Each week, HuffPost World will provide the top stories out of Syria and a recap of events in the country's uprising, as President Bashar Assad’s regime continues its bloody crackdown.
July 14 - July 20 In Review
- Four senior Syrian regime officials were killed in a blast targeting a high-level security meeting in Damascus. Among the dead were president Bashar Assad's brother-in-law, the minister of defense, Syria's national security chief and a former minister of defense.
- Fighting rocked Damascus for five consecutive days, as rebels and army troops clashed in several districts of the Syrian capital.
- Russia and China vetoed a Security Council resolution that threatened to impose new sanctions on the regime in Damascus.
- The Security Council decided to extend the U.N. monitor mission in Syria for 30 days.
- Syrian rebels took control of border crossings with Turkey and Iraq on Thursday. According to an Iraqi general, 21 Syrian troops were killed in one of the attacks.
- The White House warned the Syrian regime that the country will be held responsible for protecting its chemical weapons.
Media Not To Miss
GlobalPost -- 'Meet the 12 People Who Run Syria'
Who are the top brass in Syria? What are they responsible for? And where are they now? GlobalPost has an infographic showing Syria's power clique and who was killed or injured in Wednesday's bombing in Damascus.
Harper's Magazine -- 'Welcome To Free Syria'
Anand Gopal reports from Taftanaz, a small farming village in the north of Syria that came under attack by Syrian army troops in early April 2012.
When I reached Taftanaz on April 9, the air in the town stank of manure, hay, and gunpowder. The smell of smoke grew more powerful near houses, and once inside you found your eyes watering and you throat burning. Many of the locals who were left had taked to wearing surgical masks.
The Huffington Post -- 'Ruthless Dictator With A Flawless Complexion'
HuffPost World checks out photos of Bashar Assad released by Syria's official news agency SANA. Is Photoshop at play? See for yourself here.
TIME -- 'The Syrian Army Strikes Back'
A TIME reporter in Syria wrote a heartbreaking account from the village of Saraqeb. Hours after a bombing struck the national security building in Damascus last Wednesday, troops launched a brutal attack against the village.
Some 20 minutes after she first entered the hospital, Saddam’s mother ran out. “He’s dead! He’s dead!” she yelled. “My boy is dead!” She collapsed on the road outside the hospital, next to the pool of blood formed by the young man who died there. Several armed men tried to console her before ushering her into a car and driving her home.