The battle for Syria: special report

The death toll from Syrian government air strikes on a market in an under-siege area of Damascus passes 100, making it one of the bloodiest attacks of the four-year war.

Human Rights group Amnesty International says that over 160,000 civilians in the Eastern Ghouta region near the Syrian capital have been ‘left to die under siege’.

In the wake of the Tunisia attack, the prime minister and defence secretary call for MPs to consider if Britain should send its warplanes to bomb the self-styled Islamic State group in Syria.

The self-proclaimed Islamic State group is reported to have planted mines and bombs in the ancient city of Palmyra world heritage site – home to some of the world’s best preserved ancient Roman ruins.

Barrel bombs, indiscriminate weapons responsible for the deaths of 11,000 civilians in the Syrian civil war, are the increasing weapons of choice of the Assad regime.

Islamic State fighters are reported to have seized the last border crossing between Syria and Iraq, in the latest advance by the jihadist group against Bashar al-Assad’s struggling military.

Concerns are raised over the fate of ancient monuments in the Syrian city of Palmyra – but the victory by the Islamic State group is first and foremost a strategic one.

Islamic State militants group claim they are in control of all of the Syrian city of Palmyra, home to one of the world’s most important heritage sites, vowing to destroy its priceless treasures.

Islamic State fighters take control of large parts of the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus – a sign that the brutal jihadi group’s is trying to open a new front in the Syrian capital.

Syrian rebels, including the al-Qaeda linked al-Nusrah Front, claim to have seized control of Idlib – capital of Syria’s northwestern province.

Four years of civil war have plunged the country in to darkness – with new analysis of satellite imagery showing that 83 per cent of lights in the country have gone out.