It's difficult to answer your question because a lot happened from 2011 until now.
Within the civil war there were a lot of different phases where different sides were doing well, others poorly, etc. The situation now, as it has been since maybe ~2016 (around the conclusion of the Battle of Aleppo), is that Assad controls the vast majority of Syrian territory (thanks mainly to Russian military support).
You cannot understate the pure physical destruction that took place in this civil war though. Like, there's a reason people call the Battle of Aleppo "Syria's Stalingrad". The devastation is horrendous and you can only really understand it by looking at it now and knowing what the city was like before. Idlib, which is a city near Aleppo, was never re-captured. I'm not 100% clear on who controls it now but shit is still not good there. Also Erdoğan occupies parts of Syria near the border. I'm not very clear on the Kurds but they have their own region in the East and I'm not sure what their relations with Assad are tbh.
In terms of day to day life, shit has gotten much much much harder over the past couple years. Anybody not rich (and even people who were rich) who managed to get this far have been brutalized by the (hilariously named) Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act that the U.S. passed in 2019 (in Syria, you'll hear people say they have no money because of "Caesar", this is what they're referring to). Before the war 1 USD was like ~50 Lira (iirc) and in 2017 it was ~500. Thanks to the Americans, 1 USD is now like 2,500 Syrian Lira. People don't have the money to feed themselves or keep themselves warm. Physical destruction aside, the sanctions have honestly made life in Syria harder than the rest of the civil war did, it's fucking horrible.
The battle wasn't just in 2016, it started in 2012 and concluded in 2016. So a lot of the time between 2011-2014 was still defined by fighting, but it was more between the government and the opposition rather than fundamentalist groups that started to spring up I think in 2014. I can't help much more than that, I can't remember much about the war between 2011-2014.
Also you should just punch that person you were arguing with they're not worth your time.
I think it started kinda very weirdly, they got the Arab spring, protests, assad seemingly was giving some concessions and suddenly everyone taken unyielding positions over period of 2-3 months and gone to war :sadness:
It was a drought leading to spiraling food prices iirc, coupled with the euphoria of the other arab spring revolutions succeeding (though of course, as we know in hindsight, only Tunisia went how the libs wanted it to, and even that country has problems).
I was actually friends with a person that was part of the protests (and jailed for a time) against Assad from like day 1, and even they told me they had no real demands, no leadership, no plan what to do once Assad was away. Eventually, they left as a refugee and made it to where I live. Last time we talked about this, they told me they don't really like any of the factions in the war and didn't even object to me suggesting Assad winning the war might be one of the more preferable outcomes.
didn’t even object to me suggesting Assad winning the war might be one of the more preferable outcomes
Most Syrians* just want to live their lives and are tired of war and sanctions. If that means going back to 2010 and having Assad still in power, they absolutely would take it.
* that I know, though I think this view is widely held
You're correct, from my experience talking to levantine refugees here. (Which amusingly included a Yazidi person who was basically this a.k.a. pro-Saddam)
The remarkable fact was that the friend of mine was the offspring of wealthy people from the intellectual strata, fluent in English and with strong sadly lib opinions (which is one of the reasons we drifted apart), that is someone who likes to dine from Zizek's trashcan.
It's difficult to answer your question because a lot happened from 2011 until now.
Within the civil war there were a lot of different phases where different sides were doing well, others poorly, etc. The situation now, as it has been since maybe ~2016 (around the conclusion of the Battle of Aleppo), is that Assad controls the vast majority of Syrian territory (thanks mainly to Russian military support).
You cannot understate the pure physical destruction that took place in this civil war though. Like, there's a reason people call the Battle of Aleppo "Syria's Stalingrad". The devastation is horrendous and you can only really understand it by looking at it now and knowing what the city was like before. Idlib, which is a city near Aleppo, was never re-captured. I'm not 100% clear on who controls it now but shit is still not good there. Also Erdoğan occupies parts of Syria near the border. I'm not very clear on the Kurds but they have their own region in the East and I'm not sure what their relations with Assad are tbh.
In terms of day to day life, shit has gotten much much much harder over the past couple years. Anybody not rich (and even people who were rich) who managed to get this far have been brutalized by the (hilariously named) Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act that the U.S. passed in 2019 (in Syria, you'll hear people say they have no money because of "Caesar", this is what they're referring to). Before the war 1 USD was like ~50 Lira (iirc) and in 2017 it was ~500. Thanks to the Americans, 1 USD is now like 2,500 Syrian Lira. People don't have the money to feed themselves or keep themselves warm. Physical destruction aside, the sanctions have honestly made life in Syria harder than the rest of the civil war did, it's fucking horrible.
tldr: Syria was destroyed, mainly by the U.S. if you can believe it. Oh and lots of millennia old history was destroyed. Hope this helped.
deleted by creator
The battle wasn't just in 2016, it started in 2012 and concluded in 2016. So a lot of the time between 2011-2014 was still defined by fighting, but it was more between the government and the opposition rather than fundamentalist groups that started to spring up I think in 2014. I can't help much more than that, I can't remember much about the war between 2011-2014.
Also you should just punch that person you were arguing with they're not worth your time.
I think it started kinda very weirdly, they got the Arab spring, protests, assad seemingly was giving some concessions and suddenly everyone taken unyielding positions over period of 2-3 months and gone to war :sadness:
It was a drought leading to spiraling food prices iirc, coupled with the euphoria of the other arab spring revolutions succeeding (though of course, as we know in hindsight, only Tunisia went how the libs wanted it to, and even that country has problems).
I was actually friends with a person that was part of the protests (and jailed for a time) against Assad from like day 1, and even they told me they had no real demands, no leadership, no plan what to do once Assad was away. Eventually, they left as a refugee and made it to where I live. Last time we talked about this, they told me they don't really like any of the factions in the war and didn't even object to me suggesting Assad winning the war might be one of the more preferable outcomes.
Most Syrians* just want to live their lives and are tired of war and sanctions. If that means going back to 2010 and having Assad still in power, they absolutely would take it.
* that I know, though I think this view is widely held
You're correct, from my experience talking to levantine refugees here. (Which amusingly included a Yazidi person who was basically this a.k.a. pro-Saddam)
The remarkable fact was that the friend of mine was the offspring of wealthy people from the intellectual strata, fluent in English and with strong sadly lib opinions (which is one of the reasons we drifted apart), that is someone who likes to dine from Zizek's trashcan.
The Liveuamap is updated pretty frequently and has the zones of control marked.
Apparentely Pro-Assad forces in Tell Al Dhahab didnt allow a yankee patrol through just two hours ago, so that's great.
Thanks, never seen this before
I assume the red is the government, yellow us the Kurds? What are the blue and green? Turks and islamists?
There's a map key on the right upper part of the map:
Red: Government & pro-government forces: Assad, Russia, Iran
Green: Rebels: FSA, moderate rebels(many groups: Ahrar Al Sham, Jaish al Islam etc), more radical groups like Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham HTS(ex Al-Nusra)
Black: Islamic State
Yellow: Kurds: YPG, PKK, Peshmerga, other
Blue: Golan Heights - controlled by Israel
Darker green: FSA groups and Turkish troops in Northern Syria
suryiak map on twitter is a good source too, and several twitter timelines are good ways to learn about the syrian civil war