Tsabaran Civil War

Tsabaran Civil War
Military situation in Tsabara as of 08 May 2021; Red, Tsabaran government, green Supreme Political and Resistance Committee
Date 17 January 2020-present 4 years, 10 months and 1 week Location Tsabara Status Ongoing
Belligerents
Transtsabaran Federation Supported by: Template:Country data Estmere Etruria Gaullica Werania	Supreme Political and Resistance Committee (Irfanic Liberation and Resistance) Tsabaran Resistance Brigades Supported by: Zorasan Al-Isbah	Lions of the Homeland Haganah Beitar
Commanders and leaders
Nazim al-Qutayni Aslan Ocalan Wassim Karoubi Yeshayahu Samia	Faizan Salah Zakhir Namiq Zahran al-Amari Abdelrahman Zaza Nasser al-Din Nasir Hussein Ardashir al-Shar’a Hussein Al-Battar Mustafa Saab	Elezar-Ben Ya'ir Shimshon Alon  † Haim Adan Eyal Mordechai Moshe Erez Avigdor Eitar Rafael Dayan
Strength
Tsabaran Federal Armed Forces: 642,000a Provincial Guard Forces: 80,000-90,000 Federal Police: 45,000-50,000	Irfanic Liberation and Resistance: 96,000-100,000 (estimated) Tsabaran Resistance Brigades: 10,000-20,000 Al-Isbah: 3,000-5,000	Lions of the Homeland: 15,000-25,000 (estimated) Haganah: 8,000-10,000 (estimated)
Casualties and losses
1,581 killed 2,997 injured 188 missing	3,000+ killed or injured (per Tsabaran government)	239 killed 113 injured 88 captured
1,200 civilians killed (per Ministry of Health) 3,581 civilians killed (per CBHRW) 1,750,000 internally displaced 50,000-90,000 externally displaced a Current figures are estimates due to defections

The Tsbaran Civil War is an ongoing multi-sided civil war in Tsabara fought between the interim federal government of Tsabara led by President Nazim al-Qutayni, against the Irfanist-Rahelian nationalist Supreme Political and Resistance Committee led by Sheik Faizan Salah, and the Atudite nationalist and secessionist Lions of the Homeland, led by Elezar-Ben Ya’ir.

The immediate unrest in Tsabara began in January 2019 over the policies of the late president Atwan al-Tughluq, who attempted to dismantle the co-social system in benefit of the Rahelian-Irfanic population. Atudite resistance to these reforms saw the emergence of the Lions of the Homeland, which began a low-level insurgency against the federal government in March 2019. Counter-actions and crackdowns by the Al-Tughluq government resulted in a series of insurrections by Atudite units of the Tsabaran Federal Armed Forces and an outbreak of sectarian violence, as both these situations escalated, the government backed down on many of its planned reforms. On 7 October 2019, al-Tughluq died in office, he was succeeded illegally by his Premier Yahya Aboud who opposed the previous concessions to the Atudites, renewed violence and the threats of mass purges of Atudites from the armed forces, political institutions and the declaration of martial law led to a coup d'état, led by Nazim al-Qutayni, who proclaimed himself interim president. The new government promised to honour the agreement made by the Al-Tughluq administration, but anti-government protests erupted in the east. The civil war directly grew out of the 2019 Yeruham Attacks, conducted by Al-Isbah against the Atudite-majority city and the retaliatory 2020 Eastern Tsabara Attacks, conducted by the Lions of the Homeland.

The war is currently being fought by the federal government against the Supreme Political and Resistance Committee, which seeks overthrow the interim government and establish a Rahelian majoritarian state. The SPRC is a broad Irfanist-Rahelian nationalist coalition and is backed by Zorasan politically. Zorasan is also suspected of aiding the SPRC with materiel and training of its militias. The government is also fighting against the Atudite nationalist Lions of the Homeland, which seeks an independent Atudite state in the southwest, the Lions are also in conflict with the SPRC.

Attempts at a negotiated settlement were held between January 14-17 in Spálgleann, Caldia. The Caldish government led by Taoiseach Stiofán Mac Suibhne sought to find a mutually beneficial agreement between the government and the League of the Righteous (the primary Irfanist group, that leads the SPRC). However, these talks collapsed in wake of the 2020 Eastern Tsabaran Attacks.

Causes

Presidency of Atwan al-Tughluq

Atwan al-Tughluq served as President between 2006 and 2019. His policies are widely considered to be major causes for the ongoing crisis.

Socioeconomic background

Tsabara stands as one of the most unequal societies in the world. Socioeconomic inequality was considered "concerning" by some economicsts under the Communalist regime, which failed to diversify the economy and remained reliant upon oil revenues throughout its existence. Industrialisation during the 1960s and early 1970s benefited the Atudite-Sotirian dominated coastal regions. However, inequality increased significantly after free market policies were initiated by the new democratic governments during the 1980s and 1990s, and it accelerated prior to the 2005 recession. With an emphasis on the service sector and manufacturing sectors, these policies benefited a minority of the nation's population, mostly the more developed and educated coastal regions, and members of the Irfanic merchant class of Qaa and Tebessa. In 2016, Tsabara's nominal GDP per capita was only $3,834 (on average), comparable to Bahian countries such as Habasha and far lower than its neighbors such as Zorasan. Per capita for the Atudite population was significantly higher at $13,503, while in coastal cities such as Elyakhin and Savyon it stands at almost $19,000. Also, with an annual growth rate of 4.39%, it falls below most other developing countries.

The country also faced particularly high youth unemployment rates among the Rahelian population. At the start of the crisis, discontent against the economic situation was strongest in Tsabara's poor interior areas, predominantly among conservative Arta Irfanis. These included cities with high poverty rates, such as Tamanrasset and Hitteen, and the poorer districts of large cities.

Rise of Pan-Irfanism

Following Al-Tughluq's rise to the presidency in 2005, he brought with him elements of Political Irfan. Though driven by his desire for retaining office, his useage of political Irfanism as an electoral tool ultimately led to the rise of groups across the south and east aligned with his positions. The most prominent to emerge was Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq (League of the Righteous) in 2012, led by Faizan Salah. Other groups included the Association of Imam Ardashir, Imam Hussein Foundation and the Association of the Three Acts. Problematic for Al-Tughluq was that as he became more reliant upon these groups for mobilising the Irfanic religious vote, he became influenced by their agendas, which by 2018 had evolved toward Pan-Irfanism. These groups as a result came to advocate a closer relationship with Zorasan and came to view many minorities and the Atudites as "agents for Euclean influence."

Sheik Faizan Salah emerged during the early 2010s as the principal leader of political Irfan in Tsabara.

Yehiel Bar a former leader of the Atudite People's Party wrote in 2018, "as the President smothers our democracy through his strongman antics, his ear has ever more strongly held by Arta Irfanic groups that seek to Irfanicise all of Tsabara. Worringly still, these groups are directly backed and funded by Zorasan." The rise of Arta Irfanic groups saw the spread of theological arguments that Adunis' control by Irfanics alone, would herald the first "success in averting the End-Times." Owing to the Eschatological focus of Irfan, many groups, AAH and ATA especially, have publicly advocated the eviction of Atudites and Sotirians from the holy city to enable an Irfanic renaissance.

Pre-war phase

January-September 2019

From early January 2019, popular opposition to the government's policies and reforms aimed at expanding Rahelian control over federal institutions grew exponentially. Initially protests arranged by Atudite nationalist parties were small in number, yet the protests grew in Yeruham, Adunis, Manara and Savyon. Most protests were peaceful, with limited police action. Yet, despite the protests, the government refused to change course.

Sfira Attack

On the 1st of September, 2019, the Women's First Recon Battalion stationed at Sfira collected weapons from the other units stationed at the base and took hostages in a bloodless coup. The government maintained that the base was attacked by terrorists, specifically the Lions of the Homeland led by El'azar ben-Ya'ir, and had been repulsed, but this claim was denied by Ya'ir who insisted the Lions declined responsibility for the attack.

The cause of the Sfira mutiny was traced to the recent issues arising in Tsabaran society; including the expansion of the supreme court to 'account' for population changes that threatened the careful religious balance in the country. Tughluq's commission had recommended to add a further two judges to the Irfanic side; creating a sectarian court. Further issues included curfews in Atudite majority cities and general unrest.

By the 5th of September, the government confirmed the speculation that the base had indeed been held hostage from within.. In spite of evidence linking the Lions to the attack, the federal government re-introduced its arrest warrant for El'azar ben-Ya'ir and increased the reward for information pertaining to the Lions from €10,000 to €18,000. Furthermore, the government issued a command to begin to purge Atudites from specific roles within the government: specifically within security and law and order.

Members of the ruling coalition urged for calm and peace, as did the Party for Irfanic Democracy whilst elements of the military indicated that there would be no quarter for the insurrection. The Minister for Defence, Saad Jadid, is recorded as having told reporters that there would be "No mercy. No quarter."

Despite these calls by the 16th of September Sfira base had been surrounded by elements of the federal army and it was confirmed that negotiations were currently on going between the government and the disgruntled elements of the military. The government had reprioritised its intentions into rooting out what it regarded to be insurrectionism with reconciliation within the armed forces, largely in part due to the internal backlash the governing coalition received over its overreaching. In protest of the attempts to purge Atudite members from within law and order, the Minister of the Interior Nazim al'Qutayni and his Party for Irfanic Democracy left the governing coalition. Al'Qutayni's actions brought down the government majority, deprived them of 43 crucial seats in the House of Representatives and halted the government campaign and Salah's orders to remove Atudites from intelligence services and their roles as police chiefs.

The government announced that it was undergoing a period of negotiations with the forces occupying the Sfira military base. On the 30th of September, to the surprise of many within and without Tsabara, a successful deal was negotiated: in return for amnesty, military de-escalation and the removal of several contentious government policies the Sfira occupiers would supply the government with information pertaining to the Lions of the Homeland. Conditionally, the forces would release the hostages in the base in three stages -- a third at a time..

See also

• Origins of the Tsabaran Civil War
• Operation Eghtedar-e Entegham