MARCH, 2011
- 15: First protests after a Facebook call for a "Day of Dignity."
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- 18-27: Crackdowns in Damascus, Banias and Daraa, cradle of the uprising where 100 are reportedly killed on the 23rd. Deadly violence also in Latakia.
APRIL
- 18: Damascus vows to crush what it calls an "armed revolt" by "Salafists."
- 25-26: Protests spread and strengthen, with calls for the regime's fall.
JULY
- 15: More than one million protest, notably in Hama and Deir Ezzor. On the 31st, the army kills 100 in Hama.
AUGUST
- 18: US President Barack Obama and his allies urge Assad to quit. Western and Arab states later impose sanctions on his regime.
NOVEMBER
- 16: Rebel Free Syrian Army attacks a Damascus military base.
DECEMBER
- 23: Twin bombs in Damascus kill 44.
JANUARY
- 6: Damascus car bomb kills 26.
FEBRUARY, 2012
- 4: China and Russia veto a UN Security Council resolution on Syria for the second time in four months.
- 10: Twin car bombs in Aleppo kill 28.
- 12: The Arab League says it will begin contacts with the opposition, offering political and financial support. In January it offers a power transfer plan.
- 22: An American and a French journalist killed in Homs, after another French journalist was killed there in January.
MARCH
- 1: Regime forces seize Homs' Baba Amr district after a 27-day assault rights groups say killed hundreds.
- 14: Forces seize Idlib city after a four-day assault.
- 17: Two bombs in Damascus kill 27.
- 21: The Security Council demands Syria immediately implement international envoy Kofi Annan's peace plan, and urges Assad to work towards a ceasefire and democratic transition.
APRIL
- 5: The Security Council formally backs an April 10 deadline Annan agreed with Damascus to end its attacks on protest hubs and on the opposition to do the same at the latest 48 hours later.
- 8: Damascus says it will not withdraw forces without "written guarantees" the opposition will also lay down arms.
- 9: Surge in violence kills at least 105 people, taking to nearly 300 the death toll for three days. Shots fired across the border wound six in Turkey and kill a cameraman in Lebanon.
- 10: 52 killed including 28 civilians, activists say. Foreign Minister Walid Muallem says Syria has started applying the peace plan in some areas, but Annan says he has also received reports of troops moving into other parts of the country and tells the UN Syria has not sent a "signal of peace."
Annan arrives in Syria ally Iran, after visiting a Syrian refugee camp in Turkey.
Muallem accuses Turkey of undermining the peace plan by arming and backing the rebels.
