Damascus Spring - Aftermath

Aftermath

See also: Cedar revolution and 2011 Syrian uprising

Following intense international pressure on the Syrian government after the death of Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri in February 2005 and the release of the UN Mehlis report, intellectuals again grew more outspoken. Pro-democracy and human rights activists, such as Wissam Tarif, continued being active in their call for democratic change within Syria, despite being expelled from the country. In late October 2005, a declaration calling for democratic reform was issued by most of the opposition, including the Muslim Brotherhood, and the government refrained from taking serious action against the signers. The declaration was called Damascus Declaration, drafted by Abdulrazak Eid, and signed my many Syrian intellectuals. On January 18, 2006, the government said that it would release 5 political prisoners linked to the Damascus Spring, in what analysts called an attempt to rally support for the government after unprecedented international pressure in the wake of the assassination. The prisoners were held for a few more days prior to release, "seemingly in a final attempt to press them not to resume their political or human rights work when they leave prison," said Philip Luther, Amnesty International's Acting Director for the Middle East and North Africa, after Kamal al-Labwani's release in November 2011.

In 2011, following a wave of popular uprisings and revolutions in the Arab world, Syria deteriorated into civil disorder and unrest, developing into an uprising against Assad's government. During 2011, the uprising was brutally suppressed by Bashar al-Assad, in a similar way his father dealt with the Islamic uprising in Syria some three decades earlier. As of November 2012, the uprising had become the Syrian civil war. Unlike other revolutions in neighboring Arab countries, the Syrian opposition used arms against the Syrian army from the beginning, which led to bloody battles between the two and led to a total of more than 2800 Syrian soldiers killed and over a 1000 Syrian army dissidents killed. The Syrian army and the Free Syrian Army both committed massacres without receiving significant media attention. There have been more than 10 thousand killed, including 700 children and 600 women, 65,000 missing, 220 thousand arrested, while producing more than 30,000 refugees.

Reforms in the country would need to be restructured in three areas to appease the masses. Bouthaina Shaaban, the media adviser to the Syrian president, has presented three sets of initiatives. The first would be to increase the wage of state workers and offer healthcare, thus improving living standards and public support. The second would decrease the regulation of buying and selling land in the countries border regions. The third would have to address political and media suppression, decreasing corruption and the brutality of their emergency laws.