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| Version 4 | Version 5 |
|---|---|
| Syria: Mapping the conflict | Syria: Mapping the conflict |
| (6 months later) | |
| Territorial control in Syria has changed many times since the country's uprising began four years ago and the current conflict is characterised by heavy fighting and marginal gains in ground. | |
| Meanwhile, the US-led, multi-national coalition's air strikes against areas held by Islamic State (IS) - the extremist group that grew out of al-Qaeda in Iraq - appears to have slowed their rapid advance across Syria and neighbouring Iraq. | |
| Map sources: areas of control and border crossings from the Syria Needs Analysis Project; all other geographical detail from humanitarian organisations and Google | Map sources: areas of control and border crossings from the Syria Needs Analysis Project; all other geographical detail from humanitarian organisations and Google |
| According to the Syria Needs Analysis Project (Snap), the US-led bombing campaign has disrupted IS governance in the areas it controls, though to what degree remains "unclear". | |
| However, heavy fighting continues on many fronts. | |
| Kurdish forces have been battling IS fighters in and around the northern town of Kobane, while rebel groups, IS and government forces have fought for ground in the northern regions of Aleppo and Idlib - as well as in Hama to the south. | |
| Rebels and the government are also battling for territory in areas approaching the capital, Damascus. Meanwhile, IS and government forces are fighting in the eastern region of Deir al-Zour. | |
| However, Snap reports, these battles have not resulted in any major changes to front lines and relatively small victories have been achieved "at great cost". | |
| In the southern cities of Deraa and Quneitra, where rebel groups have remained relatively united, a rebel advance against government forces has made some progress, though far from the rebels' stated goal of reaching rural Damascus. | |
| Conflict history | |
| The conflict has its roots in protests that erupted in Deraa city in March 2011 after the arrest and torture of some teenagers who painted revolutionary slogans on a school wall. | |
| Opposition supporters - angered by the government's use of lethal force to crush pro-democracy demonstrations - first began to take up arms to defend themselves and later to expel security forces from their local areas. | |
| As the country descended into civil war, armed rebel brigades battled government forces for control of cities, towns and swathes of countryside. | |
| During 2012, rebel forces enjoyed a series of tactical successes, taking control of several outlying suburbs and towns around Damascus, and ousting troops from large parts of the second city of Aleppo. | |
| However, the advances were not decisive. By the start of 2013, the government began to recapture opposition strongholds around the capital, while there was stalemate in Aleppo, with the city divided into rebel and loyalist-controlled sectors. | |
| Then, in June 2013, government troops backed by fighters from the Lebanese Shia Islamist movement, Hezbollah, recaptured a number of rebel strongholds. | |
| Rebel forces have also been affected by deep divisions among groups. Secular moderates are outnumbered by Islamists and jihadists linked to al-Qaeda, whose brutal tactics have caused widespread concern and triggered rebel infighting. | |
| Islamic State's many foreign fighters in Syria are involved in a "war within a war", battling rebels and jihadists from the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front, who object to their tactics, as well as Kurdish and government forces. | |
| Humanitarian crisis | |
| The escalating violence and IS advances have had a significant humanitarian impact on Syria and its neighbours. | |
| Syria is now the world's biggest internal displacement crisis, with an estimated 7.6 million people forced from their homes but remaining in the country. | |
| Overall, the UN estimates 12.2 million are in need of humanitarian assistance inside Syria, including 5.6 million children. | |
| Meanwhile, almost 4 million people have fled Syria the country's borders mainly taking refuge in surrounding countries. | |
| Lebanon and Turkey have each taken in more than one million Syrians, while Jordan, Iraq and Egypt have become home to hundreds of thousands more. | |
| Syrian refugees in the region |