The Syrian civil war is an ongoing armed conflict in Syria between forces loyal to the Syrian Ba'ath Party government and those seeking to oust it. The conflict began on 15 March 2011, with popular demonstrations that grew nationwide by April 2011. These demonstrations were pa... Explore this topic

Damascus, commonly known in Syria as ash-Sham and nicknamed as the City of Jasmine, is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo. It borders Quneitra, Daraa and As-Suwayda to the south, Jordan to the east, Homs to the north, and Lebanon to the west. It is a... Explore this topic

Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest. A country of fertile plains, high mountains and deserts, i... Explore this topic

The Free Syrian Army is an armed opposition structure operating in Syria during the Syrian civil war. Composed of defected Syrian Armed Forces personnel and volunteers, its formation was announced on 29 July 2011 in a video released on the internet by a uniformed group of dese... Explore this topic

Civilian casualties is a military term describing civilian persons killed, injured, or imprisoned by military action. Civilian casualties can be associated with the outcome of any form of military action regardless of whether civilians were targeted directly or not. This diffe... Explore this topic

An air strike is an attack on a specific objective by military aircraft during an offensive mission. Air strikes are commonly delivered from aircraft such as fighters, bombers, ground attack aircraft, and attack helicopters. The official definition includes all sorts of target... Explore this topic

Artillery is a weapon of war that operates by projection of munitions far beyond the effective range of personal weapons. Artillery comprise specialised devices which use some form of stored energy to operate, whether mechanical, chemical, or electromagnetic. Originally design... Explore this topic

The Syrian Army, officially the Syrian Arab Army, is the land force branch of the Syrian Armed Forces. It is the dominant military service of the four uniformed services, controlling the senior most posts in the armed forces, and has the greatest manpower, approximately 80 per... Explore this topic

Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by American media mogul Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States. While the news channel ha... Explore this topic

Nic Robertson is a Senior International Correspondent at CNN. Robertson started his career in broadcasting in 1984 within the engineering arm of the UK's Independent Broadcasting Authority. He then worked as an engineer with TV-AM until 1989. Explore this topic