The following is a timeline of the Syrian Civil War from January to July 2014. Information about aggregated casualty counts is found at Casualties of the Syrian Civil War.
January 2014
7 January
It was confirmed that 34 foreign ISIL and Jund al-Aqsa fighters had been executed in the previous few days by rebels in the Jabal al-Zawiya area. ISIL retreated from Mayadin in Deir ez-Zor Governorate, without any fighting with rebel forces. East of Rastan, in the Homs Governorate, ISIL attacked a rebel headquarters, killing 15 rebel fighters. During the day, it was revealed that during the previous evening, ISIL executed up to 50 prisoners in the Qadi al-Askar district of Aleppo. The dead included media activists, relief workers, and other civilians. According to the opposition SOHR, 42 people were executed, including, 21 rebel fighters and five media activists.
8 January
Rebels captured the ISIL headquarters in Aleppo city at the Children's hospital in the Qadi Askar district. ISIL forces lost control over opposition-held areas of the city and retreated to Al-Inzarat on the northeastern outskirts of Aleppo. 300 hostages held by the radical jihadists were set free. In Ar-Raqqah, the hospital was abandoned, bodies were lying in the central square and there was no power or water leaving the city "completely paralyzed", according to an opposition activist. At this point, ISIL controlled two key routes out of Raqqa: to the east toward the Iraqi border and also the road north to the Turkish frontier. The head of the al-Nusra Front, Abu Mohammad al-Golani, confirmed that fighting had taken place between his organization and ISIL and called for mediation and an end to the "infighting." Late in the day, ISIL started a counterattack, as it launched car bomb assaults targeting opposition checkpoints. Three attacks took place in Al-Bab, Hreitan, and Jarabulus in the Aleppo Governorate, Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP. He said similar overnight attacks took place in the Aleppo Governorate, while one occurred in Mayadin in the eastern Deir ez-Zor Governorate. The attack in Al-Bab killed nine people.
9 January
A car bomb killed 18 people, including women and children, in central Hama province, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights organization. The New York Times reported that Islamic extremist groups in Syria with ties to al-Qaeda try to identify, recruit and train Americans and other Westerners who had traveled there to get them to carry out attacks when they return home.
10 January
ISIL managed to push back rebel forces on the eastern approaches to Ar-Raqqah. ISIL forces also killed 20 rebel fighters in fighting in the town of Al-Bab in Aleppo province, and managed to capture wheat silos and mills just outside the town. ISIL commander Abu Omar al-Shishani entered the town with a convoy of 30 vehicles and troops after he lifted the ISIL's siege of Deir-az-Zor airport.
11 January
Rebels moved a convoy including tanks and technicals to Saraqeb in preparation to push ISIL out. Heavy fighting erupted and it was reported that rebels took over most of the town, and besieged hundreds of ISIL fighters. Earlier in the day, five rebels were killed on the outskirts of Saraqeb when their car hit a bomb. Meanwhile, ISIL forces managed to capture the border town of Tal Abyad, while in Ar-Raqqah ISIL fighters captured a rebel checkpoint and the train station. ISIL fighters also dumped the corpses of dozens of their foes at the village of Jazra, to the west of Ar-Raqqah. Dozens of bodies of ISIL fighters were also reportedly in Ar-Raqqah's hospital. Rebels managed to regain territory lost in previous days in Aleppo province and were defending against ISIL counterattacks. 20 rebels were killed in fighting in the town of Anadan, while 30 rebels were killed in three days of fighting in the village of al-Tiba, northeast of Sekhna.