Each week, HuffPost World will provide the top stories out of Syria and a recap of events in the country's year-long uprising, as President Bashar Assad’s regime continues its bloody crackdown.
April 28 - May 4 In Review
- Syrian troops stormed student dormitories in the city of Aleppo, killing at least 4 students. Another 5 Syrians were killed during protests in the city.
- Human Rights Watch accused Syrian troops of war crimes in the governorate of Idlib before the start of the ceasefire.
- Russia accused Syrian opposition fighters of destabilizing the fragile situation in the country and hindering the implementation of Kofi Annan's piece plan
- UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous said all 300 UN observers will arrive in Syria by the end of May.
- The commander of the UN monitors in Syria, Norwegian Major General Robert Mood, acknowledged his mission alone cannot solve Syria's fundamental problems.
- Gunmen fired rocket-propelled grenades at Syria's Central Bank building, but inflicted only minor damage.
- Opposition fighters killed several security officers in a brazen attack on a military unit on Syria's Mediterranean coast.
Media Not To Miss
Human Rights Watch -- War Crimes In Idlib
Homs, once an opposition stronghold, is now "littered with piles of rubble and bombed-out buildings." Watch below:
According to the international organization Human Rights Watch, Syrian troops killed at least 95 civilians and burned or destroyed hundreds of houses in the governorate of Idlib before the start of the ceasefire. The organization accuses Syrian government troops of war crimes, citing dozens of extrajudicial executions, killings of civilians and destruction of civilian property.
Read more on Human Rights Watch's blog or watch the video below.
GlobalPost -- 'Syria Seals Off Rebellious Neighborhoud'
GlobalPost reports from Syria's city of Homs that government troops have built a massive wall to seal off the city's neighborhood of Baba Amr. The now nearly-deserted neighborhood had been shelled for months by the Syrian army in February 2012.
A reporter for GlobalPost recently visited Baba Amr and the wall, describing it as up to 10-feet high and made of cement. It's still so new there is no graffiti. Since most residents have long fled, the neighborhood behind the wall has become “a dead land for cats and dogs,” as one former resident described it.
Read the full GlobalPost report here.
Reuters -- UN Observers Visit Homs