On 2 May 2013 , government forces captured the town of Qaysa in a push north from the city 's airport . Troops also retook the Wadi al-Sayeh central district of Homs , driving a wedge between two rebel strongholds . SOHR reported a massacre of over 100 people by the Syrian Army in the coastal town of Al Bayda , Baniyas . However , this could not be independently verified due to movement restrictions on the ground . Yet the multiple video images that residents said they had recorded – particularly of small children , were so shocking that even some government supporters rejected Syrian television 's official version of events , that the army had simply " crushed a number of terrorists . " On 15 June , the Syrian Army captured the Damascus suburb of Ahmadiyeh near the city 's airport . On 22 June , the Syrian Army captured the rebel stronghold town of Talkalakh
a massacre
Bayda and Baniyas massacres
2012–13 escalation of the Syrian Civil War