auto-update week 30

middle-east/sy.json

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "Introduction": {
     "Background": {
-      "text": "<p>Following World War I, France acquired a mandate over the northern portion of the former Ottoman Empire province of Syria. The French administered the area as Syria until granting it independence in 1946. The new country lacked political stability and experienced a series of military coups. Syria united with Egypt in February 1958 to form the United Arab Republic. In September 1961, the two entities separated, and the Syrian Arab Republic was reestablished. In the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, Syria lost the Golan Heights region to Israel. During the 1990s, Syria and Israel held occasional, albeit unsuccessful, peace talks over its return. In November 1970, Hafiz al-ASAD, a member of the socialist Ba'ath Party and the minority Alawi sect, seized power in a bloodless coup and brought political stability to the country. Following the death of President Hafiz al-ASAD, his son, Bashar al-ASAD, was approved as president by popular referendum in July 2000. Syrian troops - stationed in Lebanon since 1976 in an ostensible peacekeeping role - were withdrawn in April 2005. During the July-August 2006 conflict between Israel and Hizballah, Syria placed its military forces on alert but did not intervene directly on behalf of its ally Hizballah. In May 2007, Bashar al-ASAD's second term as president was approved by popular referendum.</p> <p>Influenced by major uprisings that began elsewhere in the region, and compounded by additional social and economic factors, antigovernment protests broke out first in the southern province of Dar'a in March 2011 with protesters calling for the repeal of the restrictive Emergency Law allowing arrests without charge, the legalization of political parties, and the removal of corrupt local officials. Demonstrations and violent unrest spread across Syria with the size and intensity of protests fluctuating. The government responded to unrest with a mix of concessions - including the repeal of the Emergency Law, new laws permitting new political parties, and liberalizing local and national elections - and with military force and detentions. The government's efforts to quell unrest and armed opposition activity led to extended clashes and eventually civil war between government forces, their allies, and oppositionists.</p> <p>International pressure on the ASAD regime intensified after late 2011, as the Arab League, the EU, Turkey, and the US expanded economic sanctions against the regime and those entities that support it. In December 2012, the Syrian National Coalition, was recognized by more than 130 countries as the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people. In September 2015, Russia launched a military intervention on behalf of the ASAD regime, and domestic and foreign government-aligned forces recaptured swaths of territory from opposition forces, and eventually the country&rsquo;s second largest city, Aleppo, in December 2016, shifting the conflict in the regime&rsquo;s favor. The regime, with this foreign support, also recaptured opposition strongholds in the Damascus suburbs and the southern province of Dar&rsquo;a in 2018. The government lacks territorial control over much of the northeastern part of the country, which is dominated by the predominantly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The SDF has expanded its territorial hold over much of the northeast since 2014 as it has captured territory from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Since 2016, Turkey has also conducted three large-scale military operations into Syria, capturing territory along Syria's northern border in the provinces of Aleppo, Ar Raqqah, and Al Hasakah. Political negotiations between the government and opposition delegations at UN-sponsored Geneva conferences since 2014 have failed to produce a resolution of the conflict. Since early 2017, Iran, Russia, and Turkey have held separate political negotiations outside of UN auspices to attempt to reduce violence in Syria. According to an April 2016 UN estimate, the death toll among Syrian Government forces, opposition forces, and civilians was over 400,000, though other estimates placed the number well over 500,000. As of December 2019, approximately 6 million Syrians were internally displaced. Approximately 11.1 million people were in need of humanitarian assistance across the country, and an additional 5.7 million Syrians were registered refugees in Turkey, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt, and North Africa. The conflict in Syria remains one of the largest humanitarian crises worldwide.</p>"
+      "text": "<p>Following World War I, France acquired a mandate over the northern portion of the former Ottoman Empire province of Syria. The French administered the area as Syria until granting it independence in 1946. The new country lacked political stability and experienced a series of military coups. Syria united with Egypt in February 1958 to form the United Arab Republic. In September 1961, the two entities separated, and the Syrian Arab Republic was reestablished. In the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, Syria lost the Golan Heights region to Israel. During the 1990s, Syria and Israel held occasional, albeit unsuccessful, peace talks over its return. In November 1970, Hafiz al-ASAD, a member of the socialist Ba'ath Party and the minority Alawi sect, seized power in a bloodless coup and brought political stability to the country. Following the death of President Hafiz al-ASAD, his son, Bashar al-ASAD, was approved as president by popular referendum in July 2000. Syrian troops - stationed in Lebanon since 1976 in an ostensible peacekeeping role - were withdrawn in April 2005. During the July-August 2006 conflict between Israel and Hizballah, Syria placed its military forces on alert but did not intervene directly on behalf of its ally Hizballah. In May 2007, Bashar al-ASAD's second term as president was approved by popular referendum.</p> <p>Influenced by major uprisings that began elsewhere in the region, and compounded by additional social and economic factors, antigovernment protests broke out first in the southern province of Dar'a in March 2011 with protesters calling for the repeal of the restrictive Emergency Law allowing arrests without charge, the legalization of political parties, and the removal of corrupt local officials. Demonstrations and violent unrest spread across Syria with the size and intensity of protests fluctuating. The government responded to unrest with a mix of concessions - including the repeal of the Emergency Law, new laws permitting new political parties, and liberalizing local and national elections - and with military force and detentions. The government's efforts to quell unrest and armed opposition activity led to extended clashes and eventually civil war between government forces, their allies, and oppositionists.</p> <p>International pressure on the ASAD regime intensified after late 2011, as the Arab League, the EU, Turkey, and the US expanded economic sanctions against the regime and those entities that support it. In December 2012, the Syrian National Coalition, was recognized by more than 130 countries as the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people. In September 2015, Russia launched a military intervention on behalf of the ASAD regime, and domestic and foreign government-aligned forces recaptured swaths of territory from opposition forces, and eventually the country’s second largest city, Aleppo, in December 2016, shifting the conflict in the regime’s favor. The regime, with this foreign support, also recaptured opposition strongholds in the Damascus suburbs and the southern province of Dar’a in 2018. The government lacks territorial control over much of the northeastern part of the country, which is dominated by the predominantly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The SDF has expanded its territorial hold over much of the northeast since 2014 as it has captured territory from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Since 2016, Turkey has also conducted three large-scale military operations into Syria, capturing territory along Syria's northern border in the provinces of Aleppo, Ar Raqqah, and Al Hasakah. Political negotiations between the government and opposition delegations at UN-sponsored Geneva conferences since 2014 have failed to produce a resolution of the conflict. Since early 2017, Iran, Russia, and Turkey have held separate political negotiations outside of UN auspices to attempt to reduce violence in Syria. According to an April 2016 UN estimate, the death toll among Syrian Government forces, opposition forces, and civilians was over 400,000, though other estimates placed the number well over 500,000. As of December 2019, approximately 6 million Syrians were internally displaced. Approximately 11.1 million people were in need of humanitarian assistance across the country, and an additional 5.7 million Syrians were registered refugees in Turkey, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt, and North Africa. The conflict in Syria remains one of the largest humanitarian crises worldwide.</p>"
     }
   },
   "Geography": {
@@ -123,12 +123,12 @@
         "text": "Arabic (official), Kurdish, Armenian, Aramaic, Circassian, French, English"
       },
       "printed major-language sample": {
-        "text": "<br />كتاب حقائق العالم، المصدر الذي لا يمكن الاستغناء عنه للمعلومات الأساسية (Arabic)<br /><br />The World Factbook, the indispensable source for basic information."
+        "text": "<br>كتاب حقائق العالم، المصدر الذي لا يمكن الاستغناء عنه للمعلومات الأساسية (Arabic)<br><br>The World Factbook, the indispensable source for basic information."
       }
     },
     "Religions": {
-      "text": "Muslim 87% (official; includes Sunni 74% and Alawi, Ismaili, and Shia 13%), Christian 10% (includes Orthodox, Uniate, and Nestorian), Druze 3%<br><br><strong>note:</strong>&nbsp; the Christian population may be considerably smaller as a result of Christians fleeing the country during&nbsp;the ongoing civil war",
-      "note": "<strong>note:</strong>&nbsp; the Christian population may be considerably smaller as a result of Christians fleeing the country during&nbsp;the ongoing civil war"
+      "text": "Muslim 87% (official; includes Sunni 74% and Alawi, Ismaili, and Shia 13%), Christian 10% (includes Orthodox, Uniate, and Nestorian), Druze 3%<br><br><strong>note:</strong>  the Christian population may be considerably smaller as a result of Christians fleeing the country during the ongoing civil war",
+      "note": "<strong>note:</strong>  the Christian population may be considerably smaller as a result of Christians fleeing the country during the ongoing civil war"
     },
     "Age structure": {
       "0-14 years": {
@@ -297,13 +297,13 @@
       }
     },
     "HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate": {
-      "text": "<.1% (2019)"
+      "text": "<.1% (2020)"
     },
     "HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS": {
-      "text": "<1000 (2019)"
+      "text": "<1,000 (2020)"
     },
     "HIV/AIDS - deaths": {
-      "text": "<100 (2019)"
+      "text": "<100 (2020)"
     },
     "Obesity - adult prevalence rate": {
       "text": "27.8% (2016)"
@@ -418,7 +418,7 @@
     },
     "Food insecurity": {
       "exceptional shortfall in aggregate food production/supplies": {
-        "text": "due to civil conflict and a stagnant economy - a nationwide food security assessment estimates that about 12.4 million people (60% of the overall population) are now food insecure, 5.4 million more than at the end of 2019, mostly due to constrained livelihood opportunities and a rapidly worsening economy; although some international food assistance is being provided, Syrian refugees are also pressuring host communities' resources in neighboring countries (2021)"
+        "text": "due to civil conflict and a stagnant economy - a nationwide food security assessment estimates that about 12.4 million people (60% of the overall population) are now food insecure in 2021, 5.4 million more than at the end of 2019, mostly due to constrained livelihood opportunities and a rapidly worsening economy; although some international food assistance is being provided, Syrian refugees are also pressuring host communities' resources in neighboring countries (2021)"
       }
     },
     "Waste and recycling": {
@@ -552,7 +552,7 @@
       }
     },
     "Political parties and leaders": {
-      "text": "<strong>legal parties/alliances:<br /></strong> Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party [Bashar al-ASAD, regional secretary] <br />Arab Socialist Renaissance (Ba'th) Party [President Bashar al-ASAD] <br />Arab Socialist Union of Syria or ASU [Safwan al-QUDSI]<br />Democratic Arab Socialist Union [Hassan Abdul AZIM, general secretary]&nbsp;<br />National Progressive Front or NPF [Bashar al-ASAD, Suleiman QADDAH] (alliance includes Arab Socialist Renaissance (Ba'th) Party, Socialist Unionist Democratic Party)<br />Socialist Unionist Party [Fayiz ISMAIL]<br />Socialist Unionist Democratic Party [Fadlallah Nasr al-DIN]<br />Syrian Communist Party (two branches) [Wissal Farha BAKDASH, Yusuf Rashid FAYSAL] <br />Syrian Social Nationalist Party or SSNP [Ali HAIDAR]<br />Unionist Socialist Party [Fayez ISMAIL]<br /><strong><br />Major Kurdish parties</strong>&nbsp;<br />Kurdish Democratic Union Party or PYD [Shahoz HASAN and Aysha HISSO]<br />Kurdish National Council [Sa'ud MALA]<br />&nbsp; <br /><strong>other:</strong> Syrian Democratic Party [Mustafa QALAAJI]"
+      "text": "<strong>legal parties/alliances:<br></strong> Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party [Bashar al-ASAD, regional secretary] <br>Arab Socialist Renaissance (Ba'th) Party [President Bashar al-ASAD] <br>Arab Socialist Union of Syria or ASU [Safwan al-QUDSI]<br>Democratic Arab Socialist Union [Hassan Abdul AZIM, general secretary] <br>National Progressive Front or NPF [Bashar al-ASAD, Suleiman QADDAH] (alliance includes Arab Socialist Renaissance (Ba'th) Party, Socialist Unionist Democratic Party)<br>Socialist Unionist Party [Fayiz ISMAIL]<br>Socialist Unionist Democratic Party [Fadlallah Nasr al-DIN]<br>Syrian Communist Party (two branches) [Wissal Farha BAKDASH, Yusuf Rashid FAYSAL] <br>Syrian Social Nationalist Party or SSNP [Ali HAIDAR]<br>Unionist Socialist Party [Fayez ISMAIL]<br><strong><br>Major Kurdish parties</strong> <br>Kurdish Democratic Union Party or PYD [Shahoz HASAN and Aysha HISSO]<br>Kurdish National Council [Sa'ud MALA]<br>  <br><strong>other:</strong> Syrian Democratic Party [Mustafa QALAAJI]"
     },
     "International organization participation": {
       "text": "ABEDA, AFESD, AMF, CAEU, FAO, G-24, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC (national committees), ICRM, ICSID, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, LAS, MIGA, NAM, OAPEC, OIC, OPCW, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNRWA, UNWTO, UPU, WBG, WCO, WFTU (NGOs), WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO (observer)"
@@ -637,7 +637,7 @@
       "Real GDP (purchasing power parity) 2013": {
         "text": "$61.9 billion (2013 est.)"
       },
-      "note": "<strong>note:</strong> data are in 2015 US dollars<br />the war-driven deterioration of the economy resulted in a disappearance of quality national level statistics in the 2012-13 period"
+      "note": "<strong>note:</strong> data are in 2015 US dollars<br>the war-driven deterioration of the economy resulted in a disappearance of quality national level statistics in the 2012-13 period"
     },
     "GDP (official exchange rate)": {
       "text": "$24.6 billion (2014 est.)"
@@ -949,7 +949,7 @@
     },
     "Telecommunication systems": {
       "general assessment": {
-        "text": "<p>Syria&rsquo;s telecom sector has paid a heavy toll from years of civil war and destruction leading to major disruptions to the network; operators focusing on rebuilding damaged networks, though lack of basic infrastructure, including power and security, hamper efforts; fairly high mobile penetration for region; remote areas rely on expensive satellite communications;&nbsp;mobile broadband infrastructure is predominantly 3G for about 85% of the population with some LTE ; international aid network provides emergency Internet and telecom services when necessary; &nbsp;government restrictions of Internet freedom; major importer of broadcasting equipment from UAE (2021)</p> (2020)"
+        "text": "<p>Syria’s telecom sector has paid a heavy toll from years of civil war and destruction leading to major disruptions to the network; operators focusing on rebuilding damaged networks, though lack of basic infrastructure, including power and security, hamper efforts; fairly high mobile penetration for region; remote areas rely on expensive satellite communications; mobile broadband infrastructure is predominantly 3G for about 85% of the population with some LTE ; international aid network provides emergency Internet and telecom services when necessary;  government restrictions of Internet freedom; major importer of broadcasting equipment from UAE (2021)</p> (2020)"
       },
       "domestic": {
         "text": "the number of fixed-line connections increased markedly prior to the civil war in 2011 and now stands at 17 per 100; mobile-cellular service stands at about 114 per 100 persons (2019)"
@@ -1101,8 +1101,8 @@
   },
   "Terrorism": {
     "Terrorist group(s)": {
-      "text": "Abdallah Azzam Brigades; Ansar al-Islam; Asa&rsquo;ib Ahl Al-Haq; Hizballah; Hurras al-Din; Islamic Jihad Union; Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps -- Qods Force; Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham; Kata'ib Hizballah; Kurdistan Workers' Party; Mujahidin Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem; al-Nusrah Front (Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham); al-Qa'ida; Palestine Liberation Front; PFLP-General Command; Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine<br><br><strong>note:</strong> details about the history, aims, leadership, organization, areas of operation, tactics, targets, weapons, size, and sources of support of the group(s) appear(s) in <a title=\"Appendix-T\" href=\"../appendix/appendix-t.html\">Appendix-T</a>",
-      "note": "<strong>note:</strong> details about the history, aims, leadership, organization, areas of operation, tactics, targets, weapons, size, and sources of support of the group(s) appear(s) in <a title=\"Appendix-T\" href=\"../appendix/appendix-t.html\">Appendix-T</a>"
+      "text": "Abdallah Azzam Brigades; Ansar al-Islam; Asa’ib Ahl Al-Haq; Hizballah; Hurras al-Din; Islamic Jihad Union; Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps -- Qods Force; Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham; Kata'ib Hizballah; Kurdistan Workers' Party; Mujahidin Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem; al-Nusrah Front (Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham); al-Qa'ida; Palestine Liberation Front; PFLP-General Command; Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine<br><br><strong>note:</strong> details about the history, aims, leadership, organization, areas of operation, tactics, targets, weapons, size, and sources of support of the group(s) appear(s) in Appendix-T",
+      "note": "<strong>note:</strong> details about the history, aims, leadership, organization, areas of operation, tactics, targets, weapons, size, and sources of support of the group(s) appear(s) in Appendix-T"
     }
   },
   "Transnational Issues": {