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Australia is being ravaged by the worst wildfires seen in decades, with large swaths of the country devastated since the fire season began in July. Learn about the fire causes, locations and other information.

# data[].attributes.body
War

The conflict has left more than 360,000 people dead, devastated cities and drawn in other countries.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A peaceful uprising against the president of Syria 12 years ago turned into a full-scale civil war. The conflict has left half a million people dead, devastated cities and drawn in other countries.

Even before the conflict began, many Syrians were complaining about high unemployment, corruption and a lack of political freedom under President Bashar al-Assad, who succeeded his father, Hafez, after he died in 2000.

In March 2011, pro-democracy demonstrations erupted in the southern city of Deraa, inspired by uprisings in neighbouring countries against repressive rulers.

When the Syrian government used deadly force to crush the dissent, protests demanding the president's resignation erupted nationwide.

The unrest spread and the crackdown intensified. Opposition supporters took up arms, first to defend themselves and later to rid their areas of security forces. Mr Assad vowed to crush what he called "foreign-backed terrorism".

The violence rapidly escalated and the country descended into civil war. Hundreds of rebel groups sprung up and it did not take long for the conflict to become more than a battle between Syrians for or against Mr Assad. Foreign powers began to take sides, sending money, weaponry and fighters, and as the chaos worsened extremist jihadist organisations with their own aims, such as the Islamic State (IS) group and al-Qaeda, became involved. That deepened concern among the international community who saw them as a major threat.

Syria's Kurds, who want the right of self-government but have not fought Mr Assad's forces, have added another dimension to the conflict.

The United Nations Human Rights Office estimated last year that 306,887 civilians - 1.5% of the total pre-war population - were killed between March 2011 and March 2021 due to the conflict.

It said 143,350 civilian deaths were individually documented by various sources with detailed information, and that a further 163,537 deaths were estimated to have occurred using statistical techniques. At least 27,126 of those estimated to have been killed were children.

The then-UN Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, stressed that the fatalities were the "direct result of war operations", adding: "This does not include the many, many more civilians who died due to the loss of access to healthcare, to food, to clean water and other essential human rights."

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based monitoring group with a network of sources on the ground, had documented the deaths of 503,064 people by March 2023. It said at least 162,390 civilians had been killed, with the Syrian government and its allies responsible for 139,609 of those deaths.

The group estimated that the actual toll from the war was more than 613,400, with an additional 55,000 civilians believed to have died of torture in government-run prisons.

Another monitoring group, the Violations Documentation Center, which relies on information from activists across the country, had documented 240,215 battle-related deaths, including 145,765 civilians, as of March 2023.

The government's key supporters have been Russia and Iran, while Turkey, Western powers and several Gulf Arab states have backed the opposition to varying degrees during the conflict.

Russia - which had military bases in Syria before the war - launched an air campaign in support of Mr Assad in 2015 that has been crucial in turning the tide of the war in the government's favour.

The Russian military says its strikes only target "terrorists" but activists say they regularly kill mainstream rebels and civilians.

Iran is believed to have deployed hundreds of troops and spent billions of dollars to help Mr Assad.

Thousands of Shia Muslim militiamen armed, trained and financed by Iran - mostly from Lebanon's Hezbollah movement, but also Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen - have also fought alongside the Syrian army.

The US, UK and France initially armed what they considered "moderate" rebel groups. But they have prioritised non-lethal assistance since jihadists became the dominant force in the armed opposition.

A US-led global coalition has also carried out air strikes and deployed special forces in Syria since 2014 to help an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias called the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) capture territory once held by IS militants in the north-east and stop the jihadist group rebuilding.

Turkey is a major supporter of the opposition, but its focus has been on using rebel factions to contain the Kurdish YPG militia that dominates the SDF, accusing it of being an extension of a banned Kurdish rebel group in Turkey.

Turkish troops and allied rebels have seized stretches of territory along Syria's northern border and intervened to stop an all-out assault by government forces on the last opposition stronghold of Idlib.

Saudi Arabia, which is keen to counter Iranian influence, armed and financed the rebels at the start of the war. Having refused to engage with President Assad for more than a decade, it is now discussing how to facilitate Syria's "return to the Arab fold".

Israel, meanwhile, has been so concerned by what it calls Iran's "military entrenchment" in Syria and shipments of Iranian weapons to Hezbollah and other Shia militias that it has conducted air strikes with increasing frequency in an attempt to thwart them.

Twelve years of war have inflicted immense suffering on the Syrian people.

In addition to the bloodshed, more than half of Syria's pre-war population of 22 million have had to flee their homes. Some 6.8 million are internally displaced, with more than two million living in tented camps with limited access to basic services.

Another 6 million are refugees or asylum-seekers abroad. Neighbouring Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey, which are hosting 5.3 million of them, have struggled to cope with one of the largest refugee exoduses in recent history.

At the start of 2023, the UN said 15.3 million people inside Syria were in need of some form of humanitarian assistance - an all-time high since the war began - and 12 million did not know where their next meal was coming from.

The already dire humanitarian situation in north-western Syria - the location of the last opposition stronghold - was made significantly worse by the huge earthquake that struck near the Turkish city of Gaziantep, about 80km (50 miles) from the Syrian border, on 6 February 2023.

More than 5,900 people were killed across Syria and another 8.8 million were affected, according to the UN. Thousands of homes and critical infrastructure were destroyed, leaving many families without food, water and shelter. Deliveries of life-saving aid to opposition-held areas were also delayed for days because of what a UN panel described as "shocking" failures by the warring parties as well as the international community.

The disaster happened at a time when the prices of food and fuel in Syria were already skyrocketing because of runaway inflation and the collapse of its currency, as well as the global crisis exacerbated by the war in Ukraine.

Syria has also been one of the countries in the Middle East worst affected by the Covid-19 pandemic - although the true extent is not known because of limited testing - and is now also having to deal with a deadly cholera outbreak that was made worse by the earthquake.

Access to medical care is severely restricted for the sick and injured because only half of the country's hospitals are fully functional.

Despite their protected status, 601 attacks on at least 400 separate medical facilities had been documented by Physicians for Human Rights as of February 2022, resulting in the deaths of 942 medical personnel. The vast majority of the attacks were blamed on government and Russian forces.

Entire neighbourhoods and vital infrastructure across the country also remain in ruins. UN satellite analysis suggested that more than 35,000 structures were damaged or destroyed in Aleppo city alone before it was recaptured by the government in late 2016.

Much of Syria's rich cultural heritage has likewise been destroyed. All six of the country's Unesco World Heritage sites have been damaged significantly, with IS militants deliberately blowing up parts of the ancient city of Palmyra.

A UN commission of inquiry has concluded that the warring parties "have cumulatively committed almost every crime against humanity... and nearly every war crime applicable in a non-international armed conflict".

"Syrians," a February 2021 report says, "have suffered vast aerial bombardments of densely populated areas; they have endured chemical weapons attacks and modern day sieges in which perpetrators deliberately starved the population along medieval scripts and indefensible and shameful restrictions on humanitarian aid".

The government has regained control of Syria's biggest cities, but large parts of the country are still held by rebels, jihadists and the Kurdish-led SDF. There have been no shifts in the front lines for three years.

The last remaining opposition stronghold is in the north-western province of Idlib and adjoining parts of northern Hama and western Aleppo provinces.

The region is dominated by a jihadist alliance called Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), but is also home to mainstream rebel factions backed by Turkey. An estimated 2.9 million displaced people, including a million children, are living there, many of them in dire conditions in camps.

In March 2020, Russia and Turkey brokered a ceasefire to halt a push by the government to retake Idlib. That led to an extended lull in violence, but there continues to be sporadic clashes, air strikes and shelling.

In the country's north-east, Turkish forces and allied Syrian rebels launched an offensive against the SDF in October 2019 to create a "safe zone" clear of Kurdish YPG militia along the Syrian side of the border, and have occupied a 120km (75 miles) long stretch since.

To halt the assault the SDF struck a deal with the Syrian government that saw the Syrian army return to the Kurdish-administered region for the first time in seven years. Despite the presence of Syrian troops, there are still regular clashes between the SDF and Turkish-led forces along the front line.

IS sleeper cells also continue to carry out frequent and deadly attacks.

It does not look like it will anytime soon, but everyone agrees a political solution is required.

The UN Security Council has called for the implementation of the 2012 Geneva Communiqué, which envisages a transitional governing body "formed on the basis of mutual consent".

Nine rounds of UN-mediated peace talks - known as the Geneva II process - failed to make progress, with President Assad apparently unwilling to negotiate with political opposition groups that insist he must step down as part of any settlement.

Russia, Iran and Turkey set up parallel political talks known as the Astana process in 2017.

An agreement was reached the following year to form a 150-member committee to write a new constitution, leading to free and fair elections supervised by the UN. But little progress has been achieved after eight rounds of talks.

As the conflict entered its 13th year, UN special envoy Geir Pedersen said the situation in Syria was "untenable" and that "to carry on in the same manner, defies humanity and logic".

But he also expressed hope that the devastating earthquake could be a "turning point", noting the "humanitarian steps from all sides that have moved beyond previous positions, even if temporarily".
.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
While the world's attention is focused on Ukraine, Syria is still suffering in its long war.