/Syria/Sunni/Forced Away – Inclusive Human Learning (IHL) Group

Country: Syria

Group: Sunni

Date Finalized: 10/05/21

Team: Lauren Poklar (Team Lead), Ann Thomas, Amanda Nelson, Lacey Hurst, Nuri Son

Content Warning: war, physical violence, genocide, discrimination, racism

Approximate Time Period: 2011-present

There is significant evidence indicating Sunni adherents in Syria have faced forced displacement and emigration from Syria. The data quality is rated a 3 due to the wide breadth of consistent, reputable data sources.

Sunnis make up about 74% of Syria’s current population and compose the largest sect of Islam with about 85-90% of Muslims following Sunni Islam (Ferris et al., 2013). Sunnis faced significant discrimination and forced emigration from Syria over history, fueled by tension among religious groups and government actions from ISIS, Hayat Tahrir al Sham, and Bashar al-Asad. The Sunni uprising in Syria began in 2011 which led to further territorial and ideological separation of religious groups as well as mass killings and forced displacement (Khaddour, 2019). As insurgency began, the government targeted Sunni towns and neighborhoods such as Idlib and Aleppo for siege, chemical weapons attacks, and bombings in order to take over the areas, forcing Sunnis to flee from the attacks (U.S. Department of State, 2020). Alawi regime forces, upheld by President Bashar al-Assad, also issued a series of attacks in Sunni-majority towns as the Alawi-dominated government tried to drive Sunnis out of the area in order to create a breakaway Alawi state (ReliefWeb , 2013).

The government used laws to reward those who remained loyal to the regime and created obstacles for displaced persons to return home. Since 2011, the war has displaced over half of Syria’s population, 80% of whom are Arab Sunni (Karasapan, 2018 ). More than 6.2 million persons were internally displaced and there are now over 5.6 million refugees of Syria (U.S. Department of State, 2020).

Sources