December 13, 2019

Tomorrow, on December 14, the southern state of Alabama celebrates its 200th birthday. Alabama entered the Union as the 22nd state in 1819, and celebrations and events have commemorated the bicentenary throughout the year.

Alabama’s Gulf Coast is the site of numerous resorts and vacation homes. This long, sandy peninsula extends into the Gulf of Mexico between Mobile and Perdido bays. Credit: © Jeff Greenberg, Alamy Images

The cities of Birmingham, Huntsville (site of the 1819 Alabama Constitutional Convention), and Montgomery (the capital) hosted special art and history exhibitions, concerts, and dances. A traveling exhibit, “The Cases and Faces that Changed a Nation,” detailed landmark civil rights court cases that originated in Alabama and profiled the three United States Supreme Court justices from the state.

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Alabama. Credit: WORLD BOOK map

The Alabama region was the home of Native Americans for thousands of years before Spanish explorers arrived in the first half of the 1500’s. Spain, France, and Great Britain alternately controlled the area before it became part of the United States in 1795.

The Alabama state quarter features an image of Helen Keller, an untiring supporter of people with disabilities. The banner “Spirit of Courage” lies beneath her portrait. The coin includes Keller’s name in the Braille alphabet, a writing system that can be read by touch. The coin also contains borders of magnolias and branches of the longleaf pine, the state tree. Alabama became the nation’s 22nd state 200 years ago on Dec. 14, 1819. Credit: U.S. Mint

Alabama, a state that allowed slavery, seceded from the Union in 1861 and fought with the Confederacy during the American Civil War (1861-1865). Alabama reentered the Union in 1870, but racial strife in the state continued for another 100 years. Many important events of the civil rights movement of the 1950’s and 1960’s took place in Alabama.

The State Capitol of Alabama is in Montgomery, which has been the capital of the state since 1846. Credit: WORLD BOOK illustration

October 1, 2015

Russian airstrike in Syria. (Credit: Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation)

Today, for the second day in a row, Russian warplanes launched airstrikes in Syria against terrorists and rebel opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Russia had openly built up troops and military equipment in Syria over the last few weeks, intending to help Assad—a staunch Russian ally—end the 4-year-old civil war in Syria. More than 200,000 people have died in the conflict, and millions have been displaced.

Russia’s entry into the mix only complicated matters, adding yet another factor into an already confused tangle of alliances and interests. Civil war erupted in Syria in 2011 following the failure of pro-democracy protests to change the autocratic regime of President Assad. Rebel groups rose up against Assad, but also against each other. The chaos created a void exploited by such terrorist groups as the Islamic State, which itself had risen from the chaos of war in neighboring Iraq.

The Syrian conflict is also sectarian, pitting rival Shī’ite and Sunni Muslims against each other. Iran and Lebanon, both predominantly Shī’ah, have aided Assad, a Shī`ite Alawite. Most of the rebels are Sunni, the dominant Islamic division in Syria. There are also Kurdish rebels fighting in Syria (Kurds are the area’s largest ethnic minority), as well as rebels with solely political aims to remove Assad from power.

In 2014, the scene became even more muddled as the spread of the Islamic State led the United States and its allies—including many Sunni Middle Eastern states—to take action in Syria as well. U.S. and allied airstrikes have since been hitting Islamic State-controlled areas in both Syria and Iraq. France, Jordan, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia are among the U.S.-led coalition, which, aside from squashing the Islamic State, wants Assad removed from power.

So, not wanting to be the only nation left out, Russian entered the fray as Assad’s only non-Shī’ah ally. No one minds Russian warplanes hitting terrorist positions, but they have also been hitting anti-Assad rebels regardless of who they are or who is behind them. This includes groups that been trained and supported by the United States. There is a common goal: rid the world of the scourge of the Islamic State. But beyond that, there is little in common.

This was highlighted on Monday, September 28, by the vastly different speeches on the Syrian quagmire given by both Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Barack Obama at the United Nations (UN) general assembly. Putin pushed for Assad, and Obama pushed against the Syrian dictator. Russia has more in mind, however, than simply propping up Assad. The ties between Syria and Russia are long standing, and Russia has sold weapons and military equipment to Syria for decades. In addition, a Russian naval base in Syria gives the Russians access to the Mediterranean Sea.

Other World Book article

• Syria: The Roots of a Rebellion (a Special report)
• Syria (2012-a Back in time report)
• Syria (2013-a Back in time report)

October 11, 2013

The 2013 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded today to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) “for its extensive efforts” to rid the world of such arsenals. “The conventions and the work of the OPCW have defined the use of chemical weapons as a taboo under international law,” declared Norwegian Nobel Committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland in the announcement. “Recent events in Syria, where chemical weapons have again been put to use, have underlined the need to enhance the efforts to do away with such weapons.”

The OPCW, based in The Hague, Netherlands, was established to enforce the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention, which has contributed to the destruction of nearly 80 percent of the world’s stockpile of chemical weapons. OPCW inspectors are currently overseeing the dismantling of Syria’s chemical weapons–the first time OPCW inspectors have worked in an active war zone.

A United Nations inspector examines dismantled equipment used during the 1980's and 1990's in Iraq's chemical weapons program. (Reuters/Getty Images)

In late September, Syria began reporting details of its chemical weapons stockpile as part of a U.S.-Russia brokered deal. The deal–a framework for a plan to secure and destroy Syria’s chemical weapons by mid-2014–was brokered on September 14 by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. It specified that Syria was to submit a “comprehensive listing, including names, types, and quantities of its chemical weapons agents. . . .  .”  Among other provisions, Syria must also give United Nations inspectors, scheduled to be on the ground by November, “immediate and unfettered” access to all chemical weapons storage, production, research, and development sites.

The deal put on hold the threat of a U.S. military strike against Syria for allegedly using chemical agents in an attack on August 21. The attack left more than 1,400 Syrians dead, including hundreds of children. In a nationally televised address, President Barack Obama argued that the United States had a moral obligation to consider a military strike against Syria for the alleged chemical attack. “Our ideals and principles, as well as our national security, are at stake in Syria,” the president declared.

Additional World Book articles:

• Arab Spring
• The Middle East: From Fall to Spring (a special report)
• Syria: The Roots of Rebellion (a special report)
• Syria 2011 (a Back in Time article)
• Syria 2012 (a Back in Time article)

July 16, 2012

Fierce clashes between antigovernment activists and the Syrian military continue in Damascus for a second day. Troops backed by armored personnel carriers are being deployed in various parts of the city. According to witnesses communicating by cell phone to media outside the country, the deployment in the capital is the largest in the 16-month uprising against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. A Syrian activist told the Associated Press that the main road to Damascus International Airport in the south has been closed. Speaking to a BBC reporter, one resident stated, “It’s mainly in the southern parts of the city which are effectively besieged at the moment. . . The feeling, among people around me, is that it’s our turn now. We are really feeling this. That this is the final fight, building up to who wins control of the regime.” Yesterday, the Geneva, Switzerland-based International Committee of the Red Cross declared that it now viewed the conflict in Syria as a full-blown civil war.

Clashes between antigovernment activists and the Syrian military, ongoing since March 2011, have recently spread into the capital city of Damascus.

Last week, more than 200 Syrians were massacred in a village near the city of Hama. Helicopter gunships and tanks bombarded Tremseh before militiamen stormed the farming village and carried out execution-style killings, in what could prove to be the worst single incident of violence since the start of the uprising.

In response, Syria’s ambassador to Iraq, Nawaf al-Fares, announced that he had defected from Assad’s government and was supporting the opposition. The diplomat’s move comes just days after another top-level defection. On July 4, Brigadier General Manaf Tlass, a long-time friend and member of Assad’s inner circle, crossed into Turkey with his family and several lesser ranking members of the Syrian military. According to the Turkish government, hundreds of Syrian soldiers have sought refuge across the border.

Kofi Annan, the special United Nations (UN) and Arab League envoy for Syria, arrived in Moscow today (July 16) to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He is expected to urge Putin to pressure Syria’s leaders to begin a political transition. A long-time ally of Syria, Russia has vetoed several UN Security Council resolutions for foreign intervention. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is also expected to discuss the situation in Syria with Chinese leaders when he arrives in Beijing for a China-Africa summit. China has joined Russia in vetoing the Security Council resolutions. Some 16,000 people are believed to have been killed since the uprising began in March 2011.

Additional World Book articles:

• Middle East: From Fall to Spring (a special report)
• Syria 2011 (a Back in Time article)