A wounded boy cries during treatment at a hospital after being shot by a sniper in Aleppo, Syria, on Friday, September 21.
A Syrian rebel is comforted by a friend as he mourns the death of a comrade at a hospital in Aleppo on Friday.
A Syrian woman prepares to grab a bag of belongings as she stands amid rubble at a house where a child was killed Friday.
Syrian women walk past closed shops in Aleppo on Friday.
Men carry the covered body of a child killed in an attack by Syrian government forces in Aleppo on Friday.
Friday's attack by Syrian forces leaves a hole in a house in Aleppo where a child was killed.
Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad appear in Aleppo's Suleiman al-Halabi neighborhood Thursday, September 20.
Syrian troops look at a map of the Suleiman al-Halabi neighborhood in Aleppo on Thursday.
Damaged buildings and cars are seen in the al-Midan neighborhood of Aleppo after Free Syrian Army fighters and forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad clashed on Thursday.
Fighters and civilians walk past buildings damaged during fighting between rebel and government forces in Aleppo on Thursday.
Syrian rebel fighters in position at a deserted market in Aleppo on Thursday.
Syrian rebel fighters man a checkpoint in Aleppo on Thursday.
Volunteers for the Amr Ibn Al-Aass brigade load their rifles during training on the outskirts of Azaz, in northern Syria, on September 19.
Brigade volunteers run as part of their training on the outskirts of Azaz, in northern Syria, on Wednesday.
Volunteers stand in lines during their training sesssion on Wednesday.
Volunteers train with rifles on the outskirts of Azaz on Wednesday.
Civilians and members of the Free Syrian Army inspect a damaged building in al-Kalaseh neighborhood in Aleppo after an airstrike Wednesday.
People pull out bodies from under the rubble of a destroyed building in Aleppo on Wednesday.
Construction equipment is used at the Aleppo site on Wednesday.
Syrian rebels help a wounded comrade to an Aleppo hospital after he was injured in a Syrian army strike on Tuesday, September 18.
The survivor of a strike by Syrian regime forces arrives at a hospital in the Sheikh Fares district of Aleppo on Tuesday.
A Syrian rebel gestures as he waits to be treated for his wounds at an Aleppo hospital on Tuesday.
A Syrian rebel holds AK-47 rifles belonging to wounded comrades at the entrance to an Aleppo hospital on Tuesday.
Members of a Syrian family cry outside an Aleppo hospital after surviving a strike by Syrian regime forces on Tuesday.
Free Syrian Army rebels use a mirror to scope out a nearby Syrian army outpost in Aleppo's Old City on Sunday, September 16.
![A Free Syrian Army fighter yells "Allahu Akbar!" (Arabic for "God is great!") as he mans a position with his comrades Sunday in Aleppo, Syria's largest city.](https://imageproxy.pixnet.cc/imgproxy?url=https://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/120917102257-syria-mon-4-horizontal-gallery.jpg&width=640&height=360 "A Free Syrian Army fighter yells "Allahu Akbar!" (Arabic for "God is great!") as he mans a position with his comrades Sunday in Aleppo, Syria's largest city.")
A Free Syrian Army fighter yells "Allahu Akbar!" (Arabic for "God is great!") as he mans a position with his comrades Sunday in Aleppo, Syria's largest city.
A Free Syrian Army fighter patrols a street near Aleppo's Old City on Sunday.
A Free Syrian Army rebel checks a Dragunov sniper rifle Sunday near Aleppo.
A Free Syrian Army fighter moves inside an artillery-shelled mosque Sunday in Aleppo.
A Syrian man inspects damage from an air raid by regime forces in Al-Bab, 20 miles northeast of Syria's commercial capital, Aleppo, on Saturday, September 15.
Syrian men sift through the rubble of houses in al-Bab on Saturday.
A wounded Syrian man is taken to a hospital after surviving an air raid by regime forces in Al-Bab on Saturday.
Syrian rebels prepare to fire during clashes with regime forces as they stand near a picture of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used as a mock sniper target in Aleppo on Friday, September 14.
Syrian rebels take position during clashes with regime forces in the northern city of Aleppo on Friday, September 14. Syrian regime forces used fighter jets and helicopter gunships to pound the city and province of Aleppo, where fierce clashes raged around a military airport, monitors said.
A Syrian rebel fires at a position held by regime forces during clashes on Friday in Aleppo.
A Syrian man carrying grocery bags tries to dodge sniper fire as he runs through an alley near a checkpoint manned by the Free Syria Army in Aleppo on Friday.
Fighters with the Free Syria Army regroup at their base in Azaz, a city north of Aleppo, on Thursday, September 13.
Syrian volunteers distribute food to residents Thursday in Aleppo.
A Syrian rebel fighter takes a position in the Saif al-Dawla neighborhood of Aleppo on Wednesday, September 12.
A Syrian rebel fighter patrols the Saif al-Dawla neighborhood on Wednesday.
People inspect the damage in Aleppo's Hananu district after it was shelled heavily in an airstrike on Wednesday, September 12.
Syrian rebel commander Abu Mohammed, far right, listens to reports from fellow fighters at his base in the Old City neighborhood of Aleppo on Wednesday.
Syrian rebels gather around a bucket of mortars while fighting with scarce ammunition in the Saif al-Dawla neighborhood of Aleppo on Wednesday.
Members of Lebanese security forces stand guard after escorting the newly released Aydin Tufan Tekin, a Turkish national abducted by a Lebanese Shiite clan in Beirut, to the Lebanese General Security in Beirut, on Tuesday, September 11. The hostage was a Turkish businessman abducted in mid-August, along with around 20 Syrians, to put pressure on rebels in Syria who had seized one of their kinsmen in Damascus.
A Syrian rebel sniper shoots at forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the Seif al-Dawla area in the embattled northern Syrian city of Aleppo on Monday, September 10.
An armed fighter of the Free Syrian Army stands atop a destroyed Syrian army tank to have his picture taken by a passer-by in the northern Syrian town of Azaz, some 47 kilometers north of Aleppo, on Monday.
People walk past a row of destroyed buildings near the Al-Hayat Hospital in Aleppo on Monday.
A member of the Free Syrian Army enjoys an ice cream on the road from Azaz to Aleppo on Monday.
A house in the Seif al-Dawla area of Aleppo is severely damaged after clashes between rebels and government forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad on Monday.
The bodies of Syrian civilians killed during shelling by forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad are loaded on the back of a pickup truck to be transferred for burial in Aleppo on Sunday, September 9.
A Free Syria Army fighter fires his weapon during heavy clashes with government forces in the Izza neighbourhood of Aleppo on Sunday.
Syrian government forces take position in a residential neighbourhood in Aleppo on Saturday, September 8.
An abandoned pet tortoise walks on the debris of a damaged house in the neighborhood of old Homs on Sunday.
Free Syrian Army fighters battle during street fighting against Syrian government forces on Saturday, September 8, in Aleppo, Syria.
A wounded rebel fighter is helped by fellow fighters during clashes with forces loyal to president Bashar al-Assad in Aleppo on Saturday.
Residents walk down a street covered in rubble in the neighborhood of Bustan al-Basha on Saturday.
A car bomb exploded in Damascus, the Syrian capital , on Friday, September 7. State television said it was the second blast in a day against government targets. No casualties had yet been reported.
Syrian workers remove damaged vehicles from the site where a booby-trapped car exploded in the suburb of Mazzah, Damascus, on Friday. According to media reports, one person was injured in the explosion, which caused material damage to the area.
Civilians stand near a bomb crater after a Syrian air force fighter jet dropped a bomb on Wednesday, September 5, in Azaz, a town north of Aleppo.
Free Syrian Army fighters sleep in a room in Aleppo on Wednesday.
Smoke rises after a Syrian air force fighter jet launched missiles Wednesday at El Edaa district in Aleppo, Syria's largest city.
Rebels carry the body of a fellow fighter after a sniper shot him in Aleppo on Tuesday, September 4.
Im Al-Zinar church shows damage Tuesday in the western city of Homs.
Free Syrian Army fighters take up positions in a shelled out building in the Seif El Dawla neighborhood of Aleppo on Sunday, September 2, as clashes with Syrian government forces continue.
A Free Syrian Army fighter peeks around the corner of a building during a shootout with snipers on a street in the El Amreeyeh neighborhood of Aleppo.
Syrian detainees who were arrested for participation in protests against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime sign their release papers at the Damascus police leadership building Saturday, September 1.
Syrian prisoners wait in line to sign their release papers at the Damascus central police station on Saturday, as the authorities released 158 people from the facility.
Syrian prisoners congratulate each other as they walk out of the Damascus central police station.
A Syrian air force fighter jet launches missiles at El Edaa district in Syria's northwestern city of Aleppo. Nearly 18 months of violence have left thousands dead in Syria.
Smoke rises from the El Edaa district after a Syrian fighter jet dropped missiles.
Civilians carry their belongings and flee the El Edaa district after an airstrike.
Escaping civilians drive through the El Amreeyeh neighborhood in Aleppo.
Free Syrian Army fighters transport explosives on a motorbike in Aleppo on Friday, August 31.
A boy sits at a window spotted with bullet holes at a local bakery.
Children pass a bagged body outside a hospital in Aleppo on Thursday, August 30.
Members of the Syrian opposition carry a wounded man outside a hospital in Aleppo on Thursday, August 30.
A Free Syrian Army fighter walks through a hole in a damaged house on his way to the El Amreeyeh neighborhood frontline during clashes with government forces in Aleppo.
Free Syrian Army fighters take up position during clashes in the El Amreeyeh neighborhood of Aleppo.
Free Syrian Army fighters run for cover after Syrian forces fired a mortar in El Amreeyeh.
A Syrian opposition fighter aims a sniper rifle at government forces in Aleppo on Wednesday, August 29.
Syrian opposition fighters swear an oath for the liberation of Syria in Aleppo on Wednesday.
Free Syrian Army fighters carry a wounded member into a hospital in Aleppo on Tuesday, August 28.
Free Syrian Army rebels dodge fire from Syrian forces as they run down a street in Aleppo on Tuesday.
A rebel fighter takes cover during clashes Tuesday with government forces in Aleppo.
An opposition fighter fires at government forces from a street in Aleppo.
Residents walk past buildings damaged in what activists said was an airstrike by the Syrian air force on Kafranbel, near Idlib.
Doctors treat a wounded girl at a hospital in Aleppo, Syria's largest city, on Tuesday.
Residents look over the bodies of people killed in the violence Tuesday.
Civilians flee the violence from the Damascus suburb of Kafr Batna.
A man reacts as an ambulance arrives with the body of a Free Syrian Army fighter outside a hospital in Aleppo.
A paramedic and another man cover the body of a Free Syrian Army fighter outside a hospital in Aleppo.
Smoke rises in the Damascus suburb of Ain Terma during clashes between Syrian rebels and pro-government forces.
A boy rides a bicycle toward fuel trucks struck by missiles from fighter jets in the Bab al-Nayrab district of Aleppo, Syria, on Monday, August 27.
Fuel tankers smoke and smolder after being struck by missiles in Aleppo on Monday.
Syrian army fighters discuss a new tactic to push the front lines in the Seif El Dawla neighborhood of Aleppo on Monday.
A Free Syrian Army sniper takes his position in Seif El Dawla on Monday.
Men arrested for their involvement in anti-regime protests wait to be released in Damascus on Monday. The official Syrian news agency reported that authorities released 378 people detained for their participation in street protests, adding that those freed were never involved in acts of violence.
Free Syrian Army fighters run for cover in the old city of Aleppo on Monday.
A woman sits in her wheelchair next to her house, damaged by an army air raid, near Homs on Sunday, August 26.
Rebel fighters run for cover during continued clashes with government forces in Aleppo on Saturday, August 25.
Rebel fighters fire in the streets against pro-Syrian government forces.
A street in Aleppo is covered in rubble from heavy fighting between rebels and Syrian government forces.
A picture released by the Syrian Arab News Agency shows Syrian soldiers carrying the body of an alleged rebel fighter in Aleppo.
A handout picture released by SANA shows army soldiers burning a revolution flag in Aleppo.
A rebel fighter communicates to his commanders during ongoing fighting in Aleppo's Mashhad neighborhood.
Residents line up along a street in Aleppo as they wait to receive free bread.
Displaced Syrian familes sit in a shelter at the border with Turkey after fleeing their homes from violence.
A Syrian boy whose family has been displaced due to fighting between rebel fighters and Syrian government forces stands in a field near the border with Turkey.
A boy receives treatment for wounds he received during an airstrike by a regime forces helicopter in Syria's northern city of Aleppo on Friday, August 24. Government forces blitzed areas in and around Syria's largest city, activists said, as Western powers sought to tighten the the reins on embattled President Bashar al-Assad's regime.
A Free Syrian Army fighter takes aim at regime forces during clashes in Aleppo.
A young boy runs across the street during clashes between Free Syrian Army fighters and forces loyal to al-Assad.
A Syrian man reacts outside an operation room as doctors treat his grandchildren after an airstrike by regime forces.
A Syrian boy receives treatment after he was wounded by shells from a government helicopter that hit his house.
Family and friends look for the bodies of a woman and her two daughters killed by an airstrike on Sunday, August 19. See more photos from Ricardo Garcia Vilanova, who has spent a total of about five months covering different parts of Syria since 2011.
People gather around the bodies of an entire family killed by the airstrike the day before on Friday, August 17, in front of a hospital.
Two children are treated for shrapnel wounds at a hospital on Thursday, August 16.
Members of the Free Syrian Army clash with Syrian army soldiers in Aleppo's Saif al-Dawla district on August 22.
A Syrian rebel fighter holds a handmade bomb in the Saif al-Dawla district in the center of Aleppo on August 22.
Syrian rebels run for cover during heavy fighting in the Saif al-Dawla district in the center of Aleppo on August 22.
Members of the Free Syrian Army take up positions as smoke rises in the background during clashes with Syrian army soldiers on August 22.
A member of the Free Syrian Army aims his rifle as he uses doors as a shield on August 22.
Members of the Free Syrian Army take cover during clashes with Syrian Army soldiers on August 22.
A Syrian rebel fires towards a pro-government sniper in the Said al-Dawla district of Aleppo on August 22.
Smoke rises from Aleppo's Saif al-Dawla district after what activists say was shelling by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad on August 21.
Mourning relatives gather at the funeral of a Free Syrian Army fighter killed during heavy fighting in the Salaheddine neighborhood of central Aleppo on August 21.
Syrian rebel fighters stand around a cache of homemade missiles which they say they will use on forces loyal to president Bashar al-Assad in Aleppo on August 21.
The father of Amar Ali Amero, a Free Syrian Army fighter who was reportedly killed by a sniper in the Salaheddine neighborhood of central Aleppo, mourns during his funeral in Azaz, north of Aleppo, on August 21.
People pray during the funeral of the Free Syrian Army fighter, Amar Ali Amero on August 21.
A Member of the Free Syrian Army fires during clashes with Syrian army soldiers in Aleppo's Saif al-Dawla district, on August 20.
A skirmish in the street of Aleppo's Saif al-Dawla district between members of the Free Syrian Army and Syrian army soldiers on August 20.
A man cries near the graves of his two children killed during a recent Syrian Air Force air strike in Azaz on August 20.
Members of the Free Syrian Army prepare their weapons in Aleppo's Saif al-Dawla district on Monday, August 20.
Syrian bakers work in the northern city of Aleppo on Sunday, August 19, the first day of Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.
In this image provided by Syria's national news agency, SANA, President Bashar al-Assad, center, is greeted by a cleric while attending Eid al-Fitr prayers at al-Hamad mosque in Damascus on Sunday, August 19.
Members of the Free Syrian Army and residents try to extinguish a fire that they say was caused by shelling by forces loyal to al-Assad in the Damascus suburb of Saqba on Friday, August 17.
A Free Syrian Army fighter takes aim during clashes in Aleppo on Friday, August 17. For days, the northern Syrian city has been at the center of some of the worst fighting in the 18-month-old conflict.
A rebel fighter makes his way through a hole in a wall during fighting Friday in Aleppo, Syria's largest city.
A rebel climbs some stairs in a building during clashes in central Aleppo's Salaheddine neighborhood.
A rebel fighter runs for cover as a Syrian army tank shell hits a nearby building Friday in Aleppo. The opposition accuses Syrian forces of shelling flashpoint neighborhoods in Aleppo where rebels are making a stand.
Free Syrian Army fighters dress a mannequin to look like a fighter to draw gunfire away from them Friday in Aleppo.
Free Syrian Army fighters rest Friday in Aleppo during a lull in fighting.
A fighter with the rebel Free Syrian Army secures a street Friday in the Damascus suburb of Saqba. Fighting raged unabated Friday across Syria, while diplomats struggled to find a political solution.
Members of the Free Syrian Army try to secure a street Friday in Saqba.
The Free Syrian Army takes charge of a street in Saqba.
A rebel holds a rocket-propelled grenade Friday in the Damascus suburb.
A Free Syrian Army fighter fires an anti-aircraft gun at a Syrian air force helicopter in Aleppo on Thursday, August 16.
Free Syrian Army fighters carry the body of a fellow fighter during clashes Thursday in Aleppo. Government forces are pounding Syria's largest city in a siege that's become the focal point of the civil war.
A grief-stricken woman clutches her dead baby while her husband's body is covered up following a regime airstrike on Azaz, a town near Aleppo, on Wednesday, August 15.
Syrians search for people trapped under the rubble after the airstrike Wednesday in Azaz, near Aleppo.
A man removes his belongings from his destroyed car at the airstrike site.
A Free Syrian Army fighter fires an AK-47 rifle in Aleppo on Wednesday, August 15.
Syrians carry the body of a woman after an airstrike in Azaaz.
A Syrian man reacts after an airstrike in Azaaz.
Syrians flee Azaaz following the airstrike.
A Syrian youth holds the arm of someone trapped under rubble after an airstrike in the town of Azaaz, on the outskirts of Aleppo.
Black smoke billows into the air after a bomb exploded at a military site car park near a hotel used by United Nations monitors in Damascus. The explosion Wedesday wounded three people, Syrian state television said.
Firefighters work at the scene of a bomb explosion in central Damascus. The bomb was planted under a diesel tanker.
A man carries the body of a boy after a Syrian Air Force strike on Azaz, some 29 miles north of Aleppo.
A man sits in front of tombstone workshop in Aleppo.
Jordanian security guards patrol the entrance of the Zaatari refugee camp, located outside the northern Mafraq, Jordan, which borders Syria. Refugees face the hardships of sweltering heat, dust, lack of electricity and at times sexual harassment in this UN-run desert tent camp.
Jordanian security officers detain a Syrian man after he tried to escape from the Zaatari refugee camp in Mafraq.
A Free Syrian Army fighter learns that his commander has been killed by a tank shell in Aleppo on Tuesday, August 14. Opposition activists say shelling in dissident strongholds has exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in the country.
Free Syrian Army fighters look at the body of their commander killed by a tank shell Tuesday in Aleppo.
A Free Syrian Army fighter fires his rifle in Aleppo on Tuesday.
Syrian rebels fire toward a sniper in Aleppo on Monday, August 13, as fighting continues against Syrian government forces.
A rebel fighter fires at government forces Monday in Aleppo's Salaheddin neighborhood.
A Syrian rebel climbs a staircase in Aleppo's Salaheddin district as the opposition battles the regime.
A man gives bags of bread to customers at a bakery run by the opposition Free Syrian Army in Aleppo, Syria's largest city.
Rebels covered in dust and debris emerge from a building hit by an army tank shell Monday in Aleppo's Salaheddin area.
A rebel fighter gestures toward others after emerging from a shelled building during fighting Monday with government forces.
A Free Syrian Army sniper looks through the sight on his rifle from a house in Aleppo on Monday.
Rebel fighters sit behind a barricade of rocks on an Aleppo street.
Free Syrian Army fighters walk down a debris-covered street Monday in central Aleppo's Salaheddine neighborhood.
A Free Syrian Army fighter fires an RPG as a Syrian army tank shell hits a building across a street during heavy fighting in central Aleppo on Saturday, August 11.
A Free Syrian Army fighter sits on a window sill as he holds an AK-47 rifle in central Aleppo.
A Free Syrian Army fighter aims his rifle during heavy fighting in the Salaheddine neighborhood.
A Free Syrian Army fighter fires an RPG after a Syrian army tank shell hit a building during heavy fighting in the Salaheddine neighborhood.
A Free Syrian Army fighter tries to fix his jammed rifle during heavy fighting in the Salaheddine neighborhood.
A Free Syrian Army fighter runs for cover during heavy fighting in the Salaheddine neighborhood.
Free Syrian Army fighters walk through a damaged building during heavy fighting in the Salaheddine neighborhood.
A Free Syrian Army fighter aims an RPG as he waits for Syrian army tanks in the Salaheddine neighborhood.
A Free Syrian Army fighter walks on an empty street in the Salaheddine neighborhood.
Free Syrian Army members check a confiscated cache of weapons found on a truck that was searched at a checkpoint in Dana.
A rebel fighter fires an anti-aircraft gun during a regime airstrike on Tel Rafat, a village north of Aleppo, on Thursday, August 9. The Syrian government and rebel groups have been battling for control of Aleppo, a key front in the conflict that has morphed into a civil war.
A Syrian air force fighter plane fires during an airstrike Thursday in Tel Rafat, north of Aleppo. Forces loyal to the regime have been shelling Aleppo, Syria's largest city.
A truck burns after apparently being hit by rockets during an airstrike on Tel Rafat.
Men carry the body of a boy killed in an airstrike in the village of Tel Rafat.
A boy's body is uncovered in the rubble of a house demolished during the recent clashes in Tel Rafat.
A man steps on a carpeted image of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Anadan, northwest of Aleppo, on Wednesday, August 8. The fighting has taken a toll on al-Assad's regime, which has been hit by assassinations and political and military defections.
Residents sift through rubble Wednesday searching for bodies under a collapsed house destroyed in an airstrike.
Syrian refugees bathe Wednesday at Al Zaatri U.N. camp in the Mafraq, Jordan, near the border with Syria. The recent shelling has led thousands of residents to flee Syria.
Syrian refugees cook a meal at Al Zaatari camp in Mafraq, Jordan.
A Syrian rebel prepares his weapon as a group of Free Syrian Army fighters head toward the fighting with Syrian Army soldiers in the Salah ad-Din neighborhood of central Aleppo on Sunday, August 5.
Syrians evacuate a civilian wounded in shelling in the northern city of Aleppo on Saturday, August 4. Syria's armed forces pounded Aleppo's rebel-held Salah ad-Din district with air and ground fire as violence also raged in the Shaar and Sukkari districts, according to reporters in the area and a rebel commander.
A vehicle burns as Syrians walk through debris from clashes between Syrian armed forces and rebels in the northern city of Aleppo on Saturday, August 4.
A boy plays on the gun of a destroyed Syrian army tank partially covered in the rubble of the destroyed Azaz mosques, north of the restive city of Aleppo, on Thursday, August 2.
Smoke rises from Al-Safsaf in Homs on Friday, August 3.
A boy plays with an AK-47 rifle owned by his father in Azaz, some 29 miles north of Aleppo on Friday, August 3.
Syrians climb on an abandoned Syrian army tank north of Aleppo on Thursday, August 2.
A man looks at a destroyed Syrian army compound in Azaz, 29 miles north of Aleppo on Friday, August 3.
A Syrian refugee walks at the Al Zaatri refugee camp in the Jordanian city of Mafraq, near the border with Syria, on Friday, August 3.
People and a member of the Free Syrian Army commute on Wednesday, August 1, past a building on the outskirts of Idlib that was hit by rocket fire Tuesday night by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad. Unrest spread across other volatile regions of the country as al-Assad's forces shelled targets and launched raids in and around Damascus, Homs, Daraa and Deir Ezzor.
A woman and child on Wednesday walk through rubble of a building destroyed by shelling from forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Aleppo.
Demonstrators hold an opposition flag during a protest Wednesday against Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus.
Syrian girls on Wednesday walk past a Syrian army tank captured two days earlier by rebel fighters at a checkpoint in the village of Anadan. The strategic checkpoint secures the rebel fighters free movement between the northern city of Aleppo and Turkey.
![Rebel Free Syrian Army fighters capture a policeman who they allege is a "Shabiha" or pro-regime militiaman, on Tuesday, July 31, as the rebels overrun a police station in Aleppo.](https://imageproxy.pixnet.cc/imgproxy?url=https://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/120801085203-syria-8-1-1-horizontal-gallery.jpg&width=640&height=360 "Rebel Free Syrian Army fighters capture a policeman who they allege is a "Shabiha" or pro-regime militiaman, on Tuesday, July 31, as the rebels overrun a police station in Aleppo.")
Rebel Free Syrian Army fighters capture a policeman who they allege is a "Shabiha" or pro-regime militiaman, on Tuesday, July 31, as the rebels overrun a police station in Aleppo.
Rebel fighters load an anti-aircraft machine gun on an armored vehicle in Atareb, east of Syria's second-largest city, Aleppo, on Tuesday, July 31.
Syrian boys run near a building hit by bullets and fire in Atareb.
A member of the Free Syrian Army fires at forces loyal to President Bashar Al-Assad in a district of Aleppo called Salah Edinne on Tuesday.
A member of the Free Syrian Army carries an injured civilian to safety in Aleppo's district of Salah Edinne on Tuesday.
Members of the Free Syrian Army learn that a tank belonging to forces loyal to President Bashar Al-Assad is heading to the area.
A Syrian boy carries bags of bread as people wait outside a bakery near Syria's second-largest city, Aleppo.
A photo released by Syrian Arab News Agency depicts damaged buildings in Homs on Monday, July 30.
A Free Syrian Army fighter takes position Sunday, July 29, in Aleppo as people flee shelling. Intense clashes have been under way for more than a week between the regime and rebels in Aleppo, Syria's commercial and cultural center.
Parts of Syria's largest city saw the fiercest clashes yet in the country's 16-month crisis on Saturday, July 28. About 200,000 people have fled fighting in Aleppo and surrounding areas in the past two days, a U.N. official says.
Fighting leaves vehicles damaged Saturday in the southwestern city of Daraa.
Syrians carry the body of a man allegedly killed in the bombardment of Sukari, southwest of Aleppo, by Syrian regime forces on July 27.
Destruction appears widespread in Homs on Friday, July 27, in a handout photo from the Syrian opposition Shaam News Network.
A Syrian opposition fighter takes aim during clashes with forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad in Aleppo on Wednesday, July 25.
Family and friends mourn over the body of Usame Mircan, who they say was killed by a Syrian government sniper in Aleppo on Wednesday.
Usame Mircan's mother grieves after he was killed during fighting in Aleppo.
The bodies of men killed during clashes between Syrian rebel fighters and goverment forces lie on the Aleppo street on Thursday, July 26.
Fighters from the Syrian opposition rest at a former primary school in Aleppo on Wednesday.
Residents take cover as fighters from the Syrian opposition clash with forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad in Aleppo on Wednesday.
Syrian rebels guard a checkpoint in Aleppo on Wednesday.
A damaged portrait of President Bashar al-Assad sits among piles of debris at a checkpoint manned by Syrian rebels in Aleppo on Wednesday.
Syrian rebels drive through Selehattin near Aleppo during clashes with government forces on Monday, July 23.
![A Syrian rebel runs through the streets of Selehattin during an attack on a municipal building. The rebel Free Syrian Army says it is attempting to "liberate" several districts of Aleppo.](https://imageproxy.pixnet.cc/imgproxy?url=https://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/120724102141-syria-aleppo-4-horizontal-gallery.jpg&width=640&height=360 "A Syrian rebel runs through the streets of Selehattin during an attack on a municipal building. The rebel Free Syrian Army says it is attempting to "liberate" several districts of Aleppo.")
A Syrian rebel runs through the streets of Selehattin during an attack on a municipal building. The rebel Free Syrian Army says it is attempting to "liberate" several districts of Aleppo.
Syrian rebels work to find snipers during clashes Monday between the opposition and government forces in Selehattin.
Syrian rebels make their way down a street Monday in Selehattin near Aleppo. If they gain control of Aleppo, it would mark a pivotal point in the Syrian crisis.
Syrian rebels take cover behind sandbags during fighting Monday at the entrance to the city of Selehattin.
On Sunday, July 22, a Syrian refugee looks out from a bus as he arrives at a refugee camp in Turkey opposite the Syrian commercial crossing point Bab al-Hawa.
![Syrian refugees flee from a refugee camp nicknamed "Container City" on the Turkish-Syrian border in Kilis province, southern Turkey, on Sunday.](https://imageproxy.pixnet.cc/imgproxy?url=https://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/120723013205-syria-unrest-17-horizontal-gallery.jpg&width=640&height=360 "Syrian refugees flee from a refugee camp nicknamed "Container City" on the Turkish-Syrian border in Kilis province, southern Turkey, on Sunday.")
Syrian refugees flee from a refugee camp nicknamed "Container City" on the Turkish-Syrian border in Kilis province, southern Turkey, on Sunday.
A mortar shell falls toward the Syrian village of Jbatha Al-khashab, about 45 kilometers (28 miles) south of Damascus. It's seen from the Israeli side of the border, in the Golan Heights.
Smoke from artillery shelling rises above Jbatha Al-khashab.
![An armed Syrian rebel wearing the jersey of FC Barcelona rests with comrades near the northern city of Aleppo on Sunday. The rebel Free Syrian Army announced the start of the battle to "liberate" Aleppo, Syria's commercial hub and a traditional bastion of President Bashar al-Assad's regime.](https://imageproxy.pixnet.cc/imgproxy?url=https://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/120723010503-syria-unrest-13-horizontal-gallery.jpg&width=640&height=360 "An armed Syrian rebel wearing the jersey of FC Barcelona rests with comrades near the northern city of Aleppo on Sunday. The rebel Free Syrian Army announced the start of the battle to "liberate" Aleppo, Syria's commercial hub and a traditional bastion of President Bashar al-Assad's regime.")
An armed Syrian rebel wearing the jersey of FC Barcelona rests with comrades near the northern city of Aleppo on Sunday. The rebel Free Syrian Army announced the start of the battle to "liberate" Aleppo, Syria's commercial hub and a traditional bastion of President Bashar al-Assad's regime.
A Free Syrian Army soldier rips a portrait of President Bashar al-Assad at the Bab Al-Salam border crossing to Turkey on Sunday.
Dozens of Turkish truck drivers on Saturday, July 21, accused Free Syrian Army rebels of having burned and looted their lorries as they captured Syria's Bab al-Hawa post, near Aleppo, from government troops.
In this photo released by the Shaam News Network, a truck burns after shelling in the Erbeen suburb of Damascus on Saturday, July 21.
Refugees fleeing the violence in Syria arrive by bus in Baghdad, Iraq, on Saturday.
Turkish soldiers stand guard at the Cilvegozu border gate in Reyhanly that connects to Syria's Bab al-Hawa post. An estimated 120,000 people have fled Syria to Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan.
Burned-out trucks at the Bab al-Hawa Syrian border post with Turkey on Friday, July 20. Syrian rebels seized control of the post after a fierce battle with Syrian troops, an AFP photographer at the scene reported.
![Syrian soldiers celebrate in the al-Midan area in Damascus on Friday. Syrian regime forces routed rebel fighters from the Damascus neighbourhood of Midan, Syrian state television reported, saying troops had "cleaned" the district of "terrorists."](https://imageproxy.pixnet.cc/imgproxy?url=https://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/120720085538-syria-unrest-06-horizontal-gallery.jpg&width=640&height=360 "Syrian soldiers celebrate in the al-Midan area in Damascus on Friday. Syrian regime forces routed rebel fighters from the Damascus neighbourhood of Midan, Syrian state television reported, saying troops had "cleaned" the district of "terrorists."")
Syrian soldiers celebrate in the al-Midan area in Damascus on Friday. Syrian regime forces routed rebel fighters from the Damascus neighbourhood of Midan, Syrian state television reported, saying troops had "cleaned" the district of "terrorists."
Journalists are shown a dead body on a government tour of the al-Midan area in Damascus on Friday.
Members of Syria security forces rest in the al-Midan area in Damascus on Friday.
Syrian army soldiers hang their national flag in a partially destroyed neighborhood in the al-Midan area in Damascus.
Smoke hangs in the air in a partially destroyed neighborhood in the al-Midan area in Damascus.
Members of Syria security forces pose for photographers in the al-Midan area in Damascus after driving out the rebel fighters.
Syrian residents take goods from a truck that rebels captured at the Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey on Friday.
A picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency on July 19 shows Syrian General Fahd al-Freij meeting with President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus after his swearing-in ceremony as defense minister.
A man holds up a picture of President Bashar al-Assad at a former police station in Atareb after clashes between Syrian soldiers and Free Syrain Army near Aleppo on Thursday, July 19. Rebels seized control of border crossings with Iraq on Thursday, dealing a new blow to al-Assad, as China and Russia dismayed the West by blocking U.N. action against his regime.
People walk along the street in Atareb amidst damage caused by clashed between Syrian soldiers and the Free Syrian Army.
A Syrian man checks the former police station of Syrian regime after a clash at Atareb on Thursday.
Smoke ascends from from alleged shelling of the Syrian village of Jebata al-Khashab as seen from the hill village of Buqaata in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights on Thursday.
![The death toll in Syria on July 12 reached 287, making it the bloodiest day in Syria since the uprising began. As it has done consistently, Syrian state television blamed "armed terrorist groups" for the killings.](https://imageproxy.pixnet.cc/imgproxy?url=https://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/120716083055-syria-unrest-07-horizontal-gallery.jpg&width=640&height=360 "The death toll in Syria on July 12 reached 287, making it the bloodiest day in Syria since the uprising began. As it has done consistently, Syrian state television blamed "armed terrorist groups" for the killings.")
The death toll in Syria on July 12 reached 287, making it the bloodiest day in Syria since the uprising began. As it has done consistently, Syrian state television blamed "armed terrorist groups" for the killings.
A Syrian woman sits with her grandson outside a damaged building after attacks in the Syrian village of Treimsa on July 13, 2012. More than 200 people were massacred in the town, according to activists.
A Syrian demonstrator holds an opposition flag during a protest in Damascus on July 2, 2012. There have been increasing reports of violence in the Syrian capital.
![Syria's President Bashar al-Assad waves as he arrives for a speech to Syria's parliament in Damascus on June 3, 2012. The embattled president denied that government forces were behind the "outrageous" massacre in Houla.](https://imageproxy.pixnet.cc/imgproxy?url=https://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/120716085609-syria-unrest-15-horizontal-gallery.jpg&width=640&height=360 "Syria's President Bashar al-Assad waves as he arrives for a speech to Syria's parliament in Damascus on June 3, 2012. The embattled president denied that government forces were behind the "outrageous" massacre in Houla.")
Syria's President Bashar al-Assad waves as he arrives for a speech to Syria's parliament in Damascus on June 3, 2012. The embattled president denied that government forces were behind the "outrageous" massacre in Houla.
People gather at a mass burial on May 26, 2012 for victims reportedly killed during an artillery barrage from Syrian forces in Houla. The attack left at least 108 people dead, including nearly 50 children, according to the United Nations.
Members of the Free Syrian Army return to Qusayr on May 12, 2012 after an attack on Syrian regime forces in the village of Nizareer, near the Lebanese border in Homs.
A U.N. observer speaks with Syrian rebels and civilians in the village of Azzara on May 4, 2012, days before the country's parlianemtary polls were held against a backdrop of unrest.
Thousands of Syrians wave their national flag and hold portraits of President Bashar al-Assad and Lebanon's Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, right, during a rally to show support for their leader on March 29, 2012 in Damascus.
Syrian rebel fighters man a checkpoint leading into the town of Taftanaz in the rebel stronghold province of Idlib on March 20, 2012.
A Free Syrian Army rebel mounts his steed in the Al-Shatouria village near the Turkish border in northwestern Syria on March 16, 2012, a year after the uprising began. The Free Syrian Army is an armed opposition group made up largely of military defectors.
Syrian refugees walk across a field before crossing into Turkey on March 14, 2012. International mediator Kofi Annan called for an immediate halt to the killing of civilians in Syria as he arrived in Turkey for talks on the crisis.
A day after the twin suicide bombings, Syrian mourners pray over the coffins of the 44 people killed during a mass funeral in Damascus.
A Syrian man who was wounded in a suicide attack rests at a hospital in Damascus on December 23, 2011. Suicide bombers hit two security service bases in the Syrian capital, killing dozens of people.
Arab foreign ministers attend an emergency meeting at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo on October 16, 2011, to discuss the crisis in Syria.
![U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks to the media in Washington on August 18, 2011. Clinton said U.S. sanctions on Syrian oil "strike at the heart of the Syrian regime."](https://imageproxy.pixnet.cc/imgproxy?url=https://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/120716080432-syria-unrest-03-horizontal-gallery.jpg&width=640&height=360 "U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks to the media in Washington on August 18, 2011. Clinton said U.S. sanctions on Syrian oil "strike at the heart of the Syrian regime."")
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks to the media in Washington on August 18, 2011. Clinton said U.S. sanctions on Syrian oil "strike at the heart of the Syrian regime."
![Syrian youths wave national flags while army troops drive out of Daraa on May 5, 2011. During a week-long military lockdown of the town, dozens of people were reportedly killed in what activists described as "indiscriminate" shelling on the city.](https://imageproxy.pixnet.cc/imgproxy?url=https://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/120716080702-syria-unrest-02-horizontal-gallery.jpg&width=640&height=360 "Syrian youths wave national flags while army troops drive out of Daraa on May 5, 2011. During a week-long military lockdown of the town, dozens of people were reportedly killed in what activists described as "indiscriminate" shelling on the city.")
Syrian youths wave national flags while army troops drive out of Daraa on May 5, 2011. During a week-long military lockdown of the town, dozens of people were reportedly killed in what activists described as "indiscriminate" shelling on the city.
Syrians in Damascus protest in the street on March 25, 2011, after clashes with government forces in Daraa left several dead.
Supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad rally on April 1 in Istanbul, Turkey, as delegates from dozens of countries gather to push for ways to end the deadly violence in Syria. The United Nations estimates more than 10,000 people have been killed since the beginning of the crisis in March 2011. The conflict is now being labeled a civil war by the International Committee of the Red Cross.
- Syrian novelist goes undercover to document opposition's stories
- She's Alawite and was disowned by her family for speaking out against regime
- Samar Yazbek's story is chronicled in her new book, "A Woman in the Crossfire"
- "This regime ... they are monstrous people," she says
(CNN) -- By the time the officer slapped her across the face, she already felt dead.
I'm not getting up. Let him do what he wants.
Samar Yazbek, a woman lauded as one of Syria's most gifted novelists, had fallen to her knees. She was a lump of snot and blood, girding herself for the next blow.
Syrian novelist Samar Yazbek risked it all to stay in her country and document the opposition's stories.
"Well, well, well, what a hero," the officer laughed. "You went down with just one slap. Isn't it awful when such an angelic face gets hit?"
He spat on her and cursed. Her ears rang.
"Get up!" he ordered.
She inhaled, pressing her ribcage against a switchblade tucked under her bra. She'd kept it with her everywhere. It was a tiny thing, really, a laughable defense against a sniper that had, just a few weeks before, killed a young man standing not even an inch from her at a protest.
Still, the blade was a comfort. She liked to imagine plunging it into the necks of men like the officer breathing in her face.
"Cat got your tongue?" he sneered. "Your tongue should be torn out."
Did she not understand family and loyalty? he lectured. She was from a prominent Alawite family. They were the same sect as the president. Where was her pride? Why had she written things against Bashar al-Assad on her Facebook page? he demanded. She had brought shame on everyone around her.
The officer reached out again, this time brushing his palm against her cheek. Tauntingly light, this slap was enough. It ignited a rage in her.
She got to her feet and pulled out the knife.
Wild, she pressed the blade against her own heart.
"What do you want!?" she howled.
Shocked, he stepped back.
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"Put the knife down, you lunatic," he said, taking a seat behind his desk.
This is the deal we have for you, he explained: Go on Syrian state TV. Use that famous, pretty face, your prestige as a novelist and noted screenwriter, and pledge allegiance to al-Assad.
No way, she said.
The officer's phone rang, and he walked away to take it.
"This is your last warning," he told her.
A few beats later, two muscled men, both in regular clothes, walked in. They blindfolded her.
"Where are you taking me?!" she shouted.
"Just a short trip," one answered. "So you'll write better."
Disowned
That was a single day of the almost 100 that Samar Yazbek spent defying people ready and willing to end her last year. She recounts it in great detail in her new memoir, "A Woman Caught in the Crossfire: Diaries of the Syrian Revolution."
The 42-year-old writer is a very unlikely revolutionary, certainly an unexpected presence among the Free Syrian Army. Yazbek is the odd branch on her family tree. Her family is prominent in Syria. She's even distantly related to Osama bin Laden.
Throughout much of her life, she moved in a rarefied world. An intellectual, she's been lauded for her poetry, acclaimed fiction and screenwriting. She even hosted a daily television talk show.
Yazbek was part of a community of creative Syrians who, for years, loathed President Bashar al-Assad and his father, Hafez, who took control in 1970. Yet those artists, if they wanted their work to be seen, had to submit to government censorship committees. Either that, or most likely, their work would not be seen.
So when al-Assad's forces began cracking down on anti-government protesters last year, some of those artists moved to Beirut or some other nearby cosmopolitan city.
Who could have known that the months of street violence would have become an all-out horror movie in 2012?
Yazbek couldn't have seen it coming. Like that young man standing next to her at a rally.
"We were at a peaceful protest, standing and suddenly bullets were fired from a sniper, killing a guy -- he was not even one centimeter from me," Yazbek explained through an Arabic translator in a recent CNN interview.
The crowd dissolved into chaos.
"This was my first experience seeing a man getting killed," she remembered, her voice faint. "It was very painful. I carried him in my arms.
"These protesters (were unarmed)," Yazbek said. "They were carrying roses.
"This regime ... they are monstrous people."
Rather than scare her, the experience emboldened Yazbek. She felt she had a job she could and must do: document.
She began to travel around Syria, usually obscuring her face with a headscarf. With the help of brave drivers and friends who risked their own lives, she made it into villages shelled half to oblivion. In one, she hunkered down with the men fighting in the Free Syrian Army. They ate together as bombs exploded nearby.
As we were sitting out on the balcony overlooking an olive orchard, the bombs started falling all around us. Nearby, the town of Taftanaz was being shelled; we could see it from the balcony. I asked the head of the division, who'd prepared dinner for us, "Aren't you afraid that a bomb might fall on your heads right now?" He replied: "We aren't afraid. Death has become a part of our lives."
'No to Death, Yes to Life'
"Crossfire" is a diary of the first few months of the uprising, from March 25 to July 9, 2011, containing interviews with people fighting the regime and innocents caught in the middle.
The reader watches brave women in Damascus who keep hold of signs, "No to Death, Yes to Life" while male security officers attack them. They listen in on conversations among Alawite who meet, in secret, at a friend's home to sing and post anti-al-Assad songs online. They hear the story of a journalist who was in hiding, afraid the regime will punish him for documenting protests and a doctor horrified by not having enough space to store so many dead bodies.
A volunteer in the security forces tells Yazbek that during a siege in Jisr al-Shughur near Aleppo, he got confused about who the enemy was.
"I no longer knew what I was supposed to do. Suddenly I was along amidst the rubble and I started running, trying to hide my identity," he said.
He tried to disappear down an alleyway, but panicked when he saw a man holding a bag walking toward him. As the man got closer, it was clear there was food in the bag.
The man, afraid too, asked, "Are you with security?"
The officer said he was and waited to be killed.
Instead, the man took the officer to his home, hid him and later drove the volunteer officer at a secure location.
"We aren't animals," the man explained, "and I know you're not a killer."
Dear traitor
"Crossfire" is also the novelist's scrapbook. It's heavy and horrible, like so much related to the war. But the book also reminds that Syria is -- was -- utterly beautiful. Yazbek takes us to its mountains. We can smell its lemon trees and ride along its country roads.
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We're with her as she swoops a child into her arms who was instantly orphaned at a protest. The child's parents were yanked into a bus and driven off by security forces. The boy, as she and others ran, somehow got away from her and disappeared into the chaotic crowd. The regime claims that "terrorists" are to blame.
Then there was the bare-chested teenager. Among his friends, protesting, he'd stood in front of security forces and ripped his shirt off. He puffed his chest out in defiance, a witness told Yazbek, and was shot.
The boy might not have been older than her own daughter, 17, in 2011. Yazbek had lived in Damascus as a single mom for 15 years. She got on fine. She did it. Her family was a strength.
But publicly speaking in support of those who want al-Assad gone, her family has disowned her.
A childhood friend texted her: Dear traitor even god's with the president and you're still lost
Leaflets were scattered near her home calling her a traitor and urging people to assassinate her. Government websites posted fake, damning stories about her. One story alleged she had a relationship with American agents.
Her Facebook page, on which she wrote support for the opposition, was hacked. Someone left a post that her daughter was in danger.
She answered her phone and heard: "If you don't disappear, Samar Yazbek, I'll make you disappear from the face of the Earth."
Sleep stopped. Xanax helped knock her out, at least for a few hours at a time.
"The murderers will soon fall asleep," she writes, "and we'll remain the guardians of anxiety."
The intimidation tour
Yazbek was arrested so many times, the violation became almost routine. She went with them usually. They bothered to knock on her door. They won't kill me, she began to believe. She was too well-known. It wouldn't be worth the trouble.
But that day in May 2011, she was slapped over and over again. She pulled her switchblade and the hulking men came in to blindfold her.
Just a short trip. So you'll write better.
They dragged her from the officer's room, down a set of narrow stairs, into a pitch-black corridor.
"A faint light seeped in; I didn't know it was from a hole in the ceiling but it produced dim lines of visibility that allowed me to see young men ...their tender young bodies clear under all the blood, their hands hanging from metal clamps, and the tips of their toes just barely touching the ground.
"Blood coursed down their bodies: fresh blood, dried blood, deep wounds carved all over them, like the strokes of an abstract painter. Their faces hung downwards, in a state of unconsciousness, swinging there like sides of beef." One of the prisoners turned in her direction. His nose was gone and eyes swollen shut.
Horrified, she lost her footing.
"C'mon, man," one guard said. "She couldn't handle a single slap!"
"She'd just die," the other said, "if we gave her the tire!"
So they gave her the tour. It's likely Yazbek was in one of several places designed for torture that Human Rights Watch reported in July had been set up around the country.
When the men finally pulled her back into the officer's room, she vomited and passed out.
Eventually, she left, and staggered home, in a daze.
"I wasn't the person I had been before," she writes. "I observed myself ... a woman caught somewhere between life and death. I saw her toss her keys on the table and then light up her cigarette. The woman closed her eyes and put the blindfold back on, as though she were on stage, and those image of the mutilated bodies returned."
A mother and daughter
Yazbek was born in 1970, the year Hafez Assad took control of Syria in a coup. Pictures of Hafez, and later his son -- their matching sloping chins and thin-mustaches -- wallpapered Syria. Grocery stores, restaurants, schools. Yazbek and her classmates would have to sing songs every day praising the president.
"It's like he was God, and he controlled our lives," she told CNN.
I wasn't the person I had been before. I observed myself ... a woman caught somewhere between life and death.
Samar Yazbek, "A Woman Caught in the Crossfire: Diaries of the Syrian Revolution."
When she was a teenager, she became conscious that her friends were disappearing because they had given some lip at some point that the regime didn't like. You could be jailed for saying something against the regime, she said, and the mukhabarat, or secret police, had ears everywhere.
Bashar al-Assad, a trained eye doctor, took control of the presidency in 2000 when his father died. He was rubber-stamped into power by parliament.
Yazbek's own daughter was just a little girl then.
Yazbek divorced her husband when her daughter was 2 and moved to Damascus. A single mom, Yazbek didn't exactly have an easy go. She dealt with traditionalists, conservatives, people who judged her. But Damascus was also becoming increasing modern.
The global arts community lavished praise on the capital and the reform-promising al-Assad and his British-born wife. Asma al-Assad.
Yazbek is careful not to give details about her daughter (her name is not included in the book), but the girl does make heartbreaking cameos -- mostly fights with her mother. The girl pleaded with her mother to stop going to protests.
Yazbek writes about one of their fights:
She tells me impatiently, 'They're going to kill you. In the village, they said they're going to kill you. Everybody's saying that, everybody's cursing you and insulting you, and in Jableh (Yazbek's hometown) they were handing out flyers accusing you of treason!'"
I fall silent and I go to my room and cry. I don't want her to see my tears, even as she continues yelling.
The teen begged her mother to do what the security forces kept asking her to do -- go on television and say she supports the regime.
"I won't do it!" Yazbek snapped.
"And I won't leave with you," her daughter cried.
Yazbek heard her daughter stomped to her room, scream and break things.
"I would be wracked with crying fits in the middle of the night ... the images ...(of) my daughter with her throat slit from ear to ear and bathed in strange colours flickered in front of my eyes as I awoke," she writes.
From a distance
Yazbek says now her daughter has come around. She sees clearer what her mother felt she had to do.
"There were a lot of incidents that she did not understand and she would feel angry about how her life has changed," she answered. "She has read (my book), and (she) changed. I believe she is proud now. She is standing by me."
Yazbek and her daughter now live in Europe. She did not want to leave Syria. But so many friends, even those with an ear close to al-Assad, told her to get out. Luck could only last for so long. She'd done what she could.
It had to be about her daughter, their survival together.
It's so easy for outsiders to say -- Well, just leave. It's more complicated than that.
To leave your country is to give up part of your identity.
"It means shedding my skin," she writes, "casting away my heart and everything I ever wanted to do."
Over the past several months, Yazbek has adjusted to her new city, and her daughter is making friends. But the grotesque footage is always on the news, and she watches it. Of course, her anxiety is still there.
She still cannot sleep.
When asked about her family, she politely says she doesn't want to talk about them, not out of anger but concern for their safety.
Sometimes she talks to her friends in Syria. She doesn't feel watched now, but she knows they cannot say the same.
From this new distance, she has done what she can. She's worked with refugees, especially women, and tried to record their stories.
Does she want to go back, go home?
She lingers a little, then says no.
Will Asma al-Assad take a stand or stand by her man?
CNN's Tracy Doueiry contributed to this report.
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