March 20, 2011
Residents of Daraa burned down buildings belonging to the ruling Baath Socialist Party's council, the judiciary and the police. Two offices of the telecommunications company run by Rami Malev, a giant businessman and cousin of the Syrian president, were also ransacked.
March 29, 2011
Syria's Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister al-Ottri, handed in its resignation to President Bashar al-Assad on 29 March. This is a measure taken by the Syrian authorities to reorganize the government after popular protests erupted in the southern city of Daraa in March.
April 8, 2011
Massive protest marches and demonstrations erupted in Syria's southern city of Daraa, Rif Dimashq, and the northern cities of Ladhiqiyah and Homs on August 8, killing at least 20 people.
April 22, 2011
Syria held demonstrations and protests called "Great Friday" in several provinces and cities on April 22nd. A spokesman for the Syrian Armed Forces said in a statement on the same day that 10 people were killed and 39 wounded in an exchange of fire between militants and security personnel.
May 23, 2011
The European Union issued a statement announcing for the first time sanctions against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, banning him from entering the country and freezing his assets abroad.
October 4, 2011
The UN Security Council votes on a draft resolution on Syria submitted by France, Britain and others. Russia and China oppose, India, South Africa, Brazil and Lebanon abstain, France, Britain, Germany, Portugal and the United States are in favor, and the draft resolution fails to pass.
November 26, 2011
Three Russian warships entered the waters of the Syrian port of Tartus. At the same time, Russia's only active aircraft carrier, the Kuznetsov, escorted by other warships, will go on an ocean cruise to the eastern Mediterranean in early December.
November 28, 2011
The U.S. aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush, which has just completed a combat mission in Libya, has now sailed into the waters adjacent to Syria. Russia's only active aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, is on its way to Syria. The neighboring armies of Israel, Jordan and Turkey have all declared a state of readiness.
December 22, 2011
An advance delegation from the League of Arab States arrives in Syria to make logistical preparations for a later observer mission to Syria. The advance mission was led by LAS official Samir Saif Yazar and consisted of about 10 members, including security, administrative and legal experts.
January 23, 2012
EU foreign ministers made a resolution to expand sanctions against Syria again. According to the resolution published after the meeting of the EU foreign ministers, 22 Syrians who have "violated human rights" and 8 companies that "give financial support to the Syrian authorities" have been added to the EU sanctions list. The EU will prohibit member states from issuing visas to the 22 people, and the assets of the eight companies in Europe will be frozen.
January 23, 2012
The U.N. Security Council discussed a new draft resolution proposed by the League of Arab States and the West. The new draft resolution calls on Syrian President Bashar to transfer power to the vice president, guaranteeing him the fulfillment of his duties during the transitional phase and the formation of a national coalition government within two months. Russia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Churkin, rejected parts of the new draft resolution, but said he remains willing to continue to participate in consultations and work toward an agreement on resolving the Syrian crisis.
February 4, 2012
The U.N. Security Council voted on a draft resolution on Syria, with 13 votes in favor, 2 against, and 0 abstentions, and two permanent members of the Council, Russia and China, exercising their right of veto to reject the draft resolution.
February 27, 2012
The results of the referendum on Syria's new draft constitution are announced. The Syrian Interior Ministry says nearly 60% of voters turned out and the draft received nearly 90% support. The draft was prepared by a 29-member committee appointed by Bashar. According to the content of the draft, the country's political system to the principle of pluralism, change the one-party system for the multi-party system; through the vote to implement the regime of democracy, the president is directly elected by the people, the term of office of seven years, can only be re-elected for a term. According to this provision, Bashar's term will end in 2014.
May 2012
Central Syria The death toll from the massacre in Houla, a neighborhood in Homs province, rises to 108, including 49 children. On May 27, 2012, the UN Security Council condemned the massacre. However, both the Syrian government and the opposition denied that they were responsible for the massacre and accused the other side of causing it. A human rights organization claimed that 33 people, including seven children, were massacred again in the Syrian town of Hama.
July 2012
Syrian Defense Minister Rajha was killed in a suicide bombing attack on Syria's national security headquarters in the capital Damascus. The Syrian government appointed General Fahd Jassim al-Frajeh as its new defense minister on July 18, 2012, Syrian television reported.
August 6, 2012
Syria's Prime Minister Hijab defected to join an opposition group, becoming the highest-ranking Syrian government official to defect. His spokesman said Hijab defected to resist the Bashar regime's "genocidal" crimes against the Syrian people.
March 2013
The Russian Foreign Ministry condemns the kidnapping of U.N. peacekeepers near the Golan Heights by Syrian militants and calls for compliance with the terms of the 1974 truce in the region. In a message posted on the Russian Foreign Ministry's website, it states, "Russia strongly condemns the kidnapping of the peacekeepers and demands that the hostages be released as soon as possible and unconditionally. The parties should fully comply with the terms of the 'Agreement of May 31, 1974' and should not allow the violation of the Armistice Agreement and the regime of the military isolation zone in the Golan Heights." In addition, the Russian side will continue to take all necessary measures to ensure the safety of peacekeeping forces in the Golan Heights, the Russian Foreign Ministry message noted.
March 19, 2013
Reports on the use of chemical weapons claimed that "terrorists" (a reference to Syrian opposition forces) fired rockets with gas warheads in the town of Asal in Aleppo province, killing 25 people and wounding 86 others. The report was accompanied by photos of the victims. In a letter to the United Nations, the Syrian Foreign Ministry said that the opposition Nasra Front and other al-Qaeda-affiliated groups had taken control of some factories in Aleppo, which were stocked with toxic chlorine gas, after al-Qaeda had also threatened to use the gas. "Al Qaeda has also threatened to use chemical weapons.
Syrian opposition commander Qassem then hit back, accusing Bashar of being responsible for the attack. Abdul Jabbar, the opposition's military commander in Aleppo, claimed to have seen the entire attack. Qasim said it was government warplanes that struck from the air, that the explosion produced suffocating gases and that some of the victims were treated in opposition hospitals.
April 29, 2013
Syrian Prime Minister Khalghi's convoy is attacked by a car bomb in Damascus, killing at least eight people and wounding many others, with official Syrian media claiming that Khalghi himself escaped assassination. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a statement later in the day condemning the attack.
August 27, 2013
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says he will work with allies to release new evidence of Syria's use of chemical weapons. Syria's foreign minister on Aug. 27, 2013, pushed back against rumors of a U.S. military strike, saying Syrian government forces would "surprise" the West in the event of a strike.
September 5, 2013
The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted ten to seven on a proposal to authorize the Obama administration to use military force against Syria on the afternoon of September 4, and the Senate is expected to vote on the proposal in plenary session next week.
The proposal would allow President Barack Obama to order limited action in Syria for no more than 90 days, and no ground troops could be sent. The vote, which was delayed at one point because McCain proposed an amendment, was held with only one senator voting to reject it. It was the first time the U.S. Congress had voted to authorize military action since October 2002, when then-President George W. Bush Jr. received authorization to attack Iraq.
The passage of the proposal is an important step toward realizing Obama's vision for military action. The biggest hurdle is the **** and party-controlled House of Representatives, so Secretary of State John Kerry went to the House Foreign Affairs Committee with Defense Secretary Hagel and Senate President Dempsey to lobby lawmakers to support the authorization.
September 6, 2013
The White House released a joint statement on September 6 showing that nine member states and Spain, representing the European Union, supported U.S. action against Syria at the just-concluded G20 summit, bringing the "international coalition" that Obama is trying to build up to 15 countries.
The joint statement said that on the sidelines of the G20 summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, 10 countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Kingdom and Spain, signed a joint statement with the United States on the Syria issue.
On the other hand, as the host of this year's G20 summit, Russia has clearly expressed its opposition to the US use of force against Syria, and Russian President Vladimir Putin said publicly on June 6 that if Syria is subjected to a military strike, Russia will give a helping hand, including providing weapons and economic cooperation.
Sept. 10, 2013
U.S. President Barack Obama, in a nationally televised address, said there have been some positive signals in the Syrian crisis, with Russia expressing its willingness to push the Bashar regime in Syria to hand over its chemical weapons, and the Syrian government expressing its willingness to join the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. Obama said that although it is too early to make a judgment at the moment, the Russian proposal may achieve the elimination of the Syrian chemical weapons crisis without the use of force, considering that Russia is one of the strongest allies of the Bashar regime. Accordingly, Obama asked Congress to postpone the vote on the draft of using force against Syria, hoping to promote the resolution of the Syrian issue through diplomatic channels.
September 12, 2013
Syrian President Bashar says he is willing to turn over chemical weapons held by the Syrian government to international supervision.
Bashar said Syria's decision to put its chemical weapons under international supervision was because of Russia, and that "threats from the United States did not influence this decision." He said Syria would submit the necessary documents to the United Nations to work out an agreement on chemical weapons. Bashar said Syria's ability to successfully implement the program depends on the United States dropping its threat to strike Syria militarily. Syria's ambassador to Russia, Haddad, said in Moscow the same day that Syria will immediately put Russia's relevant proposals into practice as long as the international community agrees. Haddad also said that in line with Russia's wishes, Damascus is "ready to join the Chemical Weapons Convention immediately."
September 16, 2013
The United Nations released a report on its investigation into the use of chemical weapons in the suburbs of Damascus, Syria, on August 21, 2013, saying that chemical weapons were indeed used on a large scale in Syria, that whoever used them violated international law, and that such an act committed a war crime, and said that the source of the chemical rocket launches was close to the presidential palace very close to the presidential palace. The United Nations also released an investigation into the human rights situation in Syria, and the report shows that both the Syrian government and rebel forces are guilty of serious human rights violations. In his report on Syria's chemical weapons, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed deep shock and regret at the large number of civilian casualties, including children, caused by Syria's use of chemical weapons.
September 26, 2013
A senior U.S. official said the U.N. Security Council will hold a vote on Sept. 27, 2013 on the U.S.-Russian proposed solution to destroy Syria's chemical weapons, according to foreign news reports.
September 30, 2013
At around 11:00 a.m. local time in Syria on September 30, 2013, the Syrian opposition used a number of mortar shells to attack an area near the presidential palace in the capital Damascus, one of which landed in the courtyard of the Chinese Embassy in Syria, injuring a local employee inside the embassy.
October 6, 2013
The United Nations plans to send about 100 international experts to participate in the process of destroying Syria's chemical weapons. Ban said his two priority objectives on Syria's chemical weapons are the complete removal of chemical weapons from Syria and the safety of personnel from the UN and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
An advance team of 14 U.N. staff members and 19 members of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) arrived in Damascus on Oct. 1, 2013, and immediately began its work. In accordance with Security Council resolutions and the requirements of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Syria should complete the destruction of its chemical weapons by mid-2014.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said on June 6 that the process of destroying Syria's chemical weapons program has been launched. Under the joint promotion of the United Nations and the OPCW, the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons and related devices is underway, including missile warheads, bombs and mixed tank equipment.
October 7, 2013
U.S. senators disagree with secretary of state on suspicion of secret Syrian chemical weapons transfers. U.S. Senators McCain and Graham, known for calling for military action against Syria, have asked for verification that the Syrian authorities appear to be secretly transferring existing chemical weapons. In a joint statement, the expressed disagreement with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. Kerry welcomed the fact that Syria has begun destroying its chemical weapons. Based on the evidence of former Syrian officials who may have knowledge of chemical weapons, McCain and Graham argued that the Syrian authorities were trying to hide parts of the stockpile, including transferring them to Lebanon and Iraq.
October 28, 2013
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons says U.N. investigators have inspected 21 of Syria's 23 sites, and they are still trying to gain safe access to the remaining two.
October 28, 2013
Lebanese Hezbollah General Secretary Nasrallah calls for a political solution to the Syrian crisis in Beirut, stressing that military action will not change the status quo in Syria.
Oct. 28, 2013
Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN-Arab League Joint Special Representative on the Syrian Crisis, arrived in the Syrian capital Damascus to use his good offices in preparation for the 29th Geneva meeting. Brahimi's good offices will face two major challenges: the first is who will represent the opposition at the meeting, and the second is that the meeting should be held without preconditions.
Oct. 30, 2013
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo?an said in a speech that more and more Syrians are flooding into Turkey and hoped that the international community would help financially to solve the Syrian refugee crisis. There are more than 600,000 Syrian refugees stranded in Turkey, of which about 200,000 have registered and stayed in refugee camps, while more than 400,000 others have flocked to the south of Turkey to join their relatives and friends and seek their own livelihoods. Twenty-one camps have been established in Turkey, providing basic humanitarian assistance including accommodation, food and medical care.
November 2013
The Syrian side on November 14, 2013, cited diplomatic sources in Paris as saying that a new round of the postponed Geneva talks would be held on December 12th.
The Syrian opposition Syrian National Coalition (SNC) said in a statement on November 11 that it had agreed to participate in an international peace conference on Syria in Geneva.