March 15 – April 2011
The Syrian uprising began in Deraa after teenagers were arrested and tortured for scrawling anti-government graffiti on school walls. Security forces opened fire on protesters who gathered to demand their release, killing several demonstrators. The killings ignited outrage across Syria, and what started as a local protest over detained children rapidly became a nationwide call for political reform and Assad's removal. The government's brutal initial response foreclosed any possibility of a negotiated political solution and set the tone for the violence that would consume the country for years.
Commanders