Summary Syria has been wracked by a devastating civil war for four and a half years
BEIRUT (AFP) - Syria has been wracked by a devastating civil war for four and a half years.
Peaceful pro-reform protests against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, which began on March 15, 2011, were met with repression, prompting an armed uprising that later descended into a nationwide conflict.
Many groups have joined the multi-fronted war, which took a new twist a week ago when Russia, an ally of the regime, intervened with air strikes.
More than 240,000 have been killed in the war since 2011, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.
- 2011: Revolt and repression -
March 15: Unprecedented protests demanding greater civil liberties and freedom for political prisoners erupt after 40 years of iron-fisted rule by the Assad family.
Crackdowns occur in Damascus, Banias and Daraa, cradle of the uprising, where 100 people are reportedly killed on the 23rd.
The regime denounces "an armed rebellion by Salafist groups", while Britain, France and the United States denounce the repression.
In April, protests spread, with calls for Assad s fall.
- 2012: All-out war -
July 17: Moderate fighters from the Free Syrian Army (FSA) launch a battle for Damascus, but the government has held on firmly while rebels have surrounded the capital.
July 20: Rebels launch an offensive in the northern city of Aleppo, which has since been divided between areas in the east occupied by rebel groups and regime forces in the west.
In August, heavy weaponry is brought into play, including warplanes.
- 2013: Chemical weapons -
August 21: The regime is accused of killing more than 1,400 people, according to the United States, with chemical weapons in two rebel-held zones near Damascus.
In September, Washington and Russia agree on a plan to eliminate Syria s chemical weapons, ruling out the threat of US strikes.
- 2014: Rise of the jihadists -
The jihadist Islamic State group, which emerged in the Syrian conflict in 2013, quickly gains ground, seizing vast swathes of territory in the northeast and overshadowing the anti-regime rebellion.
IS makes Raqa city the "capital" of its caliphate, which it proclaims in late June in territories it controls in Syria and Iraq and where it imposes a harsh interpretation of Islamic law.
The group claims numerous murders, including of Western hostages. Jihadists, notably from the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front, strengthen their grip on the north, to the detriment of the FSA.
- 2015: Kobane retaken -
January 26: Kurdish forces backed by US-led air strikes drive IS out of Kobane on the border with Turkey, after more than four months of fierce fighting.
- 2015: Setbacks for the army -
March 28: The Al-Nusra Front, backed by its rebel allies, seizes control of most of the northwestern city of Idlib, the second provincial capital after Raqa to fall out of government hands.
May 6: Assad says that setbacks are a normal part of war and do not mean the conflict is lost, but on July 26 acknowledges the shrinking ranks of his army.
- 2015: Russia intervenes -
September 30: Russia launches air strikes on Syria, saying its intervention is against "terrorist groups", including IS. Rebels and their foreign backers say it is targeting moderate regime opponents in a bid to bolster Assad.
October 7: Syrian regime forces launch a major ground offensive against rebels in the central province of Hama, supported by heavy Russian aerial bombing. Moscow says its warships joined in with a volley of cruise missile strikes launched from the Caspian Sea.
