The following is a timeline of the Syrian Civil War from May to August 2012. The majority of death tolls reported for each day comes from the Local Coordination Committees, an opposition activist group based in Syria, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, another opposition group based in London.
May 2012
1 May The Local Coordination Committees of Syria (LCC) reported 45 people were killed, including 18 in a reported massacre in the Idlib province.
Hervé Ladsous, the United Nations (UN) Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, said that both sides had violated the 12 April ceasefire agreement.
2 May The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that 15 Syrian troops, including two colonels, were killed in an ambush by rebels in the northern province of Aleppo. Two rebel fighters were also killed.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported that government forces had killed at least 95 civilians and demolished hundreds of houses in a two-week offensive in Idlib during ceasefire negotiations. The report documented dozens of extrajudicial executions, killings of civilians, and destruction of civilian property that qualify as war crimes, as well as arbitrary detention and torture by the Syrian government.
30 people were killed across Syria, the LCC reported.
3 May 25 people were reported killed by Syrian security forces, including at least 4 students from Aleppo University. Around 1,500 students had been protesting in student dormitories next to Aleppo university's main campus when security forces and Shabiha attacked them, firing tear gas and live ammunition to disperse the student protesters. 200 students were reportedly detained, and the university announced the suspension of all classes as a consequence of the attack on campus.
The White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said it may be time for the world to acknowledge the cease-fire in Syria is not holding and try a new approach to stopping the violence.
4 May Anti-government protesters took to the streets after Friday prayers, with the largest demonstrations occurring in Aleppo, Damascus, the Idlib and Daara provinces, and Homs and Hama. Syrian forces killed at least 12 people when they fired on demonstrators in Damascus and Aleppo. The LCC reported that 37 people were killed across Syria by the Syrian army.
Amnesty International senior crisis adviser Donatella Rovera, returning from a visit to Idlib, reported that Syrian forces were executing scores of suspected opposition sympathisers in Idlib.
Kofi Annan's spokesman Ahmad Fawzi told reporters in Geneva that the "peace plan is on track". US officials say the plan is failing mainly because of Syrian government violations.
5 May SOHR reported that at least 5 people were killed in a bomb explosion at a car wash in the Al Sukari neighborhood of Aleppo. A member of the Free Syrian Army claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the car wash was used by members of a pro-Assad militia.
Reuters reported that the Syrian army had not withdrawn tanks in Douma in line with 12 April truce agreement.
25 people were killed across Syria, the LCC reported.
6 May The Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) reported that 9 civilians, including a woman and child, were killed by Syrian government forces. In other incidents nationwide there were dozens of casualties as government forces shot randomly at protesters. The Local Coordination Committees of Syria (LCC) reported that 20 people were killed by the Syrian army including 8 bodies found in a mass grave in Idlib and a defected soldier.
7 May The LCC reported 35 people killed, this total including the discovery of a mass grave in Idlib.
8 May The LCC reported 36 people killed.
9 May The LCC reported 20 people killed. Several Syrian soldiers were killed by an ambush from the FSA as well.
10 May At least 55 people were killed and some 372 people injured by two powerful car bomb blasts in Damascus. Opposition groups denied responsibility while Haitham Maleh, a leading opposition figure, blamed the government. Media attention focused on the Al-Nusra Front, a little known jihadi-type group that had previously claimed responsibility for bombings in Damascus and Aleppo. Earlier in the week Maj. Gen. Robert Mood, head of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO), had expressed worries that Syria was rushing into an uncontrollable spiral of sectarian violence and following the latest bombings urged the perpetrators to refrain from violence and let the peace process move forward.
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) condemned the attacks and urged all sides to "immediately and comprehensively" implement the six-point peace plan of UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan. The Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called the bombings the work of "outsiders", alleging that unspecified foreign states shared the blame. The LCC responded by asserting that the Syrian government had orchestrated and masterminded the bombings to bolster the Russian position. The United States Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said that it was too early to call the peace plan a failure. She confirmed that the US was providing logistical and communication support to the Syrian opposition, but had shied away from providing arms.
Elsewhere, the LCC reported that 37 people were killed, including 10 in Homs.
11 May Anti-government protesters took to the streets after Friday prayers, with the largest demonstrations occurring in Aleppo, Damascus, the Idlib and Daara provinces, and Homs and Hama. Syrian forces killed at least 14 people by mid day when they fired on demonstrators in Damascus and Aleppo.
The Al-Nusra Front allegedly claimed responsibility for Thursday's twin bombings in Damascus in a video posted online.
The Al-Nusra Front however denied responsibility, saying the video was a fake and that any information regarding their operations would be announced through Jihadi forums. Al Nusra denied responsibility for the attack.
Two Turkish journalists arrested in March were released following Iranian mediation.
12 May The LCC reported 20 people killed by mid-day.
13 May The LCC reported 30 people killed.
14 May The LCC reported that at least 22 people were killed.
23 soldiers were killed by the FSA when the Syrian army attempted to assault Rastan, Homs Province. The Syrian army also began heavy artillery shelling of Rastan.
15 May At least 21 people were killed when Syrian security forces opened fire on a funeral procession in the central town of Khan Sheikhoun, during the U.N observer visit to the town. A spokesman of the rebel military council gave a higher death toll, saying at least 50 people were killed. During this attack, cars belonging to the U.N team were hit and damaged and no monitors were injured. One monitor and a member of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) said the team of seven observers was with FSA fighters, waiting for a U.N pickup.
The LCC reported that at least 63 people were killed, including 33 in Idlib.
16 May At least 40 people were killed, including 21 summarily executed in the Shammas neighborhood of Homs.
A former state Television producer has told Reuters that many of the "confessions" by alleged terrorists aired by the channel are bogus. She was distressed at what she described as a campaign of misinformation and said "Some of the men are just normal people who were arrested in anti-government demonstrations and others were thieves and criminals who were nearing the end of their sentence," said the producer, "They were told they will be set free if they confess to the made-up crimes."
17 May 34 people were killed. The Syrian army barraged Rastan with artillery fire.
18 May Protesters took to the streets for weekly Friday protests, this time with the biggest protests at any single time in Aleppo. The Salahadin and Shukour neighborhoods saw tens of thousands, and tens of thousands more protested in the other area of Aleppo. Damascus and its suburbs, the Idlib and Daraa provinces, the Homs and Hama provinces, and Latakia and Deir Ezzor also saw large protests. Protesters were shot and killed across the country, including in the Tandamoun area of central Damascus. At least 33 people were killed by security forces by mid-day.
19 May A car bomb at an intelligence complex in the city of Deir al-Zour killed 9 members of the security forces and left 100 injured.
The LCC reported 26 people killed.
20 May During the very early morning the Free Syrian Army (FSA) launched widespread attacks against the Syrian government in Central Damascus. The Kafer Souseh, Mezzeh, Malki, and Ruk al Adn neighborhoods erupted with intense gunfire. Security forces began closing off Umayyad square and absereen square, and blocked of Central Damascus' Al-Shami Hospital. The Free Syrian Army's Damascus council announced that one of their operatives from the FSA's Al Sahabeh battalion had successfully poisoned all eight members of Bashar Assad's Crisis Cell, a group of top military officials who currently run the Syrian army's daily operations. Members of the Crisis cell include the interior and defense ministers, as well as Assef Shawkat. The Free Syrian Army's Damascus council said they believed at least six out of the eight to have been killed. Mohammed Shaar, the interior minister, apparently denied the assassinations by telephone, calling it "categorically baseless". He also denied the gunfire in Damascus which was confirmed by all witnesses.
Adib Habb al-Rumman, the head of Idlib's Jish Shugour's Baath party branch, was assassinated by the FSA, the SOHR reported. The SOHR also made note of increased political and military assassinations by the FSA in recent weeks.
At least 28 people were killed by mid-day in Syria, primarily in the Hama province. Soran, Hama, and Douma, Damascus, came under intense artillery shelling by the Syrian army. By the end of the day more than 60 people were killed nationwide, including 37 civilians in Soran.
21 May 5 civilians, 11 rebels, and 22 soldiers were killed by mid-day. Much of the soldier deaths occurred when the Syrian army attempted to storm Atarib, Aleppo. The LCC reported 33 people killed by the end of day. According to S.O.H.R, 31 soldiers were killed by the end of the day.
22 May An IED exploded in the Damascus neighborhood of Qaboun, killing at least five people.
The LCC reported that at least 25 people killed.
23 May 23 people were killed, including 6 in Homs.
24 May 40 people were killed. 203 soldiers reportedly defected to the opposition, including 3 officers. An FSA officer said that the FSA was now present in all governorates and regions of Syria. A Brigadier General in the Syrian army who had defected to the FSA gave a speech in which he said that a safe zone or international intervention like air strikes was needed to stop what he called the genocide the Syrian army was committing in Syria.
25 May
Protesters took to the streets for weekly Friday protests, amassing in Aleppo, Damascus and its suburbs, Homs, Hama, Qamishli, and the Daraa, Idlib, and Deir Ezzor provinces. Tens of thousands protested in central Aleppo, to which security forces responded with live fire, killing several.