auto-update week 48

middle-east/sy.json

@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@
       "text": "14,280 sq km (2012)"
     },
     "Major rivers (by length in km)": {
-      "text": "Euphrates (shared with Turkey [s], Iran, and Iraq [m]) - 3,596 km; Tigris (shared with Turkey, Iran, and Iraq [m]) - 1,950 km<br><strong>note</strong> – <strong>[s]</strong> after country name indicates river source; <strong>[m]</strong> after country name indicates river mouth"
+      "text": "Euphrates (shared with Turkey [s], Iran, and Iraq [m]) - 3,596 km; Tigris (shared with Turkey, Iran, and Iraq [m]) - 1,950 km<br><strong>note</strong> – [s] after country name indicates river source; [m] after country name indicates river mouth"
     },
     "Major watersheds (area sq km)": {
       "text": "Indian Ocean drainage: <em>(Persian Gulf)</em> Tigris and Euphrates (918,044 sq km)"
@@ -434,7 +434,7 @@
       }
     },
     "Major rivers (by length in km)": {
-      "text": "Euphrates (shared with Turkey [s], Iran, and Iraq [m]) - 3,596 km; Tigris (shared with Turkey, Iran, and Iraq [m]) - 1,950 km<br><strong>note</strong> – <strong>[s]</strong> after country name indicates river source; <strong>[m]</strong> after country name indicates river mouth"
+      "text": "Euphrates (shared with Turkey [s], Iran, and Iraq [m]) - 3,596 km; Tigris (shared with Turkey, Iran, and Iraq [m]) - 1,950 km<br><strong>note</strong> – [s] after country name indicates river source; [m] after country name indicates river mouth"
     },
     "Major watersheds (area sq km)": {
       "text": "Indian Ocean drainage: <em>(Persian Gulf)</em> Tigris and Euphrates (918,044 sq km)"
@@ -941,7 +941,7 @@
     },
     "Telecommunication systems": {
       "general assessment": {
-        "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)"
+        "text": "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; 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 (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)"
@@ -1061,10 +1061,10 @@
     },
     "Merchant marine": {
       "total": {
-        "text": "26"
+        "text": "28"
       },
       "by type": {
-        "text": "bulk carrier 1, general cargo 11, other 14 (2020)"
+        "text": "bulk carrier 1, general cargo 11, other 16 (2021)"
       }
     },
     "Ports and terminals": {
@@ -1091,7 +1091,7 @@
       "text": "18-42 years of age for compulsory and voluntary military service; conscript service obligation is 18 months; women are not conscripted but may volunteer to serve (2019)"
     },
     "Military - note": {
-      "text": "the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) has operated in the Golan between Israel and Syria since 1974 to monitor the ceasefire following the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and supervise the areas of separation between the two countries; as of August 2021, UNDOF consisted of about 1,250 personnel"
+      "text": "the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) has operated in the Golan between Israel and Syria since 1974 to monitor the ceasefire following the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and supervise the areas of separation between the two countries; as of August 2021, UNDOF consisted of about 1,250 personnel<br> <p>as of 2021, multiple actors were conducting military operations in Syria in support of the ASAD government or Syrian opposition forces, as well in pursuit of their own security goals, such counterterrorism; operations have included air strikes, direct ground combat, and sponsoring proxy forces, as well as providing non-lethal military support, including advisors, technicians, arms and equipment, funding, intelligence, and training:</p> <p><strong>pro-ASAD elements</strong> operating in Syria have included<strong> Lebanese Hezbollah, Iranian, Iranian-backed Shia militia, and Russian forces</strong>; since early in the civil war, the ASAD government has relied on Lebanese Hezbollah, as well as Iran and Iranian-backed forces, for combat operations and to hold territory; Iran has provided military advisors and combat troops from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (including the Qods Force; see Appendix T for further information), as well as intelligence, logistical, material, technical, and financial support; it has funded, trained, equipped, and led Shia militia/paramilitary units comprised of both Syrian and non-Syrian personnel, primarily from Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan; Russia intervened at the request of the ASAD government in 2015 and has since provided air support, special operations forces, military advisors, private military contractors, training, arms, and equipment; Iranian and Russian support has also included assisting Syria in combating the Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham (ISIS; see Appendix T) terrorist group</p> <p><strong>Turkey </strong>intervened militarily in 2016 to combat Kurdish militants and ISIS, support select Syrian opposition forces, and establish a buffer along portions of its border with Syria; as of 2021, Turkey continued to maintain a considerable military presence in northern Syria; it has armed and trained militia/proxy forces, such as the Syrian National Army, which was formed in late 2017 of Syrian Arab and Turkmen rebel factions in the Halab (Aleppo) province and northwestern Syria</p> <p>the <strong>US and some regional and European states</strong> have at times backed Syrian opposition forces militarily and/or conducted military operations, primarily against ISIS; the US has operated in Syria since 2015 with ground forces and air strikes; as of late 2021, the majority the ground forces were deployed in the Eastern Syria Security Area (ESSA; includes parts of Hasakah and Dayr az Zawr provinces east of the Euphrates River) in support of operations by the Syrian Democratic Forces against ISIS, while the remainder were in southeast Syria around Tanf supporting counter-ISIS operations by the Jaysh Mughawir al-Thawra (MaT, or Revolutionary Commando Army) Syrian opposition force; the US has also conducted air strikes against Syrian military targets in response to Syrian Government use of chemical weapons against opposition forces and civilians; in addition, France, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UK have provided forms of military assistance to opposition forces and/or conducted operations against ISIS, including air strikes</p> <p><strong>Israel</strong> has conducted hundreds of military air strikes in Syria, mostly targeting Hezbollah, Iranian, and/or Iranian-backed militia targets</p> <p>the<strong> Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) </strong>are an anti-ASAD regime coalition of forces composed primarily of Kurdish, Sunni Arab, and Syriac Christian fighters; it is dominated and led by Kurdish forces, particularly the People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia; the SDF began to receive US support in 2015 and as of 2021 was the main local US partner in its counter-ISIS campaign; the SDF has internal security, anti-terror, and commando units; Turkey views the SDF as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a US-designated terrorist organization (see Appendix T)</p> <p>the <strong>ISIS</strong> terrorist group lost its last territorial stronghold to SDF forces in 2019, but continued to maintain a low-level insurgency through 2021; as of late 2021, the SDF held about 10,000 captured suspected ISIS fighters in detention facilities across northern Syria, including 2,000 from countries other than Iraq and Syria</p> <p>as of 2021, the <strong>Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham </strong>(HTS; formerly known as al-Nusrah Front) terrorist organization (see Appendix T) was the dominate militant group in northwest Syria and asserted considerable influence and control over the so-called Syrian Salvation Government in the Iblib de-escalation zone; as of 2021, the group had an estimated 10,000 fighters</p>"
     }
   },
   "Terrorism": {
@@ -1106,7 +1106,7 @@
     },
     "Refugees and internally displaced persons": {
       "refugees (country of origin)": {
-        "text": "12,399 (Iraq) (2020); 568,730 (Palestinian Refugees) (2020)"
+        "text": "568,730 (Palestinian Refugees), 12,399 (Iraq)(2020)"
       },
       "IDPs": {
         "text": "6.568 million (ongoing civil war since 2011) (2020)"
@@ -1114,7 +1114,7 @@
       "stateless persons": {
         "text": "160,000 (2020); note - Syria's stateless population consists of Kurds and Palestinians; stateless persons are prevented from voting, owning land, holding certain jobs, receiving food subsidies or public healthcare, enrolling in public schools, or being legally married to Syrian citizens; in 1962, some 120,000 Syrian Kurds were stripped of their Syrian citizenship, rendering them and their descendants stateless; in 2011, the Syrian Government granted citizenship to thousands of Syrian Kurds as a means of appeasement; however, resolving the question of statelessness is not a priority given Syria's ongoing civil war"
       },
-      "note": "<strong>note:</strong> the ongoing civil war has resulted in more than 5.6 million registered Syrian refugees - dispersed in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey - as of July 2021"
+      "note": "<strong>note:</strong> the ongoing civil war has resulted in more than 5.6 million registered Syrian refugees - dispersed in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey - as of November 2021"
     },
     "Trafficking in persons": {
       "current situation": {