armed conflict location and event data project (acled)

The deadly round of hostilities was triggered by an airstrike that targeted a Turkish position in Idleb’s Balyun area, killing 33 Turkish soldiers ( BBC, 1 March 2020 ). The escalation of fighting in northwest Syria brought about a confrontation between Russian-backed regime forces and Turkish troops - the most significant confrontation since Turkey’s direct military intervention in Syria in 2016. By the end of February 2020, regime forces had secured the M5 international highway and the vicinity of Aleppo city, and encircled over 10 Turkish observation outposts ( DW, 11 February 2020 ). The offensive, initially launched in mid-December 2019, resulted in significant regime advancements and the displacement of nearly one million civilians ( Relief Web, 5 March 2020 ). The year 2020 began with a military campaign by regime and allied forces against the last stronghold of the opposition and Islamist factions in northwest Syria.

Lastly, Israel expanded the scope of its airstrikes in Syria in 2020 in response to Iranian entrenchment in the southern and central provinces. The Islamic State (IS) remained active in central and eastern Syria throughout the year, carrying out attacks in urban hubs, as well as in the Syrian desert. Meanwhile, discontent in the southern provinces, notably in Dar’a, remained a source of violence in the south. Nearly a third of all organized political violence events recorded in the country in 2020 occurred in Idleb. and eastern regions of Syria, including the impact of ongoing Israeli airstrikes.ĪCLED data show that while conflict levels in northwest Syria plummeted when compared to those in 2019, the Idleb enclave remained one of the most unstable regions in the country in 2020. The new data covers a range of events in the southern provinces of Dar’a, Al Quneitra, and As Sweida following the reconciliation agreement in southern Syria in August 2018. This report maps the latest conflict developments, with a focus on the northwestern, southern, 1 In April 2021, drawing from media sources, ACLED added more than 1,100 events to the dataset.

Ten years since the start of the war in Syria, conflict dynamics vary across each region of the country.

Armed conflict location and event data project (acled)