sentences:  The city was one of several that saw anti-Assad protests in 2011, the violent suppression of which ultimately led to the outbreak of civil war.Despite this, for the most part the governorate has stayed under the Syrian Government's control, with exceptions of parts of the north-west in the early years of the conflict.The eastern desert regions of the governorate fell under the control of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant by 2016, but by September 2017 the Syrian Army had managed to oust them.