Syrians marked the second anniversary of the revolt against President Bashar Assad on Friday, with small protests and vigils inside the war-shattered country and abroad. Since the heady, early days of their uprising, many Syrians opposed to the regime have descended into despair: The civil war has killed an estimated 70,000 people, displaced more than four million and turned neighbor against neighbor.
The country, with a prewar population of 22 million, is now carved up into areas controlled by the regime and others held by rebels. Months of heavy street fighting and aerial bombardment has left entire neighborhoods in ruins.
As the war enters its third year, many Syrians feel a sense of abandonment. Others in the rebel movement think momentum is on their side, believing they're able to declare victory within few months.
Here's a gallery of photos from the Associated Press looking back at the conflict in Syria.
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A Free Syrian Army soldier, right, looks through a mirror that helps him see Syrian troops from the other side, as he takes his position with his comrade during fighting, at the old city of Aleppo city, Syria, Monday, Sept. 24, 2012. AP / Hussein Malla
A defected Syrian policeman, Adnan al-Hamod, 33, lights a kerosene lamp at an underground cave used for shelter from Syrian government forces shelling and airstrikes, at Jirjanaz village, in Idlib province, Syria, Thursday Feb. 28, 2013. AP / Hussein Malla
A Free Syrian Army fighter displays a damaged ordinance in Aleppo, Syria, Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2013. AP / Andoni Lubaki
Syrian rebels attend a training session in Maaret Ikhwan, near Idlib, Syria, Monday, Dec. 17, 2012. AP / Muhammed Muheisen
People help a wounded Free Syrian Army fighter during heavy clashes with government forces at a military academy besieged by rebels north of Aleppo, Syria, on Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012. AP / Narciso Contreras
Motorists drive past damaged buildings in Aleppo, Syria, Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2012. AP / Narciso Contreras
A Syrian family who fled from the violence in their village, sit in a tent at a displaced camp, in the Syrian village of Atma, near the Turkish border with Syria, Monday, Nov. 5, 2012. AP / Khalil Hamra
A rebel sniper aims at a Syrian army position, seen with another rebel fighter reflected in a mirror, in a residential building in the Jedida district of Aleppo, Syria on Monday, Oct. 29, 2012. AP / Narciso Contreras
Displaced Syrian children play in a refugee camp near Atma, Idlib province, Syria, Friday, Oct. 26, 2012. AP / Manu Brabo
Syrian rebel fighters belonging to the Liwa Al Tawhid unit pose for photo in the Karmal Jabl neighborhood after several days of intense clashes between rebel fighters and the Syrian army in Aleppo, Syria on Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012. AP / Narciso Contreras
A wounded Syrian civilian lies in the street with a shot to his stomach as he tries to escape the line-of-fire after he was targeted by a Syrian army sniper while walking near the frontline in the Bustan al-Qasr neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria, Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012. AP / Narciso Contreras
A man points a flashlight toward the body of a Syrian man killed from Syrian Army shelling at a graveyard in Aleppo, Syria, Saturday, Oct. 13, 2012. AP / Manu Brabo
A Syrian man cries outside the Dar El Shifa hospital in Aleppo, Syria, after his daughter was injured during a Syrian Air Force strike over a school where hundreds of refugees had taken shelter Thursday, Oct. 4, 2012. AP / Manu Brabo
A Syrian man cries while holding the body of his son, killed by the Syrian Army, near Dar El Shifa hospital in Aleppo, Syria, Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2012. AP / Manu Brabo
A Free Syrian Army fighter takes cover in a building during clashes against the Syrian Army in Aleppo, Syria, Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2012. AP / Manu Brabo
A Free Syrian Army fighter runs after attacking a tank with a rocket-propelled grenade during fighting in the Izaa district in Aleppo, Syria, Friday, Sept 7, 2012. AP / Manu Brabo
A Syrian boy, who fled his home with his family due to fighting between the Syrian government troops and the rebels, lies on the ground under a mosquito net as he and his family take refuge at the Bab Al-Salameh border crossing, in hopes of entering one of the refugee camps in Turkey, near the Syrian town of Azaz, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2012. AP / Muhammed Muheisen
Injured Syrian women arrive at a field hospital after an air strike hit their homes in the town of Azaz, on the outskirts of Aleppo, Syria, Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2012. AP / Khalil Hamra
A Syrian man holds bullets he picked from the wall of a damaged house in the town of Atareb, on the outskirts of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Aug. 5, 2012. AP / Khalil Hamra
Free Syrian Army fighters swim in a pool on the outskirts of Aleppo, Syria, Tuesday, June 12, 2012. AP / Anonymous
Birds fly over the destroyed minaret of a mosque in the northern town of Ariha, on the outskirts of Idlib, Syria, Sunday, June 10, 2012. AP / Khalil Hamra
A Syrian rebel stands next to a flaming tire while firing at a Syrian army checkpoint in a suburb of Damascus, Syria, on Saturday, March 17, 2012. AP / STR
The wife of Mohammed Halak slumps in a chair next to his body as she mourns the death of her husband, killed during fighting between Free Syrian Army fighters and the Syrian Army in Idlib, north Syria, Sunday, March 11, 2012. AP / Rodrigo Abd
Free Syrian Army fighters ride a motorbike to approach Syrian Army tanks in Idlib, north Syria, Sunday, March 11, 2012. AP / Rodrigo Abd
Aida cries as she recovers from severe injuries after the Syrian Army shelled her house in Idlib, north Syria, Saturday, March 10, 2012. Aida's husband and two of her children were killed after their home was shelled. AP / Rodrigo Abd
Ahmed, center, mourns his father Abdulaziz Abu Ahmed Khrer, who was killed by a Syrian Army sniper, during his funeral in Idlib, north Syria, Thursday, March 8, 2012. AP / Rodrigo Abd
A woman holds her daughter on the balcony of her building damaged by Syrian Army bombings in central Idlib, north of Syria, Monday, Feb. 27, 2012. AP / Rodrigo Abd
A Free Syrian Army fighter takes a position as the Syrian Army advances toward the town of Sarmin, Syria, Monday, Feb. 27, 2012. AP / Rodrigo Abd
Bullet holes are seen in a window in Tripoli, Lebanon, Saturday, Feb. 11, 2012.
AP / Bilal Hussein
Hamza Mansour, secretary general of the Islamic Action Front, joins Syrians living in Amman, Jordan, for their Ramadan prayers in front of the Syrian embassy, as they call for Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down, Friday, Aug. 26, 2011. AP / Mohammad Hannon
A Syrian refugee boy peers from a tent in a camp in Boynuyogun, Turkey, Tuesday, June 14, 2011. AP / Vadim Ghirda
In this photo provided by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian President Bashar Assad, center top, greets lawmakers before his speech at the Parliament in Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, March 30, 2011. AP / Handout
A supporter of Syrian President Bashar Assad waves a Syrian flag as she looks over a crowd gathered to show support for their president in Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, March 29, 2011. AP / Bassem Tellawi
A Syrian man reacts next to his brother, who was seriously wounded during a violence between security forces and armed groups in Latakia, northwest of Damascus, Syria, on Sunday, March 27, 2011. AP / Hussein Malla
A Syrian municipality worker extinguishes a burned court room that was set on fire by Syrian anti-government protesters, in the southern city of Daraa, Syria, Monday, March 21, 2011. AP / Hussein Malla
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