Syria war / 2012

On mid-March 2011, Syrian protesters, angered by the arrest and torture of children writing pro-democracy graffiti on walls, gathered in the southern city of Daraa. Security forces responded firing live ammunitions at demonstrators, killing several people. Mass protests spread all over the country, and confrontations escalated. As the unrest kept on growing, Assad regime decided to start military operations against protesters. Uprising in Syria fell into a stalemate and entered into an endless civil war ever since. UN stated that more than 60,000 people have been killed since the conflict broke out on March 2011. According to UNHCR more than 408,000 Syrians fled the country, seeking refuge in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq, until December 2012.