Panorama of the situations in Syria 2021

Another year for the Syrians passed, and the crisis is still going on without any progress being made and without improving security or economic conditions. The bombing, security chaos and siege continued, and Syrians who did not die in the bombing and battles suffered because of economic deterioration and the lack of food and services.

On the ground…. Israeli attacks monthly

In the military level in Syria, the situation did not differ in the remaining so-called (de-escalation) areas (countryside of Idlib, Aleppo, Hama and Latakia), where the mutual bombardment continued between Damascus government forces and Turkish occupation mercenaries.

Damascus government forces control Dara'a with the Russian support

The southern Syria, especially Dara'a throughout 2021, witnessed security tension, represented by mutual targeting between Iranian-backed Fourth Division forces on side, and the Fifth Corps formed from former armed factions with the support of Russia, which tried to stabilize the region.

Tensions continued to escalate, and on August 30, Damascus government forces began bombing and imposed a siege on area and blocked food and fuel supplies to put pressure on the militants to surrender.

On September 1, the implementation of de-escalation agreement began in Dara'a sponsored by Russia, which would put an end to the large military escalation that lasted for weeks in the city located in southern Syria.

On September 9, under the agreement sponsored by Moscow, Damascus government forces entered Dara'a city.

Israel's raids continue

And for the military development during this year was the intensive Israeli raids on Syrian territory, the most prominent of it:

January 22 - Israel launches an attack in Hama city.

February 4 - Israel targets sites in the southern Quneitira countryside.

February 15 - Israel launches raids near Damascus, targeting some locations in the vicinity of Damascus, six fighters loyal to Damascus died.

March 1 - Israel launches raids targeting some targets in the vicinity of Damascus, and the Syrian air defenses announce that the most of the missiles have been shot down.

April 8 - Israel attacks targets near Damascus, and the air defenses of Damascus government drop a some of the missiles over southern neighborhoods of Damascus.

April 22 - Israeli army announced the implementation of strikes inside Syria after a missile fired from Syrian territory fell in the Negev desert in southern Israel near Demona nuclear reactor, while Damascus government said that the Israeli bombing targeted sites in the vicinity of Damascus.

May 5 - Damascus government media reported that the air defenses responded to Israeli raids targeting coastal areas near Latakia.

June 9 – eight members of Damascus government forces were killed in Israeli raids on Homs.

July 22 - Damascus government media reported that air defense forces had confronted Israeli missiles targeting military sites in Al-Qsayer area in Homs. And Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that "Israeli strikes targeted military sites belonging to Lebanese Hezballah in Al-Daba'a Military Airport and Al-Qsayer area " and resulted in the destruction of weapons depots.

August 20 - Damascus government said that Israeli planes raided sites near Damascus and Homs, and SOHR said that Israeli missiles targeted weapons depots and military sites for Lebanese Hezballah.

September 3 - Israel launches night air strikes on military sites of Damascus government forces near Damascus. And according to SOHR, the sites are used by groups loyal to Iran.

October 14 - Israel launched an aerial bombardment on Palmyra area in Homs, in the center of the city.

November 3 - An Israeli strike targeted an area in Damascus countryside that are for forces loyal to Iran weapons depots.

November 8 - Israel targets points in the central and coastal region of Syria.

November 24 - Israeli bombing targets the vicinity of 3 villages in western Homs countryside.

The escalation between Washington and Tehran in Iraq affect on Syria

In addition to the Israeli bombing, the escalation between United States and forces loyal to Iran in Iraq also affect on Syria.

And on February 26, US bombed infrastructure used by armed factions loyal to Iran in eastern Syria, killing 22 Iraqi militants, in the first military operation of Joe Biden administration.

June 29 - Factions loyal to Iran targeted a US military base in eastern Syria in response to the air strikes launched by US in Syria and Iraq against factions supported by Tehran.

The Syrian desert is a prominent stronghold of ISIS in front of Russia and Damascus

The Syrian desert remained a prominent stronghold for ISIS mercenaries during 2021, despite Russia and Damascus government talk about fighting these mercenaries.

On April 19, Russian army announced in a statement that "about 200 fighters" were killed in an aerial bombardment it carried out in Syria and targeted a base have"terrorists" northeast of Palmyra.

November 13 - 13 members loyal to Damascus forces were killed in an ambush carried out by ISIS mercenaries in eastern Syria.

- Politically.. a failure chasing the constitutionalism, the Arabs are communicating with Damascus

On the political level, 2021 was routine with regard to international meetings related to resolving the Syrian crisis, but it brought important developments regarding normalization, especially Arab normalization with Damascus government.

Bashar al-Assad begins a new term and visits Moscow

On June 27, Damascus announced that Bashar al-Assad had won a new presidential term of seven years after obtaining 95.1% from the votes in the elections that the opposition described it as a theatrical, and demanded that Washington not be fooled by it.

On August 10, more than two months after winning a new presidential term, Bashar al-Assad issued a decree to form a new government headed by Hussein A'arnous, comprising 29 ministers, in which he maintained the majority of the previous lineup, with the exception of five ministries.

On September 14, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad met in Kremlin, in the first meeting of the two presidents in Moscow since 2015.

On October 9, Bashar al-Assad allowed his uncle, Rifa'at al-Assad, 84 years old, to return to the country after 36 years of exile in France.

Constitutionalism and Astana are without any results

And about the so-called constitutional committee, on January 30, the work of the fifth round of its meetings, which the UN envoy, Geir Pedersen, described it as disappointing, and that the approach taken by the sessions was not good.

On February 17, the so-called guarantor states of Astana process (Turkey, Russia and Iran) concluded the 15th round of talks that took place in Sochi city, without any final statement containing anything new compared to the previous round except attacking the democratic project in NES, describing it as separatist. .

On July 8, the guarantor states issued a joint statement at the conclusion of "Astana 16" main talks in Kazakh capital, Nur Sultan, in which they emphasized the recommendations made in all the previous final statements.

On October 22, UN envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen, announced the end of the sixth round of meetings of so-called constitutional committee without reaching any common understandings. Pedersen described the committee's meeting as a "great disappointment", saying, "This round did not reach us to any understandings".

On December 21 and 22, the new (17th) round will be held from Astana without any hope of reaching anything new for resolving the Syrian crisis.

Arab contact with Damascus did not satisfy and did not bother Washington

The year also witnessed an intense international movement, most notably the contacts between Damascus government and Arab countries.

On March 11, the foreign ministers of Qatar, Turkey, and Russia held a meeting hosted by Doha focusing on the situation in Syria and calling for a political solution to the conflict.

On September 3, a Lebanese official announced that a ministerial delegation from his country's government would visit Damascus with the aim of paving the way for a US-backed plan to ease the electricity crisis in Lebanon by importing electric power from Jordan through Syria. This is the highest official visit in the first ten years.

On the following day, Damascus agreed to Lebanon's request to import Egyptian gas through its territory for the purpose of generating energy.

On September 8, at a meeting in Amman, the energy ministers of Jordan, Egypt, Syria and Lebanon agreed on a road map for transporting Egyptian gas to Lebanon.

On September 19, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Jordanian Army, Major General Yousef Al-Hunayti, met in the capital, Amman, the Minister of Defense of the Government of Damascus, Chief of Staff General Ali Ayoub.

On September 29, Jordan completely reopened Jabir-Nassib crossing into Syria.

On October 3, Bashar al-Assad made his first phone call to Jordan's King Abdullah II since the outbreak of the conflict in Syria in 2011.

On October 20, the Emirates News Agency said that Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh

Mohammed Zayed Al Nahyan, the de facto ruler of Emirates, discussed by phone with Bashar al-Assad the developments in Syria and Middle East.

On November 9, Bashar al-Assad met Emirati Foreign Minister Abdullah Zayed Al Nahyan.

The next day, US Department expressed its concern after the visit of UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah Zayed Al Nahyan to Damascus and stressed that it would not show any support for efforts being made to normalize the relationship with Bashar al-Assad, describing him as a "brutal dictator".

-Humanitarian.. Frightening numbers of victims and Turkish practices deepen the Syrian crisis

During 2021, the tragedy of Syrian people continued, as there were frightening numbers at the beginning of the year for victims and economic losses, in addition to Turkish practices that deepened the Syrians' crisis by cutting off water

Shocking facts and the international community is failing

On March 10, a survey prepared by International Committee of Red Cross revealed "shocking" facts regarding the conditions of Syrian youth between 18 and 25 years old, who have suffered heavy losses as a result of the crisis that has been going on in the country for 10 years

According to the survey, 50 percent of Syrians have lost either a friend or a family member, and one out of every six Syrians has lost a parent or one of them has been injured.” The report showed that nearly half of Syrian youth have lost their income, while about eight from ten people have difficulties in providing food and other necessities

In the anniversary of the start of Syrian crisis on March 15, there were frightening numbers of victims of ten years of war in Syria. Where there were more than 388,000 people killed, including more than 22,000 children, and the death toll does not include about 88,000 people, who died under torture in Damascus prisons, and the fate of tens of thousands of missing and kidnapped people by all parties to the conflict is still unknown, according to SOHR.

On March 16, UNICEF said that nearly 90 percent of Syrian children are in need of humanitarian care

On March 23, Amnesty International accused the Lebanese security forces of committing violations against Syrian refugees arrested over the past years on “terrorism” charges, including resorting to “horrific methods of torture”. The organization considered that the accused did not receive a "fair trial"

On March 31- in an apparent regression, the international donors pledged $6.4 billion in aid to the Syrian people and refugees and apart from amount set by United Nations by $10 billion

On September 24- the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, announced that the death number, whose full identities, date and place of killing, in the war in Syria had been known had exceeded 350,000

The closure of Tal Kocher crossing increases the suffering of Syrians

On March 30- during a Security Council session, United States demanded reopening of crossings for delivery of humanitarian aid at the Syrian border, including the Tal Kocher crossing

On June 26, Amnesty International stressed that stopping cross-border aid in Syria would have "serious humanitarian consequences" and called on Security Council to renew the send of humanitarian access through Bab al-Hawa and to reopen Bab al-Salama and Tal Kocher crossings. While, UN envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen, joined those calling for delivering the humanitarian aid across the border without passing through Damascus

A new year of Turkey cut off water to Syrians

In addition to the crises, Turkey's cutting off water to the regions of NES has played a major role in deepening the Syrian crisis

On September 28, Doctors Without Borders announced that northern Syria is facing a major water shortage that has reached "dangerous levels", warning of resulting health effects, especially with the "alarming increase" in cases of Covid-19. According to organization, the lack of funding has exacerbated the situation, as activities to provide water, sanitation and hygiene services currently constitute only four percent of the entire humanitarian response budget across Syria

One million people in Hasaka face difficulty with water, due to frequent interruptions in the provision of water from Allouk water station, which is under the control of Turkish occupation. The people of NES has also been affected by sharp decrease in water flowing into Euphrates River, the most important source of water in the region

. Corona exhausts the Syrians

These conditions reflected on health situation in Syria, on September 26, medical sources in Syria confirmed that hospitals in Damascus, and Lattakia city had reached the maximum capacity of patients due to the high number of patients receiving treatment for the Corona virus

And the Ministry of Health of Damascus government announced on December 13 that the number of infections recorded in Syria has reached 49,350, of which 30,573 have been cured and 2,818 have died, while these numbers do not reflect the reality in the country

Economically...a collapse in the currency and Damascus abandoning the policy of subsidy and raising prices

In March, the Syrian lira continued its decline to the dollar, reaching a high record, exceeding the 4,000 barrier in the middle of the month

On March 16, the exchange rate of dollar to the lira reached record levels, reaching 4260 liras

On June 27, Damascus government raised the prices of sugar and rice (which are sold at a subsidized price according to the card) by 66 percent

On July 6, Damascus raised the prices of "Octane 95" (unsubsidized) gasoline about 20 percent, bringing the price of a liter to 3,000 lira, up from 2,500 lira

On July 10, Damascus government raised the price of bread by 100 percent, bringing the price of a bundle of it to 200 lira, up from 100 lira, while diesel oil rose by more than 100 percent from 180 lira to 500 lira, in a move that led to an increase in most prices. Food, agricultural, industrial and transportation materials, amid an stifling economic crisis in the country.

On December 11, the Ministry of Internal Trade and Consumer Protection the Damascus government issued a decision to raise the price of a liter of premium 90-octane gasoline that received by  electronic card to 1,100 Syrian lira.

Sh-S

ANHA