On March 15, 2011, protesters took to the streets in “a day of rage” demonstrations against the Syrian regime. Six years and more than 300,000 deaths later, Bashar al-Assad is still in power and the country is in ruins.

FRANCE 24, March 15, 2017 – Exactly six years ago, Syrians staged peaceful protests in Deraa, Damascus and Aleppo, demanding civil liberties and freedom for political prisoners. The “day of rage” demonstrations mirrored those in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt.
But the outcome was to prove arguably more devastating than in the other countries that experienced the so-called Arab Spring. It would also draw in regional players as well as global superpowers supporting opposing sides, a development that has complicated international efforts to bring an end to the war.
The conflict also pit Sunnis against Shiites, saw the rise of the Islamic State (IS) group, drew foreign fighters from across the globe and changed the geopolitics in a combustible region.

SYRIA: SIX YEARS OF A BRUTAL WAR

Mohammed Mohiedin Anis, or Abu Omar, 70, smokes his pipe as he listens to music in his destroyed bedroom in Aleppo’s formerly rebel-held al-Shaar neighbourhood

Image grab taken from a video posted on YouTube in May 2011 shows protesters ripping down a poster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Taibet al-Imam, north of Damascus

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Renowned Syrian cartoonist Ali Ferzat recovers after being beaten up by pro-regime militiamen in Damascus. Ferzat had published cartoons critical of the crackdown on protesters

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A Syrian rebel sniper observes the movement of Syrian government forces near Al-Kendi hospital in Aleppo on April 10, 2013

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Smoke rises from the town of Kobane near the Turkish border as Kurdish peshmerga fighters battled Islamic State group fighters in October 2014

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The northern Syrian city of Aleppo, the country’s economic hub, lies in ruins in this April 2015 photograph

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Volunteers wear protective gear during a class on how to respond to a chemical attack, in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on September 15, 2013

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Russian conductor Valery Gergiev leads a concert in the amphitheatre of the ancient city of Palmyra on May 5, 2016, weeks after the city was liberated from IS group control.