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| See also: | Other events of 2016 List of years in Syria | ||||
The following lists events that happened during 2016 in Syria.
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| See also: | Other events of 2016 List of years in Syria | ||||
The following lists events that happened during 2016 in Syria.
For events related to the Civil War, see Timeline of the Syrian Civil War (January–April 2016), Timeline of the Syrian Civil War (May–August 2016) and Timeline of the Syrian Civil War (September–December 2016)
Bashar al-Assad is a Syrian politician, military officer, and former dictator who served as the president of Syria from 2000 until his government was overthrown in the Syrian Revolution in 2024. As president, Assad was commander-in-chief of the Syrian Arab Armed Forces and secretary-general of the Central Command of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. He is the son of Hafez al-Assad, who ruled Syria from 1971 until his death in 2000.
Elections in Syria are conducted for the presidency and parliament, and have been held since Syrian independence in 1946. Beginning in 2011, the country became embroiled in the Syrian civil war, culminating in the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024. Since then, the country has been led by the Syrian transitional government, with president Ahmed al-Sharaa confirming elections will be held within 4-5 years.
Major General Maher Hafez al-Assad is a Syrian former military officer who served as commander of the Syrian Army's elite 4th Armoured Division, which, together with Syria's Military Intelligence, formed the core of the Ba'athist regime's security forces until its collapse in 2024. He is the younger brother of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, and also was a member of the Central Committee of the Syrian Ba'ath Party.
Asma Fawaz al-Assad is the former first lady of Syria, married to Bashar al-Assad. Her husband was president from 2000 until he was overthrown on 8 December 2024. Born and raised in London, to Syrian parents, she holds dual British and Syrian citizenship. She became First Lady when she married al-Assad, then President of Syria, on 13 December 2000.
The Assad family ruled Syria from 1971, when Hafez al-Assad became president under the Ba'ath Party following the 1970 coup, until Bashar al-Assad was ousted on 8 December 2024. Bashar succeeded his father, Hafez al-Assad, after Hafez's death in 2000.
Rami Makhlouf is a Syrian businessman and a maternal cousin of former president Bashar al-Assad. At the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011, he was considered one of Syria's richest and most powerful men. According to Syrian analysts, he was part of al-Assad's inner circle and no foreign company could do business in Syria at the time without his consent and partnership.
The following lists events that happened during 2011 in Syria.
Ibrahim Qashoush was a prominent Syrian protest singer active during the civil uprising phase of the Syrian Civil War. Posthumously, international media ascribed him the role of a leading author and singer of protest songs in his home city. He became a symbolic figure of the civil war as a civilian murdered as revenge for his musical performances. Later media reports, however, call this account into question.
The Syrian Revolution, also known as the Syrian Revolution of Dignity and the Syrian Intifada, was a series of mass protests and civilian uprisings throughout Syria – with a subsequent violent reaction by the Ba'athist regime – lasting from February 2011 to December 2024 as part of the greater Arab Spring in the Arab world. The revolution, which demanded the end of the decades-long Assad family rule, began as minor demonstrations during January 2011 and transformed into large nation-wide protests in March. The uprising was marked by mass protests against the Ba'athist dictatorship of president Bashar al-Assad meeting police and military violence, massive arrests and a brutal crackdown, resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths and tens of thousands wounded. 13 years after the start of the revolution, the Assad regime fell in 2024 after a series of rebel offensives.
Events from the year 2012 in Syria.
Events from the year 2013 in Syria.
Presidential elections were held in Syria on 3 June 2014. This was the first direct presidential election in Syria since the 1953 presidential election and the first multi-candidate election. The result was a landslide victory for Bashar al-Assad, who received over 90% of the valid votes. He was sworn in for a third seven-year term on 16 July in the presidential palace in Damascus. There is scholarly consensus that the elections were not democratic.
The following lists events that happened in 2014 in Syria.
The following lists events that happened in 2015 in Syria.
Events during the year 2017 in Syria.
This article lists events from the year 2018 in Syria.
This article lists events from the year 2020 in Syria.
This article lists events from the year 2019 in Syria.
Presidential elections were held in Syria on 26 May 2021, with expatriates able to vote in some embassies abroad on 20 May. This was the last presidential election to be held in Ba'athist Syria, prior to its overthrow following the 2024 Syrian opposition offensive.
Events in the year 2021 in Syria.
