The Syrian regime has launched a major aerial operation against a rebel-held town near the capital, effectively ending a local truce. Rebels claim the airstrikes were retaliation for the execution of a government pilot.
Syrians remove the rubble of a building targeted earlier this month by airstrikes in Douma, on the outskirts of DamascusImage: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Badra
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Regime airstrikes on the rebel-held town of Jeiroud left at least 20 civilians dead on Saturday, a day after militants captured and killed a government fighter pilot, according to a monitor and rebel sources.
A rebel spokesperson said al-Nusra Front, al-Qaeda's affiliate in Syria, was responsible for executing the pilot.
"The strikes against civilians are in retaliation against the execution of the pilot by al-Nusra Front," said Said Seif al-Qalamoni of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), which operates in the town alongside the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front.
The pilot parachuted into the opposition-held area 60 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of Damascus after his aircraft malfunctioned during a training mission, the government said in an official statement.
Damascus vowed revenge for the "appalling crime" of executing the serviceman. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said the regime's airstrikes marked the first bombardment of Jeiroud in at least two years.
"Prominent figures in Jeiroud have had a local truce with the regime for at least two years, and neither fired on each other," SOHR chief Rami Abdel-Rahman told AFP news agency.
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The "Arab Spring" effect
In 2011, as regimes crumble across the region, tens of thousands of Syrians take to the streets to protest against corruption, high unemployment and soaring food prices. The Syrian government responds with live ammunition, claiming some 400 lives by May.
Image: dapd
Condemnation without consensus
At the urging of Western countries, the UN Security Council condemns the violent crackdown. The EU and US implement an arms embargo, visa bans and asset freezes in the months that follow. With the backing of the Arab League, calls eventually grow for the Syrian president's departure. But not all UN members agree with this demand.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Szenes
Assad refuses to back down
Bashar al-Assad - who has been in power since the death of his father in 2000 - sees his reputation wane with the continuing unrest. He refuses to end decades-long emergency rule, which allows for surveillance and interrogation. Russia backs its ally, supplying weapons and vetoing UN resolutions on Syria multiple times.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Y. Badawi
The opposition gets organized
By the end of the year, human rights groups and the UN have evidence of human rights abuses. Civilians and military deserters are slowly beginning to organize themselves to fight back against government forces, which have been targeting dissidents. More than 5,000 have died so far in the fighting. It will take another six months before the UN acknowledges that a war is taking place on Syrian soil.
Image: Reuters/Goran Tomasevic
Outside intervention
In September 2012, Iran confirms that it has fighters on the ground in Syria - a fact long denied by Damascus. The presence of allied troops underscores the hesitance of the US and other Western powers to intervene in the conflict. The US, stung by failed interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq, sees dialogue as the only reasonable solution.
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Fleeing the conflict
As the death toll nears 100,000, the number of refugees in neighboring countries - such as Turkey and Jordan - hits one million. That number will double by September 2013. The West and the Arab League have seen all attempts at a transitional government fail in the two years of war, watching as fighting spills over into Turkey and Lebanon. They fear Assad will stay in power by any means possible.
Image: Reuters/B. Khabieh
No united front against Assad
Assad has long claimed he's combatting terrorists. But it's not until the second year of war that the fragmented Free Syrian Army is definitely known to include radical extremists. The group Al-Nusra Front pledges allegiance to al Qaeda, further splintering the opposition.
Image: Reuters/A. Abdullah
From brute force to chemical warfare
In June 2013, the White House says it has evidence that Assad has been using sarin nerve gas on civilians - a report later backed by the UN. The discovery pushes US President Barack Obama and other Western leaders toward considering the use of military force. However, Russia's proposal to remove the chemical weapons ultimately wins out.
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Islamic State emerges
Reports of a new jihadist group calling itself the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) emerge in the final weeks of 2013. Taking land in northern Syria and Iraq, the group sparks infighting among the opposition, with some 500 dead by early 2014. The unexpected emergence of IS ultimately draws the US, France, Saudi Arabia and other nations into the war.
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Syria has witnessed an uptick in violence since a US-Russia brokered "cessation of hostilities" between government forces and rebels has all but collapsed.
More than 250,000 people have been killed and millions displaced since the conflict erupted in 2011, when government forces violently cracked down on peaceful pro-democracy protesters calling for President Bashar al-Assad to step down.
UN-backed peace talks remain elusive, although the organization's Syria envoy, Staffan de Mistura, said in June that he hoped they could resume in July.