CNN
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Right here is a few background details about the continuing civil warfare in Syria. Within the first 5 years of the warfare, which started in 2011, an estimated 400,000 Syrians were killed, in accordance with the UN Envoy for Syria.
Bashar al-Assad has dominated Syria as president since July 2000. His father, Hafez al-Assad, dominated Syria from 1970-2000.
The continuing violence towards civilians has been condemned by the Arab League, the European Union, america and different international locations.
As of March 2022, roughly 5.7 million Syrians have fled to neighboring countries, in accordance with the UN Excessive Commissioner for Refugees, and more than 6.7 million people are displaced internally.
In keeping with UNICEF’s Consultant in Syria, Bo Viktor Nylund, “Since 2011, nearly 12,000 children were verified as killed or injured in Syria, that’s one child every eight hours over the past ten years.” Nylund mentioned that the precise figures are seemingly a lot greater.
When the civil war started in 2011, there were four main factions of fighting groups all through the nation: Kurdish forces, ISIS, different opposition (reminiscent of Jaish al Fateh, an alliance between the Nusra Entrance and Ahrar-al-Sham) and the Assad regime. However as ISIS loses management of most of its territory, combatants are now freer to attack each other.
March 2011 – Violence flares in Daraa after a gaggle of teenagers and kids are arrested for writing political graffiti. Dozens of individuals are killed when safety forces crack down on demonstrations.
March 24, 2011 – In response to persevering with protests, the Syrian authorities broadcasts a number of plans to appease residents. State staff will obtain an instantaneous wage enhance. The federal government additionally plans to review lifting Syria’s lengthy standing emergency regulation and the licensing of recent political events.
March 30, 2011 – Assad addresses the nation in a 45-minute televised speech. He acknowledges that the federal government has not met the individuals’s wants, however he doesn’t supply any concrete adjustments. The state of emergency stays in impact.
April 21, 2011 – Assad lifts the nation’s 48-year-old state of emergency. He additionally abolishes the Greater State Safety Court docket and points a decree “regulating the best to peaceable protest, as one of many primary human rights assured by the Syrian Structure.”
Could 18, 2011 – The USA imposes sanctions towards Assad and 6 different senior Syrian officers. The Treasury Division particulars the sanctions by saying, “On account of this motion, any property in america or within the possession or management of US individuals by which the people listed within the Annex have an curiosity is blocked, and US individuals are usually prohibited from participating in transactions with them.”
August 18, 2011 – The US imposes new financial sanctions on Syria, freezing Syrian authorities property within the US, barring Individuals from making new investments within the nation and prohibiting any US transactions referring to Syrian petroleum merchandise, amongst different issues.
September 2, 2011 – The European Union bans the import of Syrian oil.
September 23, 2011 – The EU imposes further sanctions towards Syria, because of “the persevering with brutal marketing campaign” by the federal government towards its personal individuals.
October 2, 2011 – A brand new alignment of Syrian opposition teams establishes the Syrian Nationwide Council, a framework by means of which to finish Assad’s authorities and set up a democratic system.
October 4, 2011 – Russia and China veto a UN Security Council decision that will name for an instantaneous halt to the crackdown in Syria towards opponents of Assad. 9 of the 15-member council international locations, together with america, voted in favor of adopting the decision.
November 12, 2011 – The Arab League suspends Syria’s membership, efficient November 16, 2011.
November 27, 2011 – International ministers from 19 Arab League international locations vote to impose financial sanctions towards the Syrian regime for its half in a bloody crackdown on civilian demonstrators.
November 30, 2011 – Turkey broadcasts a collection of measures, together with monetary sanctions, towards Syria.
December 19, 2011 – Syria indicators an Arab League proposal aimed toward ending violence between authorities forces and protesters.
January 28, 2012 – The Arab League suspends its mission in Syria as violence there continues.
February 2, 2012 – A UN Safety Council assembly ends with no settlement on a draft decision supposed to stress Syria to finish its crackdown on anti-government demonstrators.
February 4, 2012 – A UN Security Council resolution condemning Syria is not adopted after Russia and China vote towards it.
February 6, 2012 – The USA closes its embassy in Damascus and recollects its diplomats.
February 7, 2012 – The Gulf Cooperation Council broadcasts its member states are pulling their ambassadors from Damascus and expelling the Syrian ambassadors of their international locations.
February 16, 2012 – The United Nations Normal Meeting passes a nonbinding decision endorsing the Arab League plan for Assad to step down. The vote was 137 in favor and 12 towards, with 17 abstentions.
February 26, 2012 – Syrians vote on a constitutional referendum in polling facilities throughout the nation. Virtually 90% of voters approve the adjustments to the structure, which include the possibility of a multi-party system.
March 13, 2012 – Kofi Annan, the UN particular envoy to Syria, meets in Turkey with authorities officers and Syrian opposition members. In a go to to Syria over the weekend, he requires a ceasefire, the discharge of detainees and permitting unfettered entry to reduction businesses to ship much-needed support.
March 15, 2012 – The Gulf Cooperation Council broadcasts that the six member international locations will shut their Syrian embassies and calls on the worldwide group “to cease what’s going on in Syria.”
March 27, 2012 – The Syrian authorities accepts Annan’s plan to finish violence. The proposal seeks to cease the violence, give entry to humanitarian businesses, launch detainees and begin a political dialogue to handle the considerations of the Syrian individuals.
April 1, 2012 – At a convention in Istanbul, the worldwide group Pals of the Syrian Folks formally acknowledges the Syrian Nationwide Council as a reputable consultant of the Syrian individuals.
July 30, 2012 – The Syrian Cost d’Affaires in London, Khaled al-Ayoubi, resigns, stating he’s “not keen to symbolize a regime that has dedicated such violent and oppressive acts towards its personal individuals.”
August 2, 2012 – UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon broadcasts that Annan is not going to renew his mandate when it expires on the finish of August.
August 6, 2012 – Syrian Prime Minister Riyad Hijab’s resignation from workplace and defection from Assad’s regime is learn on Al Jazeera by his spokesman Muhammad el-Etri. Hijab and his household are mentioned to have left Syria in a single day, arriving in Jordan. Hijab is the highest-profile official to defect.
August 9, 2012 – Syrian tv experiences that Assad has appointed Well being Minister Wael al-Halki as the brand new prime minister.
October 3, 2012 – 5 individuals are killed by Syrian shelling within the Turkish border city of Akcakale. In response, Turkey fires on Syrian targets and its parliament authorizes a decision giving the federal government permission to deploy its troopers to overseas international locations.
November 11, 2012 – Israel fires warning photographs towards Syria after a mortar shell hits an Israeli army submit. It’s the first time Israel has fired on Syria throughout the Golan Heights for the reason that 1973 Yom Kippur Struggle.
November 11, 2012 – Syrian opposition factions formally conform to unite because the Nationwide Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces.
November 13, 2012 – Sheikh Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib is elected chief of the Syrian opposition collective, the Nationwide Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces.
January 6, 2013 – Assad broadcasts he is not going to step down and that his imaginative and prescient of Syria’s future features a new structure and an finish to assist for the opposition. The opposition refuses to work with Assad’s authorities.
March 19, 2013 – The Nationwide Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces elects Ghassan Hitto as its prime minister. Although born in Damascus, Hitto has spent a lot of his life in america, and holds twin US and Syrian citizenship.
April 25, 2013 – US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel broadcasts america has proof that the chemical weapon sarin has been utilized in Syria on a small scale.
Could 27, 2013 – EU nations finish the arms embargo towards the Syrian rebels.
Could 27, 2013 – US Senator John McCain visits rebels in Syria. It’s reported that he’s the very best rating US official to go to for the reason that starting of the warfare.
June 13, 2013 – US President Barack Obama says that Syria has crossed a “crimson line” with its use of chemical weapons towards rebels. His administration signifies that it is going to be stepping up its assist of the rebels, who’ve been calling for the US and others to supply arms wanted to battle Assad’s forces.
July 6, 2013 – Ahmad Assi Jarba is elected the brand new chief of the Syrian Nationwide Coalition.
August 18, 2013 – A staff of UN weapons inspectors arrives in Syria to start an investigation into whether or not chemical weapons have been used throughout the civil warfare.
August 22, 2013 – The UN and the US name for an immediate investigation of Syrian activists’ claims that the Assad authorities used chemical weapons in an assault on civilians on August 21. Anti-regime activist teams in Syria say greater than 1,300 individuals have been killed within the assault outdoors Damascus, lots of them ladies and kids.
August 24, 2013 – Medical charity Medical doctors With out Borders broadcasts that three hospitals close to Damascus handled greater than 3,000 sufferers struggling “neurotoxic signs” on August 21. Reportedly, 355 of the sufferers died.
August 26, 2013 – UN inspectors attain the positioning of a reported chemical attack in Moadamiyet al-Sham, close to Damascus. En path to the positioning, the staff’s convoy is hit by sniper fireplace. Nobody is injured.
August 29, 2013 – The UK’s Parliament votes towards any army motion in Syria.
August 30, 2013 – US Secretary of State John Kerry says that US intelligence info has discovered that 1,429 individuals have been killed in final week’s chemical weapons assault in Syria, together with a minimum of 426 kids.
September 9, 2013 – Syria agrees to a Russian proposal to surrender management of its chemical weapons.
September 10, 2013 – In a speech, Obama says he will not “put American boots on the ground in Syria,” however doesn’t rule out different army choices.
September 14, 2013 – The USA and Russia agree to a plan to eliminate chemical weapons in Syria.
September 16, 2013 – The United Nations releases a report from chemical weapons inspectors who investigated the August 21 incident. Inspectors say there’s “clear and convincing proof” that sarin was used.
September 20, 2013 – Syria releases an initial report on its chemical weapons program.
September 27, 2013 – The UN Safety Council passes a decision requiring Syria to eradicate its arsenal of chemical weapons. Assad says he’ll abide by the decision.
September 30, 2013 – On the UN Normal Meeting in New York, Syrian International Minister Walid al-Moualem says that Syria is not engaged in a civil war, however a warfare on terror.
October 6, 2013 – Syria begins dismantling its chemical weapons program, together with the destruction of missile warheads and aerial bombs.
October 31, 2013 – The Group for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons broadcasts that Syria has destroyed all its declared chemical weapons manufacturing amenities.
November 25, 2013 – The United Nations broadcasts that beginning January 22 in Geneva, Switzerland, the Syrian authorities and an unknown variety of opposition teams will meet at a “Geneva II” convention meant to dealer an finish to the Syrian civil warfare.
December 2, 2013 – UN Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay says {that a} UN fact-finding staff has discovered “large proof” that the very best ranges of the Syrian authorities are liable for warfare crimes.
January 20, 2014 – The Syria Nationwide Coalition broadcasts it received’t take part within the Geneva II talks until the United Nations rescinds its shock invitation to Iran or Iran agrees to sure circumstances. The United Nations later rescinds Iran’s invitation.
February 13, 2014 – The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons tells CNN that Syria has shipped out 11% of its chemical weapons stockpile, falling far wanting the February 5 deadline to have all such arms faraway from the nation.
February 15, 2014 – A second round of peace talks ends in Geneva, Switzerland, with little progress in ending Syria’s civil war.
February 23, 2014 – The UN Security Council unanimously passes a resolution boosting access to humanitarian aid in Syria.
June 3, 2014 – Assad is reelected, reportedly receiving 88.7% of the vote within the nation’s first election since civil warfare broke out in 2011.
September 22-23, 2014 – The United States and allies launch airstrikes against ISIS targets in Syria, specializing in town of Raqqa.
September 14-15, 2015 – A Pentagon spokesperson says the Russian military appears to be attempting to set up a forward operating base in western Syria, within the space across the port metropolis of Latakia. Russian President Vladimir Putin says that Russia is supporting the Syrian authorities in its struggle towards ISIS.
October 30, 2015 – White Home spokesman Josh Earnest says that the US will be deploying “less than 50” Special Operations forces, who can be despatched to Kurdish-controlled territory in northern Syria. The American troops will assist native Kurdish and Arab forces preventing ISIS with logistics and are planning to bolster their efforts.
February 26, 2016 – A temporary cessation of hostilities goes into effect. The truce requires the Syrian regime and rebels to present reduction organizations entry to disputed territories to allow them to help civilians.
March 15, 2016 – Russia starts withdrawing its forces from Syria. A spokeswoman for Assad tells CNN that the Russian marketing campaign is winding down after reaching its objective of serving to Syrian troops take again territory claimed by terrorists.
September 15, 2016 – A minimum of 23 people, including nine children, are killed during airstrikes in Syria, with america and Russia accusing one another of violating the ceasefire in impact since September 12.
September 17, 2016 – US-led coalition airstrikes close to Deir Ezzor Airport intended to target ISIS instead kill 62 Syrian soldiers.
September 20, 2016 – An aid convoy and warehouse of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent are bombed; nobody claims accountability. The strike prompts the UN to halt support operations in Syria.
September 23-25, 2016 – About 200 airstrikes hit Aleppo during the weekend, with one activist telling CNN it’s a stage of bombing they haven’t seen earlier than.
December 13, 2016 – As authorities forces take management of most of Aleppo from insurgent teams, Turkey and Russia dealer a ceasefire for jap Aleppo in order that civilians may be evacuated. The UN Safety Council holds an emergency session amid experiences of mounting civilian deaths and extrajudicial killings. The ceasefire collapses lower than a day after it’s applied.
December 22, 2016 – Syria’s state-run media announces government forces have taken full control of Aleppo, ending greater than 4 years of insurgent rule there.
April 4, 2017 – Dozens of civilians are reportedly killed in a suspected chemical attack in the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun. The Russian Protection Ministry claims that fuel was launched when Syrian forces bombed a chemical munitions depot operated by terrorists. Activists, however, say that Syrians carried out a targeted chemical attack.
April 6, 2017 – The United States launches a military strike on a Syrian government airbase in response to the chemical weapon attack on civilians. On US President Donald Trump’s orders, US warships launch 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles on the airbase which was house to the warplanes that carried out the chemical assaults.
July 7, 2017 – Trump and Putin attain an settlement on curbing violence in southwest Syria throughout their assembly on the G20 in Hamburg, Germany. The ceasefire will take impact within the de-escalation zone starting at midday Damascus time on July 9.
October 17, 2017 – ISIS loses control of its self-declared capital, Raqqa. US-backed forces preventing in Raqqa say “main army operations” have ended, although there are nonetheless pockets of resistance within the metropolis.
October 26, 2017 – A joint report from the United Nations and worldwide chemical weapons inspectors finds that the Assad regime was responsible for the April 2017 sarin attack that killed greater than 80 individuals. Syria has repeatedly denied it had something to do with the assault and likewise denies it has any chemical weapons.
February 24, 2018 – The UN Security Council unanimously approves a 30-day ceasefire resolution in Syria, although it’s unclear when the ceasefire is supposed to begin, or how it is going to be enforced.
February 27, 2018 – Inside minutes of when a five-hour “humanitarian pause” ordered by Putin – from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. – is supposed to begin, activists on the ground report shelling and artillery fire from pro-regime positions, killing at least one person in the rebel-held enclave of Eastern Ghouta.
March 6, 2018 – More than 1,000 children have been killed or injured this year across Syria, UNICEF regional communications chief Juliette Touma tells CNN. In all, 342 kids have been killed and 803 have been injured in Syria within the first two months of 2018, Touma says, citing a number of sources.
April 7, 2018 – Helicopters drop barrel bombs stuffed with poisonous fuel on the final rebel-held city in Japanese Ghouta, activist teams say. The World Well being Group later says that as many as 500 people may have been affected by the assault.
April 14, 2018 – The USA, France and the UK launch airstrikes on Syria in response to the chemical weapons assault in Japanese Ghouta every week earlier.
September 17, 2018 – Russia and Turkey announce they have agreed to create a demilitarized zone in Syria’s Idlib province, doubtlessly thwarting a large-scale army operation and impending humanitarian catastrophe within the nation’s final insurgent stronghold. The zone, which can be patrolled by Turkish and Russian army items, will change into operational from October 15.
December 19, 2018 – Trump tweets, “We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency.” A US protection official and an administration official inform CNN that planning for the “full” and “fast” withdrawal of US army from Syria is already underway.
March 23, 2019 – Kurdish forces announce they’ve captured the eastern Syrian pocket of Baghouz, the last populated area under ISIS rule.
October 9, 2019 – Turkey launches a military offensive into northeastern Syria, simply days after the Trump administration introduced that US troops would depart the border space. Erdogan’s “Operation Peace Spring” is an effort to drive away Kurdish forces from the border, and use the world to resettle round two million Syrian refugees.
March 5, 2020 – Turkey and Russia announce a ceasefire in Idlib, Syria’s final opposition enclave, agreeing to determine a safety hall with joint patrols.
April 8, 2020 – The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons’ Investigation and Identification Team (IIT) releases a report concluding that Syrian authorities forces have been liable for a collection of chemical assaults on a Syrian city in late March 2017.
June 17, 2020 – The US releases 39 targets for sanctions, together with Assad and his spouse Asma al-Assad, that aim to drive the Syrian President back to a UN-led negotiating table and threaten to devastate Syria’s already floundering financial system. On December 22, 2020, additional sanctions are announced on 18 individuals and entities – together with the Syrian first girl, a few of her fast kin, the commander of the Syrian army intelligence, the Central Financial institution of Syria and shut advisers to Assad.
July 28, 2021 – The US sanctions Syrian prisons, Assad regime officials and militia leaders, marking the primary time Joe Biden’s administration has launched new sanctions on the nation.