Protesters in Idlib on 12th anniversary of Syrian Revolution: We won't give up!

Muhammad Qattash

A large number of people gathered in the city of Idlib and held a mass protest on Wednesday to mark twelve years since the beginning of the massive uprising against the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Participants told N1 that they will "continue the revolution" against Assad and his supporters no matter what.

One of the participants, Hamza, told N1 that he travelled far to attend the protest.

“We came here to join these young people and support their demands to overthrow the regime and we refuse to reconcile with it after it destroyed the country and forcibly arrested tens of thousands of people who disappeared and we know nothing about their fate. We are steadfast in this path and will continue to follow it,” he told N1.

The large-scale unrest that erupted on March 15, 2011, across the streets of Deraa, Damascus and Aleppo, where protesters demanded the release of political prisoners and democratic reforms, would later turn into a civil war.

The unrest began following the arrest of a group of teenagers in Deraa over graffiti targeting al-Assad. The government responded with violence.

This prompted a group of defectors from the military to announce the establishment of the Free Syrian Army in July of that year.

Protests continued in the following years, as more and more rebel groups emerged in Syria.

The Political and Humanitarian Situation in Syria was discussed at a UN Security Council briefing in January.

“Almost twelve years into Syria’s devastating civil war, the country remains tattered and deeply divided, facing massive economic hardships, limited political progress and the world’s largest displacement crisis, with 70 per cent of the population now in need of humanitarian aid,” senior UN officials told the Security Council.

“As we move into 2023, the Syrian people remain trapped in a profound humanitarian, political, military, security, economic and human rights crisis of great complexity and almost unimaginable scale,” said Geir Pedersen, UN Special Envoy for Syria.

“Having endured 12 years of conflict and humanitarian crisis, they face the worst year yet, with 15.3 million people – nearly 70 per cent of Syria’s population – in need of humanitarian assistance,” said Ghada Eltahir Mudawi, Deputy Director of the UN’s humanitarian affairs coordination office (OCHA).