Syria secures birthplace of civil war

Syrian officials on Thursday raised the country’s flag over the southern city of Daraa, where the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad that led to the country’s seven-year civil war began. Syrian state television said officials mounted the flag at the ruins of the city square. Anti-government protests began in the city during the 2011 Arab Spring, and Assad’s government responded with a military crackdown. Ahmad Masalmeh, an activist formerly in Daraa, said many rebels in the city accepted the government’s amnesty offer. Those who refused the deal will face exile, he said. With Daraa secured, the Syrian army will continue to clear the last rebel groups in the country. Estimates of the death toll of the seven-year war vary but average out to between 400,000 and 450,000 people.