The siege of Daraa occurred within the context of the 2011 Arab Spring protests in Syria, in which Daraa was the center of unrest. On 25 April 2011, the Syrian Army began a ten-day siege of the city, an operation that helped escalate the uprising into an armed rebellion and subsequent civil war.
The Syrian Army's siege involved tanks, helicopters, and up to 6,000 troops. More than 1,000 people were arrested and more than 244 people were killed, many of them children.
Background
Several Arab Spring demonstrations occurred across Syria in the early months of 2011. On 6 March, in the city of Daraa, between 12 and 15 teenagers were arrested for making anti-regime graffiti on 22 February. The students were tortured in the Political Security cells, headed by Atef Najib, a first cousin of President Bashar al-Assad. On 18 March, protests erupted demanding the release of the imprisoned students, an end to corruption, and for greater political freedom. Security forces responded by shooting demonstrators with live ammunition, killing three people, with a fourth succumbing to their wounds the following day. This caused the protests to increase in size.
On 20 March, the third consecutive day of protests, security forces opened fire once again, killing another person–bringing the death toll to five–and injuring dozens. The protests subsequently turned violent, with demonstrators setting fire to the local courthouse and Ba'ath party headquarters, as well as the Syriatel building, owned by Rami Makhlouf–another cousin of President Assad. The central Omari Mosque was turned into a field hospital for protesters fearing potential government reprisals targeting the hospital. In order to calm the protests, the Syrian government sought to meet some of the protesters' demands by releasing the youths detained on 6 March, sacking the governor of Daraa, Faisal Khalthoum, and announcing a decrease of military service time from 21 to 18 months.
On 23 March, security forces attacked thousands of demonstrators near the Omari Mosque, killing at least 37 people. Government authorities blamed the cause of the clashes on "an armed gang", accusing it of stockpiling weapons and ammunition in the mosque and killing four people.
On 8 April, heavy clashes erupted in Daraa between protesters and security forces, in which 27 protesters were killed. According to Al Jazeera, 100 demonstrators were killed during the 22 April "Great Friday" protests in Daraa.
Timeline
Between 25 April and 5 May 2011, the Syrian Army's 4th Armoured Division, led by President Bashar al-Assad's brother Maher al-Assad, besieged and raided Daraa, then a city of 75,000-300,000 people.
International reactions
In response to the siege, European Union countries, including United Nations Security Council members France and the United Kingdom, asked the council to condemn the Syrian government's use of violence, but it was unclear whether council members Russia and China would support that idea. United States president Barack Obama said the U.S. was prepared to freeze Syrian officials' American assets.
Aftermath
- 6 May: Residents insisted the military still remained a force in Daraa with streets largely subdued and residents afraid to leave their homes. Protesters gathered in Tafas, 12 km NNW of Daraa, and tried to enter the city but could not due to the military, according to witnesses.
- 9 May: According to the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria, the Syrian army used schools and a soccer stadium as makeshift prisons for the hundreds of arrests of recent days. A United Nations humanitarian assessment mission was not given permission to enter Syria and visit Daraa.
- 13 May: Protests erupted in and around Daraa.
- 14 May: Syrian officials announced that soldiers and tanks were being pulled out of Daraa.
- 16 May: The army allowed residents to venture outside their homes for two hours a day, a human rights activist said. On the outskirts of Daraa, two mass graves were reportedly discovered with 24 and 7 bodies, respectively. Within an hour the Syrian army reportedly took control of the larger site, started removing the corpses and confiscated mobile phones of witnesses. The story could not be independently verified, partly because foreign reporters were not granted access into Syria.