Category: asia

There are newer versions of this map available. To see them, view all Syria updates.

 In recent months, Syria’s rebels have continued to tip the balance of the country’s civil war toward their favor, with various local victories and a few further extensions of their territorial control. Below is the updated conflict map, plus a summary of recent territorial changes.

Activity and cities held by rebels and other groups in Syria, updated for December 2012. Map by Evan Centanni, starting from this blank map by German Wikipedia user NordNordWest. License: CC BY-SA

Rebels Consolidate Control in Northwest
Soon after our last update, the rebels of the Free Syrian Army announced the capture of Salqin in the northwestern province of Idlib. This was the first step in a push to close the Syrian government’s last pocket of control along the Turkish border in Idlib – a goal reached just this Tuesday when the rebels finally stormed the loyalist border town of Harem. This leaves Idlib city and the town of Jisr al-Shughur as the Syrian army’s last major strongholds in the northern part of the province.

Country Name:   • Syria (English) • Sūriyya/Sūryā (Arabic) Official Name:   • Syrian Arab Republic (English) • al-Jumhūriyyah al-‘Arabīyah  as-Sūriyyah (Arabic) Capital: Damascus

Eastward Expansion and Rebels vs. Kurdish Militias
Meanwhile, rebel groups have extended their control further into Al-Raqqah and Al-Hasakah provinces in Syria’s northeast. On November 8th, they reached the Kurd-dominated town of Serekani (known in Arabic as Ras al-Ayn), where they pushed out what government soldiers still remained after a Kurdish takeover earlier this year.

However, this victory was followed by several weeks of clashes between the rebels and local Kurdish militias. Much of the fighting was initiated by Islamic extremist factions among the rebels, though relations are already tense enough between Kurdish groups and the Arab-dominated Free Syrian Army.

Kurdish militia units took the events in Serekani as a cue to finish ridding other Kurdish towns of government troops, some of whom had previously been allowed to remain inside their bases despite no longer controlling the towns. These efforts also resulted in one new town, Tal Tamir, falling into Kurdish hands.

Also in the country’s northeast, rebel forces overran Tishrin Dam on the Euphrates River in late November. This hydro-electric dam is an important source of energy for northern Syria, and also serves as a key crossing on the main road from Aleppo to Al-Raqqah.

Renewed Fighting in Damascus and the Golan Heights
Although the Syrian capital itself remains mostly under government control, rebel activity in the surrounding suburbs has redoubled in recent months, with neighborhoods outside the city limits believed to form a patchwork of government, rebel, and undetermined control. Douma, the next largest city in Damascus’s metropolitan area, is again a rebel stronghold.

Farther to the southwest, fighting has broken out in the Golan Heights region. Most of this disputed territory has been controlled by Israel since 1967, but a thin strip on the Syrian side is patrolled as a demilitarized zone by U.N. peacekeeping forces. However, last month Syrian rebels began establishing themselves in the zone, capturing local villages such as Beer Ajam. Government forces ignored the strip’s demilitarized status and entered with tanks to combat the rebels, leading to exchanges of fire with the Israeli military after Syrian shells flew over the international border.

Graphic of Syrian flag is in the public domain (source).

There are newer versions of this map available. To see them, view all Syria updates.

Syria’s civil war has raged on over the last two months, with neither side gaining the upper hand. Death and destruction has been enormous, and territorial changes few, though not none. Read on for the rundown.

Activity and cities held by rebels and other groups in Syria, updated for October 2012. Map by Evan Centanni, starting from this blank map by German Wikipedia user NordNordWest. License: CC BY-SA

Rebel Gains in North

Since our last Syria update in August, the broadest change to territorial control has been the rebels’ eastward expansion from Aleppo into ar-Raqqah province, a region that had previously seen little fighting. Most notably, the Tal Abyad border crossing fell out of government hands on September 19. Starting early this month, attempts by government forces to take back Tal Abyad spiraled into low-intensity border clashes between Turkish and Syrian government forces after Syrian shells began crossing into the other country.

Country Name:   • Syria (English) • Sūriyya/Sūryā (Arabic) Official Name:   • Syrian Arab Republic (English) • al-Jumhūriyyah al-‘Arabīyah  as-Sūriyyah (Arabic) Capital: Damascus

Meanwhile, as the city of Aleppo remains divided (map), rebel forces have slowly fought their way to modest gains in neighboring Idlib province. On August 12, the fighters secured a new stretch of border villages west of Armanaz, and on the 16th they seized Maarat al-Numan, a strategic town located on the highway between Damascus and Aleppo.

Southern & Eastern Regions
Fighting still rages in the Damascus area as well, and it is sometimes impossible to keep track of the constant back and forth between the government and rebels. However, as of last week Douma, the largest city outside of the capital, was reportedly under control of the Free Syrian Army. In the east, they also hold Mayadin, a major eastern town with a bridge over the Euphrates River.

Fighting has also begun to spill over into the neighboring country of Lebanon, whose current government is seen as supportive of the Syrian regime. The country is among the Middle East’s most diverse, and many groups have sided instead with Syria’s rebels.

Syria Map: Corrections & Additions
As the situation in Syria is rapidly changing, and journalists inside the country are few, it can sometimes be difficult to keep up with the changes. As a case in point, it turns out that the town of Ariha in Idlib province was taken back by the Syrian army a week before our August 2012 Syria update, though that map still indicated that it was rebel-held.

Two more towns have also been added to the map since last time: Zabadani northeast of Damascus was a key rebel stronghold early in the war before falling to the government, and since at least this August it is again largely controlled by the Free Syrian Army rebels. East of Aleppo, Manbij is one of the country’s largest rebel-administered towns, after government forces pulled out on July 19.

Graphic of Syrian flag is in the public domain (source).

There are newer versions of this map available. To see them, view all Syria updates.

Political Geography Now presents the sixth update to our map of rebel control in Syria’s civil war. Since last month, battle has erupted in the country’s largest city, Kurds have formed a parallel government in northern towns, and more. Read on for a rundown of recent events.

Activity and cities held by rebels and Kurdish groups in Syria, updated August 16, 2012. Map by Evan Centanni, starting from this blank map by German Wikipedia user NordNordWest. License: CC BY-SA

Battles for Damascus & Aleppo
Not long after our last Syria update, the anti-government Free Syrian Army moved into the capital city of Damascus for the first time, taking advantage of the chaos sown by their shocking assassination of the country’s defense minister and two other top security officials. But after claiming control of some neighborhoods for several days, the rebels were eventually driven back into the suburbs.

Yet even as fighters were expelled from Damascus, the Free Syrian Army began moving into Aleppo, Syria’s largest city. By the end of the month, the previously quiet northern metropolis was facing widespread rebel control in “an arc that [covered] eastern and southwestern districts”. Al Bab, one of Aleppo’s two largest satellite cities, also fell to rebel forces at the beginning of August.

Country Name:   • Syria (English) • Sūriyya/Sūryā (Arabic) Official Name:   • Syrian Arab Republic (English) • al-Jumhūriyyah al-‘Arabīyah  as-Sūriyyah (Arabic) Capital: Damascus

Rebels Capture Border Crossings
Meanwhile, the armed opposition also launched a takeover of several major crossings along the Syrian border. On the northern boundary between Syria and Turkey, rebels took over Bab Al-Hawa crossing in Idlib province and the Bab Al-Salam and Jarabulus crossings in Aleppo province (“bab” means “gate” in Arabic).

On the eastern border with Iraq, an Iraqi official at one point claimed Syrian rebels controlled all border crossings; however, they later appeared to hold only the Al Bukamal (Abu Kamal) crossing in Deir ez-Zor province.

Kurdish Control in North

Also in July, Kurds in the north began taking control of Kurdish-populated areas. Militias serving the allied Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and Kurdish National Council (KNC) have so far seized at least nine towns (full list with sources) and parts of Qamishli, as well as two districts of Aleppo city.

These groups’ goal to create a Kurdish autonomous region in the north has alarmed Turkey, which has been fighting Kurdish rebels north of the border for years. So which side of the Syrian civil war are the Kurdish groups on? For now, they oppose the government; but relations with the Arab-dominated Free Syrian Army are tense, and President al-Assad has been accused of intentionally handing over areas to the Kurdish militias in order to keep out Turkey and the other rebels. 

Country in Chaos 

Flag of the PYD, flown in Kurdish-controlled towns (public domain)

Syria’s northern Idlib province still forms the core of rebel territory (with northern Aleppo province now added), where anti-Assad groups govern most of the countryside and hold major towns such as Saraqeb, Armanaz, and Ariha. However, Deir ez-Zor in the east is also emerging as a power center for the opposition, which now claims to control 90% of the province, including “at least half” of its main city. 

Meanwhile the Syrian National Council (SNC), an opposition umbrella group, has already established unofficial relations with many of the world’s countries, and official diplomatic relations with eight of them. Most of those only acknowledge the SNC as “a legitimate representative” of the Syrian people; but the rebels-turned-leaders of Libya go further, recognizing the Syrian opposition group as the country’s “sole legitimate government”. 

Meanwhile, the Syrian regime has been suspended from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), a group including most of the world’s Muslim countries. In the Muslim world, international opposition to al-Assad’s Syrian government has been led by Saudi Arabia (a Sunni-majority country), while support has come mainly from Iran (a Shiite-majority country). Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad belongs to a minority Shiite sect (the Alawites), while the majority of Syrians, including most of the rebels, are Sunnis.

Graphic of Syrian flag is in the public domain (source).

There are newer versions of this map available. To see them, view all Syria updates.

Full Story: See Syria Divided by Armed Conflict

Known areas of armed activity for the rebel “Free Syrian Army” (click to enlarge). My own work, starting from this blank map by NordNordWest. License: CC BY-SA

Wondering what’s been going on in Syria since our last map update? There have been few, if any, major changes in territorial control, but here’s a brief status update. 

Despite the U.N. brokered ceasefire between the Syrian military and the rebel Free Syrian Army, which was to enter in effect on April 10, armed clashes have continued in many parts of the country, including recent heavy fighting in Rastan. Bloodshed reached a horrific peak a week ago, as over one hundred civilians – nearly half of them children – were massacred in the Houla area of Homs province. Witnesses told the U.N. that the murders were committed by militias loyal to President Assad, though the Syrian government attempted to blame the atrocity on the rebels. In the aftermath, one commander of the Free Syrian Army threatened to call off the ceasefire altogether, which could mean increased fighting in the coming weeks.

Territorial control by the government and rebels has remained mostly the same since April. The only change made to the map is the addition of Houla in red, as at least one source indicates the area was under rebel control both before and after the massacre. Note that the Free Syrian Army is also reported to control much of the northwestern Idlib province outside of the main cities, though the situation is fluid and information is scarce, making it difficult to mark anything definitively on the map. 

There are newer versions of this map available. To see them, view all Syria updates.

Country Name: Syria (English), Sūriyya/Sūryā (Arabic)
Official Name: Syrian Arab Republic (English),
al-Jumhūriyyah al-‘Arabīyah as-Sūriyyah (Arabic)
News Category: Divided Countries
Full Story: See Syria Divided by Armed Conflict

Known areas of armed activity for the rebel “Free Syrian Army”, marking controlled cities and notable towns. Many rural areas may also be under full rebel control. Unarmed protests not shown. Map is my own work, starting from this blank map by German Wikipedia user NordNordWest. License: CC BY-SA

Syria Conflict Update
In the three weeks since our last Syria update, the Syrian military has continued its campaign to retake the northern province of Idlib from the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA). Having retaken Idlib city earlier in the month, the government forces then targeted the province’s second largest city, recapturing Saraqib (Saraqeb) after a four-day battle ending on March 28. In an offensive which is still ongoing despite plans for a U.N.-brokered ceasefire, the Syrian military has also overrun a number of previously rebel-held towns and villages in the Idlib area, most recently taking the town of Taftanaz in an especially bloody battle this week.

Meanwhile, a new front has opened up in the north of Aleppo province, where according to some reports the rebels have controlled the city of Azaz and other towns since early March. In central Syria, the battle continues for the city of Homs, of which the FSA still controls some northern areas. The historical site of Qalaat al-Madiq (Madiq Castle) in Hama province also made news at the end of last month, as the Syrian army stormed the town after a two week siege (government-friendly media later reported that the town had been completely captured).

Useful Link: Wikipedia – Timeline of the 2011-2012 Syrian Uprising