2014 in Syria

← 2013 2012 2011 2014 in Syria → 2015 2016 2017
Decades:	1990s 2000s 2010s
See also:	Other events of 2014 List of years in Syria

The following lists events that happened in 2014 in Syria.

Incumbents

• President: Bashar al-Assad
• Prime Minister: Wael Nader al-Halqi

Events

For events related to the Civil War, see Timeline of the Syrian Civil War (January–July 2014) and Timeline of the Syrian Civil War (August–December 2014)

January

• January 5 - A sniper kills a man and six people are wounded in clashes between districts in Tripoli, Lebanon, that support rival sides in neighboring Syria's civil war.
• January 7 - Both the Syrian opposition and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant mass execute dozens of their combatant prisoners.
• January 9 - Syrian Civil War
  • A car bomb kills 18 people, including women and children, in central Hama province, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights organization.
  • Islamic extremist groups in Syria with ties to al-Qaeda try to identify, recruit and train Americans and other Westerners who have traveled there to get them to carry out attacks when they return home.
• January 11 - 500 people are killed in inter-factional fighting between an alliance of secular rebels and moderate Islamists against radical Islamists.
• January 12 - Syrian State TV claims that a rebel mortar attack kills 19 people in the government-controlled Ghouta and Karm al shami areas of the city of Homs.
• January 14 - 46 Palestinians and Syrian residents in the Yarmouk Camp have died of starvation and lack of medical care, since October, from a Syrian army enforced blockade.
• January 16 - A suicide bomber kills 4 people and injures 26 in the Lebanese town of Hermel, a Hezbollah stronghold near the Syrian border.
• January 17 - A rocket fired from Syria into the Lebanese border town of Arsal kills seven people and wounds 15.
• January 20 - Two car bombs hit a rebel-held post on the Syrian border with Turkey, killing at least 16 people amidst continuing fighting between Turkey-supported rebels and Saudi-supported rebels.

February

• February 7 - A three-day truce is agreed; civilians will be able to evacuate from a rebel-held area of the Syrian city of Homs after more than 18 months under a government blockade.
• February 12 - Syrian Civil War
  • The BBC reports more than 1,000 civilians have evacuated Homs during the truce, which was extended until today.
  • Russia says it will veto a U.N. resolution on humanitarian aid access in Syria, claiming that the draft is an effort to prepare for military strikes against President Bashar al-Assad's government.

March

• March 18 - The United States expels all Syrian diplomats and closes the Syrian embassy in Washington D.C..
• March 19 - The Israeli Air Force launches several air strikes on Syrian military sites, killing 1 Syrian soldier and wounding 7 others, in retaliation for a bombing that wounded four of its troops in the Golan Heights.
• March 21 - Clashes erupt in Tripoli, Lebanon, between Syrian government supporters and detractors, leaving 3 dead.
• March 23 - Turkish F-16s shoot down a Syrian military aircraft for purportedly violating Turkish airspace.

April

• April 11 - Chemical weapons are used again in Syria, this time on the town of Kafr Zita, Hama.

May

• May 7 - Rebels withdraw from the besieged city of Homs in accordance with the U.N.-brokered deal between them and the Syrian government.
• May 23 - Russia and China veto a U.N. Security Council resolution that would have asked the International Criminal Court to investigate war crimes in Syria.

June

• June 3 - Syria presidential election takes place in government-controlled areas, amidst an opposition boycott. While the West denounces the election as rigged and "meaningless", delegations from Assad's main supporters, including Russia, Iran and Venezuela, praise the election as transparent and free.
• June 4 - The Syrian government announces Assad was re-elected, claiming that Assad had won with 88.7% of the vote and a turnout of 73.47% of eligible voters.
• June 9 - The Syrian government declares a general amnesty for all citizens; Assad would later fail to follow through and release any political prisoners.
• June 18 - Syrian Civil War
  • The OPCW releases a preliminary report indicating more chemical weapons have been used since the August 2013 attacks, confirming France's suspicions that the Syrian government has still been using chlorine gas attacks.
• June 23 - The final stockpile of "declared" chemical weapons is shipped out of the country.
• June 25 - The Syrian Air Force bombs Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant-held towns in Iraq, killing at least 57 civilians.

July

• July 16 - Bashar Assad is sworn in to serve his third seven-year term as President of Syria.

August

• August 4 - The Lebanese Army states that 14 soldiers have been killed and 22 are missing after alleged clashes with Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant fighters on the Syrian border.
• August 19 - American journalist James Wright Foley, kidnapped in 2012, has reportedly been beheaded by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
• August 21 - The Syrian opposition accuses the Syrian army of launching a chemical attack on the Jobar neighborhood of Damascus, killing at least six civilians.
• August 22 - The United Nations estimates that the death toll in Syria has doubled to at least 191,000 in the past year.
• August 27 - Syrian Civil War
  • The UN Human Rights Council issues a report accusing both IS militants and Syrian government forces of committing war crimes in Syria.
• August 28 - Syrian Civil War
  • An unidentified rebel group captures 43 Fijiian peacekeepers on the Golan Heights.
• August 29 - Syrian Civil War
  • The United Nations estimates that three million Syrians live as refugees overseas while another 6.5 million are displaced within Syria, and states that "almost half of all Syrians have now been forced to abandon their homes and flee for their lives".

September

• September 2 - ISIL releases an Internet video showing the beheading of American journalist Steven Sotloff.
• September 10 - In a televised address to the nation, The President of the United States Barack Obama outlines a broad campaign against ISIL. For Syria, the strategy involves airstrikes against ISIL coupled with arming and training Syrian rebels.
• September 23 - The al-Nusra Front claims that its leader Abu Yousef al-Turki was killed in the air strikes.
• September 23 - Israel shoots down a Syrian Air Force Sukhoi Su-24 that had allegedly infiltrated its air space.
• September 25 - More than 20 Syrian rebel groups sign an agreement to unite in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and President Bashar al-Assad's forces.

October–December

See Timeline of the Syrian Civil War (August–December 2014)