The following is a timeline of the Syrian Civil War from January to April 2013. Information about aggregated casualty counts is found at Casualties of the Syrian Civil War.
January 2013
1 January According to Lakhdar Brahimi, a United Nations-Arab League envoy, he told news reporters in Cairo, Egypt that the number of people killed could reach to 100,000, which would mean that 2013 would be the deadliest year of the war thus far.
On New Year's Day, Aleppo International Airport shut down due to rebel attacks.
An anonymous Syrian student at the West Virginia University College of Law in Morgantown, West Virginia and his mother gained asylum in the United States, with assistance from the university. They had both originally hoped to return to Syria.
The LCC reported 136 people killed, including 44 in Hama and 42 in the Damascus suburbs.
Approximately forty individuals, including a Syrian Army General, three colonels, several officers and their families defected to Turkey via Reyhanlı, Hatay province, where they were taken to the Apaydin refugee camp.
It had been reported by the United Nations that the death toll was 60,000 instead of 45,000, though it is unclear how many people have been killed in the war.
The LCC reported 207 people killed, including 141 in the Damascus suburbs, among which 47 were killed when a warplane struck a petrol station in Mleiha. Activist Abu Fouad described at least 30 "burnt or dismembered" bodies. The explosion was triggered by a missile from a MiG fighter.
2 January The United Nations says the estimated death toll from the conflict has surpassed 60,000 people.
3 January According to an activist group in Syria, a car bomb exploded late Thursday in a Damascus gas station in the middle-class Masakin Barzeh neighborhood, killing at least nine people. The pro-government Ikhbariyeh TV claimed "terrorists" had killed at least 30 civilians, though there was no immediate claim of responsibility.
The LCC reported 170 people killed, including 74 in the Damascus suburbs.
The SOHR reported the deaths of over 210 people, including 101 civilians. 52 rebels were killed, including a defected officer. SOHR also reported that 5 "foreign jihadists" were killed in fighting; 2 Libyans, a Palestinian, a Turk and a Saudi. 3 January 2012. Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
The Damascus Suburbs witnessed continued clashes, with 45 civilians and 15 rebels killed.
4 January - Friday of "Homs calls upon the Revolutionaries" NATO began deployment of Patriot missiles as air defence in Turkey. The US European Command batteries were the first to be shipped to Southern Turkey.
The LCC reported 129 people killed, including 70 in the Damascus suburbs.
5 January
Clashes were reported in the eastern Deir Ezzor city around the technical services building that was recently seized by rebels after they killed and injured government soldiers and took several others hostage. More fighting was reported near the Air Force intelligence building in Aleppo, while shelling was reported in the town of Hritan in the city's suburbs. Meanwhile, in the central province of Homs, activists said government forces shelled the rebel-held town of Rastan and the farms surrounding the neighbourhood of Bab Amr in Homs city. − − The LCC reported 79 people killed, including 35 in the Damascus suburbs. CNN has reported that the Free Syrian Army have taken control of 70% of the Taftanaz heliport
6 January Israel announced it would be building a five-meter-high fence on the Israel-Syria border.
The LCC reported 101 people killed, including 28 in the Damascus suburbs.
7 January The LCC reported 72 people killed, including 29 in Aleppo and 26 in the Damascus suburbs.
8 January A riot broke out at a Syrian refugee camp in Zaatari, Jordan.
The LCC reported that 118 civilians were killed by the end of the day, including 35 in the Damascus suburbs. The LCC reported that over 70 civilians were executed by the Syrian army in the town of al-Mastumah, south of Idlib city.
9 January Forty-eight Iranians who were kidnapped by Free Syrian Army rebels in the capital Damascus in August 2012 are released in exchange for 2,130 prisoners held by the Syrian government.
Rebels, led by the Al-Nusra Front and Ahrar al-Sham, claimed to capture the Taftanaz airbase and has penetrated the facility, destroying or damaging at least nine helicopters Quân nổi dậy Syria bao vây căn cứ không quân chế độ Assad . Retrieved 2013-06-28.
The LCC reported 92 people killed, including 29 in the Damascus suburbs.
10 January
The LCC reported 46 people killed, including 22 in the Damascus suburbs.
11 January – "Friday of the Death Camps" Source:
Amid reports that his country was turning away Palestinian refugees, Jordanian prime minister Abdullah Ensour stated that accepting refugees would only encourage Israel to deport more people.
The LCC reported 101 people killed, including 40 in the town of al-houl, Hasakah, and 17 in Aleppo.
13 January Syrian fighter jets bombed areas held by rebels in the suburbs of Damascus. At least 36 people were killed, including 14 children.
The LCC reported 141 people killed, including 51 in the Damascus suburbs.
14 January At least 57 countries submit a petition to the UN Security Council, calling on it to refer the conflict to the International Criminal Court for a pending war crimes investigation.
The LCC reported 151 people killed, including 74 in the Damascus suburbs.
15 January
Two explosions ripped in front of the campus of Aleppo University killing 52 and injuring 150. The dead included university students and civilians staying in the university dormitories after being displaced by fighting. Opposition fighters and the Syrian Government are blaming each other for the incident. The death toll later rose to 87.
The LCC reported 237 people killed, including about 100 in Aleppo and 65 in Homs and Houla.
16 January Massacre in the village of Haswiya in central Syria. SOHR held pro-Assad forces responsible,. 17 January 2012. Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Retrieved 17 January 2012. while an ITV News reporter said that some locals had blamed jihadist, particularly Jabhat al-Nusra fighters, but that it was impossible for him to attribute any definite responsibility from what he had seen and heard. Bill Neely: "I didn't see any rebel gunmen. I saw dozens of Syrian troops. They were reluctant to let us go very far into the village because they said there were snipers. Exactly what happened I can't prove."
Three simultaneous car bombs have killed at least 24 people from Idlib province.Coordinated car bombs kill 24 in northwest Syria 16 January 2013 A leaked US State Department cable indicates that on 23 December 2012 the Syrian government used a form of nerve gas in an attack on Homs city, which lead to 5 deaths. Tear Gas has been ruled out as the cause. Agent 15 is believed to have been used.
The LCC reported 183 people killed, including 50 in the Damascus suburbs.
17 January Basatin al-Hasawiya massacre: According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, 106 people were massacred by pro-government forces in the Basatin al-Hasawiya district of Homs, including children.
Head of the Federation of Syrian Chambers of Industry, Fares Shihabi, accused Turkish government of involvement in stealing of equipment from numerous factories in the area of Aleppo. The allegations were reported in letters to the Chairman of the UN Security Council and the UN Secretary General, stating that the robberies had been done with full knowledge of Turkish government. The LCC reported 159 people killed, including 96 in the Damascus suburbs.
18 January - Friday of "Aleppo University; Martyrdom Engineering" Source:
Fierce clashes raged between Kurds and Islamists in the city of Ras al-Ain and SOHR confirmed the killing of Yves Debay, a Belgian-French journalist in Aleppo, allegedly by a government sniper. A second journalist, Mohammed Hourani, has been killed by a government sniper in Daraa province while working for Al Jazeera, he was shot three times.
The LCC reported people killed, including 75 in the Damascus suburbs.
19 January A defected Syrian pilot carried out airstrikes on positions of the Syrian government forces in an area outside Damascus, the opposition military command in the Damascus claimed. The LCC reported 136 people killed, including 47 in the Damascus suburbs.
20 January
The LCC reported 132 people killed, including 50 in the Damascus suburbs.
21 January
The LCC reported 110 people killed, including 31 in Aleppo and 26 in the Damascus suburbs.
22 January The Russian government has announced that it is sending two planes to evacuate approximately 100 Russian citizens from Syria. Russia is also carrying out its largest naval exercises since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 off the Syrian coast and in the surrounding Mediterranean and Black Seas.
The LCC reported 164 people killed, including 71 in the Damascus suburbs.
23 January 77 Russian citizens have left Syria, however Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov denied that Russia has any plans for a mass evacuation of its citizens from Syria. Only approximately 1000 Russians in Syria have contacted the embassy to ask about leaving Syria.
The LCC reported 146 people killed, including 74 in Aleppo and 23 in the Damascus suburbs.
24 January Jordan says 20,000 refugees have fled from Syria to Jordan in the past 7 days.
The LCC reported 116 people killed, including 42 in the Damascus suburbs.
25 January
The LCC reported 117 people killed, including 31 in the Damascus suburbs.
26 January The LCC reported 129 people killed, including 44 in Aleppo and 40 in the Damascus suburbs.
27 January Israeli Defense Force has deployed its Iron Dome system to its northern border with Syria. This follows an announcement in early January that the IDF would build a security fence along its border with Syria. Israel is also considering the possibility of pre-emptive strike to prevent Syrian chemical weapon stockpiles falling into the hands of Hezbollah. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev is quoted as saying "I think that with every day, every week and every month the chances of his (Assad's) preservation are getting smaller and smaller,". The LCC reported 106 people killed, including 41 in the Damascus suburbs.
28 January The LCC reported 129 people killed, including 33 in the Damascus suburbs.
29 January
At least 80 bodies of young men and boys were found in Quweiq River in Aleppo area. The victims had been executed by a single shot to the head or neck. Their identity remains unknown, and both sides of the conflict accuse each other of the massacre, as the river flows through areas controlled by different opposing groups.
The LCC reported 229 people killed by the Syrian army including 118 in Aleppo among which 80 of them from Bustan al Qusr.
The SOHR reported the deaths of around 230 people; 72 civilians, 73 summarily executed men, 39 rebels and 41 soldiers.. 29 January 2013. Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Retrieved 31 January 2013
30 January US government sources have told Associated Press that they believe a battery of SA-17 were being sent to Hezbollah in the convoy.Russia concern at Israeli 'air strike' on Syria 31 January 2013
The LCC reported 144 people killed, including 42 in the Damascus suburbs.
31 January The LCC reported 105 people killed, including 58 in the Damascus suburbs.
February 2013
Acting on intelligence Syrian army units launched heavy assaults on the outskirts of Damascus. The government claims that it had intelligence that the rebels were about to launch a large scale attack on government institutions in the capital.
The LCC reported 94 people killed, including 34 in the Damascus suburbs.
2 February