Well so far, this story does get the timing right.  The rebellion did start sometime around the beginning of 2011.
But what this story needs as background is the crop failure in 2008 and the lower harvests  (below the level that is necessary to feed the people) in most of the following years.  (The Arab Spring was mostly about food shortages.) Then after the rebellion started, the international sanctions that were imposed on Syria, made it difficult for th government of Syria to import all the food they needed to supplement the shortfall in the country's own harvests.  Likewise the international sanctions resulted in a fuel shortage. Fuel is needed to operate farm equipment and for the transporting of food.  (See U.S. Department of Agriculture "Commodity Intelligence Report" June 12, 2012 "Syria 2012 Wheat PRoduction Outlook")