A new social media campaign by the English-language division of Syria's state news agency, asking people to share their summer experiences in the war-torn country, has failed to gain traction.

On Monday, SANA English asked its 15,000-plus Twitter followers to use the #SummerInSyria hashtag, saying: "Now that #summer is upon us, snap us your moments of summer in #Syria using the hashtag #SummerInSyria."

Now that #summer is upon us, snap us your moments of summer in #Syria using the hashtag #SummerInSyria pic.twitter.com/sutvUuZUoj — SANA English (@SANA_English) June 22, 2015

Only a small handful of social media users responded to the news agency's request, however, and those who did tweeted pictures of the ongoing conflict in the country.

Syria has been in turmoil after peaceful protests in 2011 against the four-decade rule by Bashar al-Assad's family turned violent.

More than 210,000 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in the four-year-old civil war, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The conflict has also displaced half the country's 22 million population.

Rights groups have accused Damascus of committing numerous abuses, including crimes against humanity.