These maps provide a general look at the military situation in Syria on January 1, 2017 and on Septebmer 5, 2017. The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and its allies had made notable gains against the ISIS terrorist group, liberating large chunks of the provinces of Aleppo, Homs, Raqqah and Deir Ezzor from terrorists. In early September, the SAA reached the city of Deir Ezzor, broke the ISIS siege on it and started a military operation to liberate the entire city.
Click to see the full-size map
Click to see the full-size map
I do not understand the map. I thought that the pieco of land north of Latakia, designated by a Turkish flag, belongs to Turkey anyhow?
it is turkish teritory but it was taken from syria after world war 1 i think? since then syria never asked it back
turkey have no claim on that land
About as much as Golan belongs to Israel… It is a criminal legacy of western colonization interests after WW1, they (French and British) gifted that part of Syria to Turkey a long time ago, but it was never theirs to just give it.
They never gifted the Golan Heights – Israel took it.
Didn’t they give the people in that province the chance to choose between Syria & Turkey? And they choose Turkey.
“A referendum in which Arabs had boycotted and large numbers of Anatolian Turks were reportedly sent into the region to vote in favor of Turkish sovereignty.”
http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2011/06/24/turkish-syrian-border/
Then again Syria was taken from Turkey during WWI, as it had been part of the Ottoman empire for centuries. So basically the French and British just drew a line through former Ottoman territory, to the north it remained Turkish, to the south it was suddenly called Syria, an entity which had never existed before. As this part of the world was always hotly contested between whoever ruled in Anatolia, Egypt or Mesopotamia.
In that sense the border is as arbitrary as the state of Syria is. Best to accept the border as is, and not allow for any changes based on ‘past’ claims, as that way lies only a can of worms best left unopened.
Actually the Arabs rebelled, the Ottoman territory was broken up from within,
The Arabs did rebel but that rebellion didn’t determine the borders of Syria. France determined Syria’s borders. This was largely due to the secret 1916 agreement between France and Britain called the Sykes-Picot Agreement.
See https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/MPK1-426_Sykes_Picot_Agreement_Map_signed_8_May_1916.jpg
France had the blue zone. Eastward, in the Syrian hinterland, an Arab state was to be created under French protection (“Area A”). Area B was again to be an Arab state but this time under British protection. The red area is the British “area of influence”. You can read the original 1916 text that accompanies the map above at this site:
https://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/Sykes-Picot_Agreement
It didn’t quite work out as shown in the map. In the 1920s the French created six states out of what is mostly Syria and Lebanon nowadays. The idea was to divide and conquer. They were the states of Damascus, Aleppo, Alawites, Jabal Druze, the autonomous Sanjak of Alexandretta (modern-day Hatay), and the State of Greater Lebanon.
The flags do not necessarily represent the sovereignty of the areas, but the occupation.
Turkey seized the area already decades ago and Syria never got it back. Not sure how the international law is involved in that.
that is ruled by turkmen rebels who are turkish fighters
Agreed. it should be returned along with the area near caucasus witch was given from russia
Turkey took control in 1939. A long article on this topic can be read here: https://syria360.wordpress.com/2015/10/22/turkey-will-come-to-regret-border-violation-claims-in-hatay/
Thank you!
Syrian province of Hatay
It’s fun to open both maps in separate tabs and then toggle between them. It really shows the collapse of ISIS from largest territorial faction to smallest, with the Syrian government now the largest.
And it shows the defeat of the US/Israel/NATO criminal cabal in their stupid attempt to destroy Syria… The maps show clearly who is winning, and how the Syrian people are regaining their own nation..
Looking at the SDF/YPG front lines, other than getting down to Raqqah they’ve hardly budged elsewhere, so either they don’t want to push further, of they are too inept to do so. The next goal for the SAA is to cross the Euphrates.
That’s progress! https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3f42e9a9a7f2523cde95cf3bb4da7061564c09efc2c7d2d027555144dedbf04e.png