In Syria: Three Years of War

 

 

 

 

In Syria: Three Years of War   Last weekend marked the third anniversary of Syria's civil war, a conflict that has, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, claimed the lives of more than 146,000 people, at least a third of them civilians. As forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad appear to be making slow progress against rebel forces, the humanitarian crisis has grown astronomically -- as many as 2.5 million Syrians have now fled the country. Fractured rebel groups continue to fight each other, as well as Assad's troops, with civilians bearing the brunt of attack and counterattack, their neighborhoods reduced to rubble by mortar shells and barrel bombs. Gathered here are images from Syria over the past few months. This picture taken the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) shows residents of the besieged Palestinian camp of Yarmouk, queuing to receive food supplies, in Damascus, Syria, on January 31, 2014. A United Nations official is calling on warring sides in Syria to allow aid workers to resume distribution of food and medicine in a Palestinian district of Damascus. The call comes as U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon urged Syrian government to authorize more humanitarian staff to work inside the country, devastated by its 3-year-old conflict. (AP Photo/UNRWA) 2 A Free Syrian Army fighter runs to take cover after launching a mortar towards forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in the Jabal al-Akrad area of Syria's northwestern Latakia province, on February 25, 2014. (Reuters/Alaa Khweled) # 3 Damaged buildings line a street in the besieged area of Homs on January 27, 2014. The United States demanded that Syria allow aid into the "starving" city of Homs, as talks aimed at ending three years of civil war took place. (Reuters/Yazan Homsy) # 4 Residents of the besieged Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp wait to leave the camp, on the southern edge of the Syrian capital Damascus, Syria, on February 4, 2014. In one besieged neighborhood after another, weary rebels have turned over their weapons to the Syrian government in exchange for an easing of suffocating blockades that have prevented food, medicine and other staples from reaching civilians trapped inside. (AP Photo/SANA) # 5 A picture taken on March 15, 2014 shows part of the seven-square-kilometer (2.8-square-mile) Zaatari refugee camp in northern Jordan, near the border with Syria, which provides shelter to around 100,000 Syrian refugees. Syrian refugees in the sprawling desert camp fear that President Bashar al-Assad's likely re-election this year will leave their dream of a return home as distant as ever. Jordan is home to more than 500,000 of Syria's refugees. (Khalil Mazraawi/AFP/Getty Images) # 6 A Syrian refugee boy peeks out from a tent at the Bab Al-Salam refugee camp in Azaz, near the Syrian-Turkish border, on March 14, 2014. (Reuters/Hamid Khatib) # 7 A Free Syrian Army fighter holds his weapon inside a room in the old city of Aleppo on February 19, 2014.(Reuters/Jalal Al-Mamo) # 8 Rebel fighters hold a position as smoke billows in the background during reported battles against pro-government forces on February 23, 2014, in the Sheikh Najjar district on the outskirts of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo.(Medo Halab/AFP/Getty Images) # 9 A deserted and damaged street filled with debris in Homs on March 9, 2014. (Reuters/Thaer Al Khalidiya) # 10 Forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad approach a hole blown in a wall in the old city of Aleppo on February 11, 2014.(Reuters/George Ourfalian) # 11 A pro-government fighter flashes the "V-sign" for victory next to comrades in the Syrian town of Yabrud, after they seized full control of a rebel-controlled area in the strategic Qalamun region near the Lebanese border, on March 16, 2014. The town was once home to some 30,000 people, including a Christian minority, and had been a rebel bastion since early in the Syrian uprising that began in March 2011. (Joseph Eid/AFP/Getty Images) # 12 Wreckage of a Syrian army helicopter after members of the al-Qaeda-linked group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) allegedly destroyed it, in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, to prevent other opposition groups from taking it. Photographed on March 1, 2014. (Mohammed Al-Khatieb/AFP/Getty Images) # 13 Free Syrian Army members lower the body of their fellow fighter, who the FSA say was killed during an explosion inside a tunnel caused by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, during his funeral in Deir al-Zor, on February 20, 2014.(Reuters/Khalil Ashawi) # 14 Free Syrian Army fighters Mohamad-Noor (left), 14, and Hadi, 15, show a picture of the body of their 15-year-old friend Khaled, who was killed by sniper fire, at the frontline of Khalidiya neighborhood in Aleppo on March 13, 2014. Noor and Hadi joined the Free Syrian Army 6 months ago along with Khaled. Noor's father died from sniper fire too, and Hadi's father fights with the Free Syrian Army. (Reuters/Jalal Al-Mamo) # 15 Homemade grenades sit on a table on one of the battlefronts in Jobar, a suburb of Damascus, on February 22, 2014.(Reuters/Stringer) # Warning: This image may contain graphic or objectionable content Click to view image 16 A soldier loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad walks near corpses of dozens of rebel fighters in the area of Oteiba, whom Syrian state media and a monitoring group said were killed on February 26, 2014 in an army ambush at the entrance to an opposition stronghold in the Eastern Ghouta area. The Syrian army also seized the opposition fighters' weapons, the state TV channel said, using the term "terrorists" to refer to what is said were mainly non-Syrian rebels who belonged to Al-Nusra Front, an Al-Qaeda-linked group that has joined the armed revolt to topple President Bashar al-Assad.(Hassan Yussef/AFP/Getty Images) # 17 Khattab al-Halabi, a former tattoo artist who is now a Free Syrian Army fighter, poses with his weapon in at the Karm al-Jabal frontline in Aleppo on February 23, 2014. (Reuters/Jalal Al-Mamo) # 18 Residents try to cross the Assi River from Syria to Turkey, illegally, in Al-Hmazih village, on March 13, 2014.(Reuters/Fadi Mashan) # 19 Two Syrian men who fled from Yabroud, the last rebel stronghold in Syria's mountainous Qalamoun region, set up a tent in Wadi Hmaied between the Lebanese-Syrian border and the town of Arssal, in eastern Lebanon, on February 12, 2014. In Lebanon, preparations were underway to receive more Syrians fleeing the area. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla) # 20 Damaged buildings in the besieged area of Homs on December 24, 2013. (Reuters/Layth Homsi) # 21 A Free Syrian Army fighter inspects an unexploded shell in Jabal al-Akrad area in Syria's northwestern Latakia province on January 19, 2014. (Reuters/Alaa Khweled) # 22 Eyad, a 12 year-old boy who lost his arm during shelling by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, tries on a prosthetic arm at Duma Charity Foundation for Prosthesis in the Duma neighborhood of Damascus on February 25, 2014. The center produces prostheses from different materials, including remnants of weapons, plastic mannequins and water barrels, and offers the devices to people who have lost their limbs during the war. (Reuters/Bassam Khabieh) # 23 Rebel fighters fire a heavy machine gun at the government forces Al-Samman checkpoint on a road leading to Idlib, near the Syrian city of Hama, on February 17, 2014. (Abu Hadi Al-Hamwi/AFP/Getty Images) # 24 In this photo provided by Aleppo Media Center (AMC), an anti-Bashar Assad activist group, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, a Syrian government forces helicopter drops what activists said are two barrel bombs over an area of Aleppo on February 2, 2014. For nearly two months, the Syrian government has conducted an intense air campaign on opposition-held districts of the northern city of Aleppo. (AP Photo/Aleppo Media Center, AMC, File) # 25 This photo provided by the anti-government activist group Aleppo Media Center (AMC), which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows a Syrian man, right, running for cover from a Syrian government forces airstrike attack in Aleppo on February 27, 2014. (AP Photo/Aleppo Media Center, AMC) # 26 This picture provided by the anti-government activist group Coordination Committee In Kfar Takharim, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows a Syrian man running as flames rise from buildings which were attacked by a Syrian government forces airstrike in the town of Kfar Takharim in the northwest province of Idlib, on March 1, 2014.(AP Photo/Coordination Committee In Kfar Takharim) # 27 Men carrying children run from a burning building following a barrel bomb attack reportedly dropped by government forces in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on February 8, 2014. (Baraa Al-Halabi/AFP/Getty Images) # 28 A Syrian man breathes through an oxygen mask while awaiting rescue, trapped under rubble following an air strike by government forces on the Sahour neighborhood of Aleppo on March 6, 2014. (Khaled Khatib/AFP/Getty Images) # 29 Men hold up a baby saved from under rubble, who survived what activists say was an airstrike by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the Duma neighborhood of Damascus on January 7, 2014. The child, 27-day-old Rateb Malis, was later reunited with his father and sisters. (Reuters/Bassam Khabieh) # 30 A Syrian national flag flutters atop of a damaged building in a government-controlled district, as seen from a rebel-held area, in Aleppo's Karm al-Jabal district on March 17, 2014. (Reuters/Jalal Al-Mamo) # 31 Forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad flash victory signs after advancing into al-Maasaraniyeh neighborhood in Aleppo on February 10, 2014. (Reuters/George Ourfalian) # 32 Flames rise from an explosion after opposition fighters hit a government forces tank in Khan Sheikhun, in the south of the Syria's northwestern Idlib province, on February 26, 2014. (Obaida Al-Shami/AFP/Getty Images) # 33 People inspect damage at a site hit by what activists said were barrel bombs dropped by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad in Aleppo's district of al-Sukari on March 7, 2014. (Reuters/Hosam Katan) # 34 A rebel fighter digs a tunnel in the eastern Syrian town of Deir Ezzor on March 13, 2014. (Ahmad Aboud/AFP/Getty Images) # 35 Debris covers a street and flames rise from a building following a reported air strike by Syrian government forces on March 7, 2014 during the Friday prayer in the Sukkari neighborhood of Aleppo. (Baraa Al-Halabi/AFP/Getty Images) # 36 A man digs graves, preparing for future casualties, in Arbeen, in the eastern Damascus suburb of Ghouta, on March 10, 2014.(Reuters/Yaseen al-Bushy) # 37 A Kurdish fighter from the Popular Protection Units carries his son as he walks along a street in Aleppo's Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood on February 18, 2014. (Reuters/Hosam Katan)

Turkey's armed forces shot down a Syrian fighter jet today after it crossed into Turkish airspace. This is the dramatic moment that a Syrian warplane exploded after being shot down by a Syrian fighter plane in a move sure to increase tensions between the two countries. The attack on the plane - from which the pilot ejected - happened in a border region where Syrian rebels have been battling President Bashar al-Assad's forces. ‘A Syrian plane violated our airspace,’ Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told an election rally of his supporters in north-west Turkey. Scroll down for video +10 This is the dramatic moment that a Syrian warplane was shot down by a Syrian warplane in a move sure to increase tensions between the two countries +10 The attack on the plane - from which the pilot ejected - happened in a border region where Syrian rebels have been battling President Bashar al-Assad's forces ‘Our F-16s took off and hit this plane. Why? Because if you violate my airspace, our slap after this will be hard.’ He added: ‘I congratulate the chief of general staff, the armed forces and those honourable pilots... I congratulate our air forces.’ The rebels have been fighting for control of the Kasab crossing, the border region, since Friday, when they launched an offensive which Syrian authorities say was backed by Turkey's military. Falling from the sky: A Syrian warplane made to crash in Latakia, near the Turkish border +10 Crashing: The attack on the plane - from which the pilot ejected - happened in a border region where Syrian rebels have been battling President Bashar al-Assad's forces Syria said Turkish air defences shot down the jet while it was attacking rebel forces inside Syrian territory, calling the move a ‘blatant aggression’. Turkish media reported that the army warned two Syrian jets approaching the border to turn away, but scrambled its F-16 jets when one refused to abide by the warning. State television quoted a military source as saying the pilot managed to eject from the plane. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said initial reports from the area said the plane came down on the Syrian side of the border. Al Manar, the television station of Assad's Lebanese ally Hezbollah, said two rockets had been fired from Turkish territory at the Syrian jet. Unverified footage shows smoke rising out of Mount Turkman +10 Address: Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan told an election rally of supporters about the attack on the plane +10 Support: Erdogan waves to his supporters during an election campaign rally in Istanbul +10 Campaign: Erdogan rallied hundreds of thousands of supporters today dismissing accusations of intolerance by Western and domestic critics +10 Backing: Supporters of Turkey's ruling party Justice and Development Party cheer the Prime Minister during the rally +10 Statement: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (pictured yesterday) said 'our response from now will be heavy if you violate our airspace' Turkish warplanes last September downed a Syrian helicopter, which Ankara said was detected 1.2 miles inside Turkish airspace. Turkey toughened its rules of engagement after the downing of one of its fighter jets by the Syrian air force in June 2012, to say that any military approach of the Turkish border from Syria would be considered a threat. Since the conflict began in Syria, more than 100,000 people have been killed - with 6.5million nationals displaced and 2.5 million registered as refugees.   The attack on the plane - from which the pilot ejected - happened in a border region where Syrian rebels have been battling President Bashar al-Assad's forces. ‘A Syrian plane violated our airspace,’ Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told an election rally of his supporters in north-west Turkey. Scroll down for video   Falling from the sky: A Syrian warplane made to crash in Latakia, near the Turkish border +4 Crashing: The attack on the plane - from which the pilot ejected - happened in a border region where Syrian rebels have been battling President Bashar al-Assad's forces ‘Our F-16s took off and hit this plane. Why? Because if you violate my airspace, our slap after this will be hard.’ He added: ‘I congratulate the chief of general staff, the armed forces and those honourable pilots... I congratulate our air forces.’   The rebels have been fighting for control of the Kasab crossing, the border region, since Friday, when they launched an offensive which Syrian authorities say was backed by Turkey's military. Syria said Turkish air defences shot down the jet while it was attacking rebel forces inside Syrian territory, calling the move a ‘blatant aggression’. Turkish media reported that the army warned two Syrian jets approaching the border to turn away, but scrambled its F-16 jets when one refused to abide by the warning. Unverified footage shows smoke rising out of Mount Turkman +4 Statement: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (pictured yesterday) said 'our response from now will be heavy if you violate our airspace' State television quoted a military source as saying the pilot managed to eject from the plane. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said initial reports from the area said the plane came down on the Syrian side of the border. 'Our F-16s took off and hit this plane. Why? Because if you violate my airspace, our slap after this will be hard' Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey Prime Minister Al Manar, the television station of Assad's Lebanese ally Hezbollah, said two rockets had been fired from Turkish territory at the Syrian jet. Turkish warplanes last September downed a Syrian helicopter, which Ankara said was detected 1.2 miles inside Turkish airspace. Turkey toughened its rules of engagement after the downing of one of its fighter jets by the Syrian air force in June 2012, to say that any military approach of the Turkish border from Syria would be considered a threat. Since the conflict began in Syria, more than 100,000 people have been killed - with 6.5million nationals displaced and 2.5 million registered as refugees. A Syrian boy holds an AK-47 assault rifle in the majority-Kurdish Sheikh Maqsud district of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, on April 14, 2013. In northern Syria, the Kurdish population has largely observed a careful compromise with regime and rebel forces, fighting alongside neither, in return for security and semi-autonomy over majority Kurdish areas, but there have been reports of Kurdish fighters joining the battle with Syrian rebels in certain areas, including in Sheikh Maqsud. (Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty Images) 2 In this image taken from video obtained from the Shaam News Network, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, smoke and fire rises after explosives were dropped by a Syrian government warplane in Yabroud near Damascus, Syria, on May 20, 2013. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network via AP video) # 3 A Syrian man walks amid destruction in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on April 10, 2013. (Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty Images) # 4 A damaged statue of Bassel Al-Assad, brother of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, in Raqqa province, eastern Syria, on April 25, 2013. (Reuters/Hamid Khatib) # 5 Free Syrian Army fighters run up the stairs of a building in Aleppo's Salaheddine neighborhood, on April 28, 2013.(Reuters/Aref Hretani) # 6 Syrians walk behind destroyed buses to dodge sniper fire by government forces in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, on April 12, 2013. (Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty Images) # 7 Rebel fighters from the Al-Ezz bin Abdul Salam Brigade attend a training session at an undisclosed location near the al-Turkman mountains, in Syria's northern Latakia province, on April 24, 2013. (Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty Images) # 8 An improvised mortar, with a projectile fashioned from a gas cylinder, placed by Free Syrian Army fighters in Binnish, in Idlib province, on April 17, 2013. (Reuters/Mohamed Kaddoor/Shaam News Network) # 9 A Free Syrian Army fighter in a tunnel in Deir al-Zor, on April 6, 2013. The 30-meter (98-feet) tunnel was dug under an area where Syrian Army forces have set up base in Deir Al-Zor, according to members of the Free Syrian Army. (Reuters/Khalil Ashawi) # 10 This March 1, 2013 citizen journalism image provided by Aleppo Media Center AMC which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows a Syrian child, injured by heavy bombing from military warplanes, in the town of Hanano in Aleppo, Syria. (AP Photo/Aleppo Media Center) # 11 Syrian forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad run to take their position during clashes against Syrian rebels, in Aleppo, Syria, on May 26, 2013. (AP Photo/SANA) # 12 A Syrian soldier sits inside a tank as troops take control of the village of Western Dumayna, some seven kilometers north of the rebel-held city of Qusayr, on May 13, 2013. Syrian troops captured three villages in the strategic Qusayr area of Homs province, allowing them to cut supply lines to rebels inside Qusayr town, a military officer told AFP. (Joseph Eid/AFP/Getty Images) # 13 Syrian troops celebrate as they take control of the village of Haydariyah, some seven kilometers outside the rebel-held city of Qusayr, on May 13, 2013. Syrian troops captured three villages in the strategic Qusayr area of Homs province, allowing them to cut supply lines to rebels inside Qusayr town, a military officer told AFP. (Joseph Eid/AFP/Getty Images) # 14 A child walks past damaged buildings in Deir al-Zor, on April 4, 2013. (Reuters/Khalil Ashawi) # 15 Citizen journalism image provided by Aleppo Media Center AMC which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, show flames rising from a car which was attacked by Syrian government forces, in Bustan al-Qaser neighborhood, Aleppo, on May 20, 2013. Fierce street fighting in the Syrian town near the Lebanese border killed at least 28 elite members of Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group, activists said, as Syrian government forces pushed deeper into the strategic, opposition-held town. (AP Photo/Aleppo Media Center) # 16 A girl sits on a chair placed among rubble as she sells bread on a damaged street in Deir al-Zor, on May 9, 2013.(Reuters/Khalil Ashawi) # 17 A Free Syrian Army fighter sits on a sofa inside a house in Deir al-Zor, on May 13, 2013. (Reuters/Khalil Ashawi) # 18 Smoke rises after what activists said was shelling by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in Raqqa province, eastern Syria, on May 3, 2013. (Reuters/Nour Fourat) # 19 A damaged area of the Aleppo Grand mosque after a battle between the rebels and Syrian government forces, in Aleppo, on April 13, 2013. (AP Photo/Aleppo Media Center) # 20 Sawoushka Ahmed, a Kurdish female fighter stands with a gun in the majority-Kurdish Sheikh Maqsud district of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, on April 14, 2013. (Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty Images) # 21 Smoke rises after shelling on al-Turkman mountains in the Latakia province, western Syria, on April 25, 2013.(Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty Images) # Warning: This image may contain graphic or objectionable content Click to view image 22 In this citizen journalism image released on May 2, 2013 by a group that calls itself The Syrian Revolution Against Bashar Assad, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, a Syrian man, center, identifies dead bodies, who were killed according to activists by Syrian forces loyal to Bashar Assad, in Bayda village, in the mountains outside the coastal city of Banias, Syria. (AP Photo/The Syrian Revolution Against Bashar Assad) # 23 An abandoned tank on a street near the minaret of the Omari mosque, which was damaged by what activists said was shelling by forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad, in Deraa, on April 13, 2013. (Reuters/Mazen Abu Mahmoud/Shaam News Network) # 24 Girls play on a swing in a damaged street full of debris in Deir al-Zor, on May 21, 2013. (Reuters/Khalil Ashawi) # 25 A man works at a makeshift oil refinery site in al-Mansoura village in Raqqa's countryside, on May 5, 2013. Many civilians in the village who lost their jobs due to the Syrian conflict are making a living by refining crude oil to extract useful fuel such as gasoline and kerosene for sale. (Reuters/Hamid Khatib) # 26 A member of the Free Syrian Army takes a break, diving into the Euphrates river in Deir al-Zor, on May 21, 2013.(Reuters/Khalil Ashawi) # 27 Mohammad, 11, a Syrian refugee boy who was injured during the conflict in Syria, sits in his wheelchair at a post-traumatic care center directed by Union of Syrian Medical Relief Organizations (UOSSM) in Hatay province, Turkey, on May 3, 2013. Turkey is now sheltering more than 300,000 Syrians who have fled the fighting in their homeland, most of them in camps along the 900-km (560-mile) frontier. (Reuters/Osman Orsal) # 28 A deserted street with damaged buildings in the old city of Aleppo, on April 29, 2013. (Reuters/George Ourfalian) # 29 Free Syrian Army fighters prepare to launch a rocket in Deir al-Zor, on May 18, 2013. (Reuters/Khalil Ashawi) # 30 A boy rows a boat as he transports people into the city of Deir Al-Zor, on April 21, 2013. (Reuters/Khalil Ashawi) # 31 In this undated file photo a Russian S-300 anti-aircraft missile system is on display in an undisclosed location in Russia. Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on May 28, 2013, that Moscow has a contract for the delivery of the S-300s to Syria and sees the deal as a key deterrent against foreign invasion in that country. The Deputy Foreign Minister wouldn't say whether Russia has shipped any of the long-range S-300 air defense missile systems, but added that Moscow is not going to abandon the deal despite strong Western and Israeli criticism. (AP Photo) # 32 Damaged vehicles fill a street lined with damaged buildings in Aleppo's Salaheddine district, on April 8, 2013.(Reuters/Malek Alshemali) # 33 Syrian rebels take position in a house during clashes with regime forces in Aleppo, on May 22, 2013.(Ricardo Garcia Vilanova/AFP/Getty Images) # 34 In this Tuesday March 19, 2013 file photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, a Syrian victim who suffered an alleged chemical attack at Khan al-Assal village according to SANA, receives treatment by doctors, at a hospital in Aleppo. The purported instances in which chemical weapons have been used in Syria have been relatively small in scale: nothing along the lines of Saddam Hussein's 1988 attack in Kurdish Iraq. That raises the question of who would stand to gain as President Bashar Assad's regime and the opposition trade blame for the alleged attacks and definitive proof remains elusive. (AP Photo/SANA) # 35 People riding on motorcycles are seen through a hole of a damaged building in Deir al-Zor, on May 19, 2013.(Reuters/ Khalil Ashawi) # 36 Relatives visit a grave at the Shi'ite fighters cemetery in Sayeda Zainab area in Damascus, on May 27, 2013.(Reuters/ Alaa Al-Marjani) # 37 A security member loyal to President Bashar al-Assad gestures to a photographer in Damascus, on May 26, 2013.(Reuters/ Alaa Al-Marjani)