Syrian rebels take position in a damaged house during clashes with regime forces in Aleppo on Wednesday, May 22. Tensions in Syria first flared in March 2011 during the onset of the Arab Spring, eventually escalating into a civil war that still rages. This gallery contains the most compelling images taken since the start of the conflict. 
Syrian army soldiers take control of the village of Western Dumayna north of the rebel-held city of Qusayr on Monday, May 13. Syrian troops captured three villages in Homs province, allowing them to cut supply lines to rebels inside Qusayr town, a military officer told AFP. 
Syrian troops move into Dumayna on May 13. 
Rebel fighters fire at government forces in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on Sunday, May 12. 
Smoke rises from an explosion in a Syrian village near the Israeli border on Tuesday, May 7. 
Multiple explosions hit a Syrian village near the Israeli border on May 6. 
A photo released by the Syrian Arab News Agency shows destruction from what is said was bomb attack in the Al-Hama area of Damascus on Sunday, May 5. According to the Syrian government, Israel launched an attack on a research center in the Damascus suburbs early Sunday. 
People run for cover after what activists said was shelling by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in Syria's Raqqa province, on May 3. 
People walk past a damaged building and multiple destroyed cars at the site of an explosion in Damascus where at least 13 were killed on April 30. 
Cleaning takes place following another explosion in an upscale Damascus neightborhood on Monday, April 29. Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi survived the bombing targeting his motorcade. 
A smoke cloud rises from shelling on the the al-Turkman mountains in Syria's Latakia province on Thursday, April 25. 
Searchers use a flashlight as they look for survivors among the rubble created by what activists say was a missile attack from the Syrian regime, in Raqqa province, Syria, on April 25. 
A handout photograph from Syria's national news agency SANA shows damage and debris from a mortar attack in the suburb of Jarmana near Damascus, Syria, on Wednesday, April 24. The attack killed seven and wounded more than 25, according to activists and state media. No group claimed responsibility for the mortar fire, which SANA said hit a municipality office and a school building. 
A Kurdish fighter from the "Popular Protection Units" (YPG) takes position inside a building in the majority-Kurdish Sheikh Maqsood area of Aleppo, on Apri. 21. 
People walk past destroyed houses in the northern Syrian town of Azaz on Sunday, April 21. 
Free Syrian Army fighters take positions prior to an offensive against government forces in the Khan al-Assal area, near Aleppo on Saturday, April 20. 
Men inspect damage at a house destroyed in an airstrike in Aleppo on April 15. 
Syrian and Kurdish rebel fighters walk in the Sheikh Maqsud district of Aleppo on April 14. 
A Syrian boy holds an AK-47 assault rifle in the streets of Aleppo on Sunday, April 14. 
A female rebel monitors the movement of Syrian government forces in Aleppo's Sheikh Maqsud neighborhood on April 11. 
A rebel runs to avoid sniper fire from Syrian government forces in Aleppo on Thursday, April 11. 
Syrian rebels observe the movement of Syrian government forces around Al-Kendi hospital in Aleppo on Wednesday, April 10. 
Rescue teams and security forces check out the scene of a deadly car bomb explosion in Damascus on April 8. 
The fighting has taken a toll on buildings in Aleppo's Saladin district, seen here on April 8. 
A Syrian rebel runs for cover in Deir ez-Zor on April 2. 
A rebel checks for snipers across the street toward the Citadel in Aleppo, Syria, on Saturday, March 30, in this photo taken by iReporter Lee Harper. 
A Free Syrian fighter mourns the death of a friend in Aleppo on March 30, in this photo taken by iReporter Lee Harper. 
A Syrian opposition fighter runs for cover from Syrian army snipers in Aleppo on Wednesday, March 27. 
A Syrian girl covers her face to protect herself from fumes as a street covered with uncollected garbage is fumigated in Aleppo on Sunday, March 24. 
A Syrian man and his family drive past damaged buildings in Maarat al-Numan, on Wednesday, March 20. 
Syrians carry the body of a Syrian army soldier during a funeral ceremony in Idlib province on Tuesday, March 19. 
Syrian rebels take position in Aleppo, the largest city in the country, on March 11. 
Syrian men search for their relatives amongst the bodies of civilians executed and dumped in the Quweiq River on March 11. 
A Free Syrian Army fighter looks back as smoke rises during fighting between rebel fighters and forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad on the outskirts of Aleppo on Saturday, March 2. 
Residents read Shaam News newspapers published by the Free Syrian Army in Aleppo on March 2. 
A member of the Free Syrian Army reacts to the death of a comrade who was killed in fighting, at Bustan al Qasr cemetery in Aleppo on Friday, March 1. 
A rebel fighter throws a home-made grenade at Syrian government forces in Aleppo on February 16. 
A member of the Free Syrian Army stands with his weapon as he looks at a rainbow in Aleppo on February 16. 
A Syrian woman looks through a bus window in Aleppo on February 14. 
Free Syrian Army fighters walk through a dust-filled stairwell in Damascus on February 7. 
A Syrian rebel gestures at comrades from inside a broken armored personnel carrier in Al-Yaqubia on February 6. 
A rebel fighter throws a hand grenade inside a Syrian Army base in Damascus on February 3. 
People stand in the dust of a building destroyed in an airstrike in Aleppo, Syria on February 3. 
Free Syrian Army fighters run as they enter a Syrian Army base during heavy fighting in the Arabeen neighborhood of Damascus on February 3. 
An unexploded mortar shell fired by the Syrian Army sits lodged in the ground in Damascus on January 25. 
Fighters from Fateh al Sham unit of the Free Syrian Army fire on Syrian Army soldiers at a check point in Damascus on January 20. 
A Free Syrian Army fighter walks between buildings damaged during Syrian Air Force strikes in Damascus on January 19. 
A Syrian rebel fighter tries to locate a government jet fighter in Aleppo on January 18. 
Syrian rebels launch a missile near the Abu Baker brigade in Albab on January 16. 
A Syrian boy walks near rubbish next to tents at a refugee camp near the northern city of Azaz on the Syria-Turkey border, on January 8. 
Syrians look for survivors amid the rubble of a building targeted by a missile in Aleppo on January 7. 
A father reacts after hearing of a shelling by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in Aleppo on January 3. 
A patient smokes a cigarette at Dar Al-Ajaza psychiatric hospital in Aleppo on December 18, 2012. The psychiatric ward, housing around 60 patients, has lacked the means to function properly since fighting broke out there in July. 
Syrians mourn a fallen rebel fighter at a rebel base in the al-Fardos area of Aleppo on December 8. 
Members of Liwa (Brigade) Salahadin, a Kurdish military unit fighting alongside rebel fighters, monitor the area in the besieged district of Karmel al-Jabl in Aleppo on December 6. 
A member of Liwa Salahadin aims at a regime fighter in the besieged district of Karmel al-Jabl in Aleppo on December 6. 
Two young boys sit underneath a washline in a refugee camp on the border between Syria and Turkey near Azaz on December 5. 
The bodies of three children, who were allegedly killed in a mortar shell attack that landed close to a bakery in Aleppo, on December 2, are laid out for identification by family members at a makeshift hospital at an undisclosed location of the city. 
Smoke rises in the Hanano and Bustan al-Basha districts in Aleppo on December 1 as fighting continues through the night. 
Damaged houses in Aleppo are seen after an airstrike on November 29. 
A Syrian rebel mourns the death of a comrade in Maraat al-Numan on November 20. 
Syrians protesters stand on Assad's portrait during an anti-regime demonstration in Aleppo on November 16. 
A Syrian rebel takes cover during fighting against Syrian government forces in Aleppo on November 15. 
Syrian opposition fighter Bazel Araj, 19, sleeps next to his pistol in Aleppo on November 11. 
A rebel fighter fires at a Syrian government position in Aleppo on November 6. 
A Syrian rebel leaps over debris left in the street while running across a "sniper alley" near the Salahudeen district in Aleppo on November 4. 
Rebels hold their position in the midst of a battle on November 3 in Aleppo. 
A man cries while being treated in a local hospital in a rebel-controlled area of Aleppo on October 31. 
A man is treated for wounds after a government jet attacked the Karm al-Aser neighborhood in eastern Aleppo on October 31. 
A Syrian rebel interrogates a handcuffed and blindfolded man suspected of being a pro-regime militiaman in Aleppo on October 26. 
Smoke rises from a fuel station following a mortar attack as Syrian women walk on a rainy day in the Arqub neighborhood of Aleppo on October 25. 
A Syrian rebel fires at an army position in the Karm al-Jabal district of Aleppo on October 22. 
A wounded Syrian boy sits on the back of a truck carrying victims and wounded people to a hospital following an attack by regime forces in Aleppo on October 21. 
A man lies on the ground after being shot by a sniper for a second time as he waits to be rescued by members of the Al-Baraa Bin Malek Battalion, part of the Free Syria Army's Al-Fatah brigade, in Aleppo on October 20. 
Syrian army soldiers run for cover during clashes with rebel fighters at Karam al-Jabal neighborhood of Aleppo on October 20. 
Smoke rises after a Syrian Air Force fighter jet fired missiles at the suburbs of the northern province of Idlib on October 16. 
A Syrian opposition fighter stands near a post in Aleppo on October 11. 
A Syrian man mourns the death of his father, who was killed during a government attack in Aleppo on October 10. 
A rebel fighter is carried by his friends and laid on a gurney to be treated for gunshot wounds sustained during heavy battles with government forces in Aleppo on October 1. 
Syrian rebels help a wounded comrade to an Aleppo hospital after he was injured in a Syrian army strike on September 18. 
Free Syria Army fighters are reflected in a mirror they use to see a Syrian Army post only 50 meters away in Aleppo on September 16. 
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 September 14. 
A woman walks past a destroyed building in Aleppo on September 13. 
Free Syrian Army fighters battle during street fighting against Syrian army soldiers in Aleppo on September 8. 
A Syrian man wounded by shelling sits on a chair outside a closed shop in Aleppo on September 4. 
A woman sits in her wheelchair next to her house, damaged by a Syrian air raid, near Homs on August 26. 
Members of the Free Syrian Army clash with Syrian army soliders in Aleppo's Saif al-Dawla district on August 22. 
A man mourns in front of a field hospital on August 21 in Aleppo. 
Wounded civilians wait in a field hospital after an air strike on August 21 in Aleppo. 
People pray during the funeral of a Free Syrian Army fighter, Amar Ali Amero, on August 21. 
A man cries near the graves of his two children killed during a recent Syrian airstrike in Azaz on August 20. 
A Syrian woman holds her dead baby as she screams upon seeing her husband's body being covered following an airstrike by regime forces on the town of Azaz on August 15. 
A Syrian rebel runs in a street of Selehattin during an attack on the municipal building on July 23. 
Syrian rebels hunt for snipers after attacking the municipality building in the city center of Selehattin on July 23. 
Members of the Free Syrian Army's Mugaweer (commandos) Brigade pay their respects in a cemetery on May 12 in Qusayr. 
Syrian rebels take position near Qusayr on May 10. 
A Free Syrian Army member takes cover in underground caves in Sarmin on April 9. 
Rebels prepare to engage government tanks that advanced into Saraquib on April 9. 
Men say prayers during a ceremony in Binnish on April 9. 
A young boy plays with a toy gun in Binnish on April 9. 
A Free Syrian Army rebel mounts his horse in the Al-Shatouria village near the Turkish border in northwestern Syria on March 16, a year after the uprising began. 
Syrian refugees walk across a field before crossing into Turkey on March 14. 
A rebel takes position in Al-Qsair on January 27. 
A protester in Homs throws a tear gas bomb back towards security forces, on December 27, 2011. 
A man stands under a giant Syrian flag outside the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus on December 24, 2011. 
A member of the Free Syrian Army looks out over a valley in the village of Ain al-Baida on December 15, 2011. 
Members of the Free Syrian Army stand in an valley near the village of Ain al-Baida, close to the Turkish border, on December 15, 2011. 
Displaced Syrian refugees walk through an orchard adjacent to Syria's northern border with Turkey on June 14, 2011, near Khirbet al-Jouz. 
A Syrian man holds up a portrait of President Bashar al-Assad during a rally to show support for the president in Damascus on April 30, 2011. 
Syrians rally to show their support for President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on April 30, 2011. 
A screen grab from YouTube shows thick smoke rising above as Syrian anti-government protesters demonstrate in Moaret Al-Noman on April 29, 2011. 
A screen grab from YouTube shows Syrian anti-government protesters run for cover from tear gas fired by security forces in Damascus on April 29, 2011, during the "Day of Rage" demonstrations called by activists to put pressure on al-Assad. 
Syrians wave their national flag and hold portraits of al-Assad during a rally to show their support for their leader in Damascus on March 29, 2011. 
A woman sits by the hospital bed of a man allegedly injured when an armed group seized rooftops in Latakia on March 27, 2011, and opened fire at passers-by, citizens and security forces personnel according to official sources. 
Syrian protesters chant slogans in support of al-Assad during a rally in Damascus on March 25, 2011. 
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- NEW: EU council calls for end to arms embargo on group of Syrian rebels
- NEW: Sen. John McCain meets with rebel leaders in northern Syria
- U.N. Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay addresses a conference in Geneva
- Video shows Syrian children bleeding in a filthy makeshift clinic
(CNN) -- On the same day peace delegates met at the United Nations in Switzerland on Monday to talk again about how they want calm to come to Syria, European Union nations agreed Monday to end an arms embargo against Syrian rebels, Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague said.
"It was a difficult decision for some countries, but it was necessary and right to reinforce international efforts to reach a diplomatic solution to the conflict in Syria," he said in a written statement.
The violence continued in the war-torn nation as bloody children were rushed into a dirty makeshift clinic in the Syrian city of Qusayr.
Qusayr, near the border with Lebanon, is a strategic area where food, medicine and other supplies are hustled along routes used by government fighters and those trying to oust the government.
CNN talked via Skype on Monday with a citizen journalist who described a desperate and horrid situation. The main hospital in Qusayr has been obliterated by fighting, the source said, not wishing to be named out of concern for security. The wounded are being crammed into homes. And, as one YouTube video shows, they apparently being treated at a makeshift clinic.
CNN cannot verify the authenticity of the video. It's hard to watch. A boy wearing a purple shirt comes in screaming, his head bloody. The camera closes in on a baby. The child wails as people holding a steel instrument trying to dislodge something from the child's ear. The walls are smeared with blood.
Catherine Ashton, EU High representative, announced the end of the embargo, reading a declaration from the organization's Foreign Affairs Council.
Part of it states: "With regard to the possible export of arms to Syria, the Council took note of the commitment by Member States to proceed in their national policies as follows: The sale, supply, transfer or export of military equipment or of equipment which might be used for internal repression will be for the Syrian National Coalition for Opposition and Revolutionary Forces and intended for the protection of civilians."
In Geneva, the United Nations' human rights commissioner spoke as she has several times before during the two-year war in Syria.
Adding fuel to the fire in Syria 
Arab youths in a post-Arab Spring 
Al-Assad: I'll consider talks, but ... Navi Pillay, in opening remarks at the first session of the U.N. Human Rights Council's three-week conference, said the situation has deteriorated to an "intolerable affront to the human conscience," and the International Criminal Court must mete out justice to those who've violated the rights of Syrians.
"I feel utter dismay," she said.
Read Navi Pillay's full remarks to the rights council
Pillay reminded listeners that the war in Syria began in March 2011 as a peaceful demonstration against President Bashar al-Assad and has devolved into a complicated bloodbath of sect battles and terrorist fighters.
"Whenever their governments cannot or will not protect them, frightened human beings are dependent on the international community for protection and assistance," she said. "We cannot -- we must not -- continue to ignore their plea."
Amid the backdrop of the Geneva conference came word that Sen. John McCain was inside Syria on Monday and met with rebels, making him the highest ranking U.S. official to visit during the war. The senator's communications director, Brian Rogers, confirmed the trip.
Mouaz Moustafa, the executive director for the Washington-based Syrian Emergency Task Force, said McCain met with 18 commanders of the Free Syrian Army about 1 kilometer from the border with Turkey in northern Syria.
"Their main message was that we are desperate for ammunition, we are desperate for weapons," Moustafa said. "They are confident that if the weapons are given to the supreme military council, that it will not fall in the wrong hands."
McCain met with the commanders, which included the top leader of the rebel force, for about an hour.
It's often difficult to discern exactly what is happening Syria because al-Assad has made it difficult if not deadly for foreign journalists to enter the nation. A state TV reporter, Yara Abbas, was killed in Qusayr on Monday, according to Syria state television. She died after "terrorists targeted" a state TV crew near al-Dabaa airport north of the strategic city near Lebanon, where rebels and government forces run supply routes.
In Geneva, Pillay talked about Qusayr.
"I am extremely concerned at current reports suggesting that hundreds of civilians have been killed or injured, and thousands may remain trapped, by indiscriminate shelling and aerial attacks by government forces in Al Qusayr," Pillay said. Safe passage must be given to any civilians wishing to leave."
Outside reports indicate rebels continue to fight for the cause that began the unrest: ousting al-Assad and allowing Syrians greater freedom, something akin to the goals of the wider Arab Spring movement.
Those who want al-Assad gone claim that the president has ordered his forces to slay families and indiscriminately shell neighborhoods across the country, which is about the size of Washington state.
Al-Assad says his forces are trying to save the country from "terrorists."
"These war crimes and crimes against humanity cannot be allowed to go unpunished," Pillay told delegates from around the world. "We must make it clear to both (the Assad government) and the armed opposition groups that there will be consequences for those responsible. And the world must take action to end this terrible conflict."
Saving Syria's heart 
Why are atrocities growing in Syria? 
Violence surges in strategic Syrian city Pillay's remarks came as U.S. Secretary John Kerry met in Paris with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
The two diplomats spoke briefly to reporters Monday before heading off to a private dinner with the French foreign minister.
Kerry expressed concern about any possible use of chemical weapons and the need to determine what is happening on the ground, while Lavrov stressed the situation in Syria isn't getting any better and that he wants to do everything in his power to stop the bloodshed.
For months during the Syrian war, Russia appeared to be supporting al-Assad.
But that tide may be turning, at least gaining some wiggle room for the Russians to help broker an end to the violence.
CNN's Security Clearance: Russia blasts Obama's recognition of rebels
U.S. officials want to start talks between the government and groups that want al-Assad gone.
But not everyone involved in Syria wants to engage. The Syrian National Council, based in Istanbul, is part of the main opposition umbrella group and is considered to be composed of hardliners who've said they'll never talk or negotiate with anyone representing the Assad regime.
The group was having meetings over the weekend in Istanbul to consider attending the Geneva conference.
Syrian National Coalition spokesman Louay Safi said the group wants to hear "more clarity about the purpose and the intentions of the Syrian regime.
"So far," he said, "the signals have been not positive."
At the start of May, the U.N.'s point man on Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, called Lavrov and Kerry's cooperation to forge a solution to the Syrian conflict "the first hopeful news concerning that unhappy country in a very long time."
Lavrov told Foreign Policy recently that the United States and Russia have a lot in common. Asked about his "famously contentious relationship" with Bush administration Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Lavrov laughed.
"Well, I don't engage in comparing my partners," he said. "John Kerry is a professional. He is pragmatic. And this is a very important quality for a diplomat and especially for a secretary of state.
"He has very good knowledge of things around the world. He has keen interest in moving some of the old problems out of the deadlock."
Lavrov also was asked about Kerry's criticism that Russia is still selling weapons to Syria.
"Well, you know on the arms sales, we never, we never tried to hide that we are implementing the contracts which have been signed quite some time ago, long before all this started," he answered, saying his country has provided Syria with defensive weapons.
"We have been consistent," he told Foreign Policy. "We have been saying that for us priority No. 1 is to stop the bloodshed and to save lives, and therefore cessation of hostilities and dialogue without any preconditions is the best way to achieve this desired goal."
While diplomats talked, on Monday at least 35 people were killed in Syria, including two women and two children, according to the opposition group Local Coordination Committees in Syria.
Violence surges in strategic Syrian city
Heart-eating video raises pressure to end Syrian war
5 reasons Syria's war suddenly looks more dangerous
