What’s the future for Syria’s divided north?
The Inquiry
BBC
4.6 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 27 November 2024
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
When protests against decades of rule by the Assad family were crushed by Syrian government forces in the spring of 2011, opposition groups took up arms and the country descended into civil war. The conflict drew in Syria’s Kurds, jihadi groups including Islamic State and al-Qaeda, and the international community.
13 years on President Assad controls around two thirds of the country, but northern Syria remains out of the regime's grip and is highly volatile. Internal divisions, international influences and a worsening humanitarian situation may be about to further destabilise the region, with potentially serious consequences for Syria and the world. So, in this episode of The Inquiry, we’re asking ‘What’s the future for Syria’s divided north?’
Contributors Dr Burcu Ozcelik, Senior Research Fellow for Middle East Security at the Royal United Services Institute. Charles Lister, Director of the Syria and Countering Terrorism & Extremism programs, Middle East Institute. Qutaiba Idlbi, Director of the Syria Initiative at the Atlantic Council. Emma Beals, Senior Advisor at the European Institute of Peace and a non-resident scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington.
Presenter: Emily Wither Production: Diane Richardson and Matt Toulson Broadcast Co-ordinator: Ellie Dover & Liam Morrey Editor: Tara McDermott Technical Producer: Cameron Ward
Image credit - NurPhoto via Getty Images
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | On a winter's night in 1974, a crime took place that would obsess the nation. |
| 0:06.9 | It was an extraordinary news story. |
| 0:09.1 | The story of an aristocrat, Lord Lucan, who's said to have killed the family Nanny, |
| 0:13.7 | mistaking her for his wife, then somehow just disappeared. |
| 0:18.0 | One of the great mysteries in English criminal history. |
| 0:20.7 | We're still looking for Lucan. It's honestly one of the great mysteries in English criminal history. We're still looking for |
| 0:21.6 | Lucan. It's honestly one of the most powerful stories of my lifetime. I'm Alex Fontunzelman. This is |
| 0:27.7 | the Lucan Obsession. Listen on BBC Sounds. Welcome to the Inquiry with me, Emily Wither. Each week |
| 0:36.6 | one question, four expert witnesses and an answer. |
| 0:40.5 | Peaceful protests erupted in Syria in the spring of 2011. |
| 0:49.3 | They were against four decades of rule by the Assad family. |
| 0:55.7 | Bashar al-Assad, who'd initially been seen as a reforming president, |
| 1:00.2 | crushed the protests with staggering violence. |
| 1:08.2 | Shots ring out in the southern city of Daraar, which has become the epicenter of unrest. |
| 1:13.6 | On Friday, more than 10 people were reported killed here. |
| 1:18.2 | Opposition groups took up arms, and the country descended into civil war. |
| 1:23.7 | Syria became a battlefield for regional geopolitical rivalries, |
| 1:27.4 | and the conflict drew in Syria's |
| 1:29.7 | Kurds, jihadi groups, including Islamic State and al-Qaeda, and the international community. |
| 1:35.5 | President Assad has clung on to power with the help of his allies, Russia and Iran, and today |
| 1:41.1 | the war that once grabbed headlines for its shocking brutality has settled in to a tense stalemate. |
| 1:47.7 | But 13 years on, northern Syria remains out of the regime's grip and highly volatile. |
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