Here is a timeline of events in Syria since protests started in March.
Created by StevePro on Jun 14, 2011
Last updated: 07/11/11 at 04:23 PM
Tags: Syria Arab Spring Violence War Syrian Violence Protests
The United States on Monday formally protested an attack on the U.S. embassy and the American ambassador's residence in Syria and said it will seek compensation for damage caused when a mob of what it described as about 300 "thugs" breached the wall of the embassy compound before being dispersed by U.S. Marine guards.
http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2011/07/us_protests_attack_on_embassy.html
Syrian officials formally opened what they described as a national dialogue aimed at a transition to multiparty democracy, but the country’s opposition leaders boycotted the event, calling it a sham to mask the government’s brutal crackdown on the pro-democracy protests that have shaken the ruling Assad family.
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/syria/index.html
Tens of thousands of Syrians poured into a square that has emerged as a focus of defiance in Hama, Syria’s fourth-largest city, as the French and American ambassadors stayed there for a second day in what their countries called a gesture of support and Syrian officials lambasted as interference.
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/syria/index.html
The city of Hama, the scene of the largest protests yet and haunted by the memories of a ferocious crackdown a generation ago, has emerged as a potent challenge to President Bashar al-Assad. In just days, the protests and the government’s uncertain response have underlined the potential scale of dissent in Syria, the government’s lack of a strategy in ending it and the difficulty Mr. Assad faces in dismissing the demonstrations as religiously inspired unrest with foreign support.
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/syria/index.html
Syrian security forces arrested dozens in their largest foray into Hama, a central Syrian city, since withdrawing there last month, in a new offensive that prompted residents to build barricades to block a more ambitious assault.
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/syria/index.html
In what appears to be the biggest demonstration since the Syrian uprising began, tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Hama, a city in central Syria from which the military and security forces withdrew in late June. The scenes of protesters pouring into a central square in Hama seemed to mark a new stage in an uprising that has so far failed to rival the mass protests in Egypt and Tunisia that forced authoritarian leaders out.
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/syria/index.html
The Syrian military and the government’s security forces have largely withdrawn from one of the country’s largest cities as well as other areas across the country, leaving territory to protesters whose demonstrations have grown larger. Activist and diplomats wondered whether the departure is a government attempt to avoid casualties that could fuel more protest, or to rest an exhausted repressive apparatus that had been stretched too thin.
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/syria/index.html
The United States said on Tuesday that Syria's move to allow activists to meet to discuss political change was a positive step but that the government needed to do more to launch real reforms.
"The fact that opposition members were allowed to meet in Syria for the first time in decades, as I understand it, is progress and is something that is new and is important for the democratic process in Syria that we all want to see," State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/28/us-syria-usa-idUSTRE75R67820110628
Scores of opposition figures met publicly for the first time in Damascus in a government-sanctioned gathering that underlined both the changes a three-month uprising has wrought in Syria and the challenges ahead in breaking a brutal cycle of protests and crackdowns.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/28/world/middleeast/28syria.html?_r=1&hp
Syrian forces backed by snipers and tanks stormed into the border town of Khirbet al-Jouz, sending hundreds of refugees fleeing to Turkey from the informal camp where they had sought shelter from a violent crackdown on protests in the country’s rural northwest.
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/syria/index.html
(Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's pledges of political reform offer little sign that he is prepared to ease his family's four-decade grip on power and deliver Syria from its most serious crisis in decades.
Breaking a two-month silence on Monday to tackle the wave of protests against his rule, Assad promised new laws on political parties and elections and a review of the constitution which enshrines the ruling Baath Party at the center of politics.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/21/us-syria-assad-reforms-idUSTRE75K4M020110621
The government of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria offered a broad amnesty and rallied tens of thousands of supporters in Damascus and other cities. Though orchestrated, the rallies underlined the reservoirs of support Mr. Assad himself still draws on. But even as his government sought to suggest at least the intention of reform, violence erupted again as security forces fired on counterprotests, killing nine people, activists said.
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/syria/index.html
In his first address in two months, President Bashar al-Assad promised not to bow to pressure from what he called saboteurs, but offered a national dialogue that he said could bring change. In rhetoric at least, Mr. Assad offered a path for change, even if the speech lacked specifics and delivered somewhat vague deadlines.
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/syria/index.html
Tens of thousands of protesters poured into the streets of Damascus’s suburbs and three of Syria’s five largest cities, in a weekly show of defiance against President Bashar al-Assad. Activists said at least 19 people were killed. Security forces fired on protesters in Homs, one of Syria most restive locales, and the police and protesters fought in Deir al-Zour, a large city in the east. But thousands were permitted to demonstrate in Kiswa, a town south of Damascus and carry banners that read, “Leave!” and “The people want the fall of the regime.”
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/syria/index.html
As the plight of more than 8,000 Syrian refugees on Turkish border deteriorates into a humanitarian crisis, the United Nations has released a report condemning the Syrian government for committing "breaches of the most fundamental rights" against its people.
http://www.christianpost.com/news/un-arab-league-condemn-syria-as-refugee-crisis-worsens-51207/
The Syrian military expanded its deployment of forces to restive regions in the north and east of Syria on Tuesday, as hundreds of civilians displaced by the crackdown huddled in muddy olive groves near the Turkish border, where some lacked shelter and food, residents said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/15/world/middleeast/15syria.html
Syrian state television has reported that the army has taken complete control of the flashpoint town of Jisr al-Shughour.
More than 5,000 Syrian refugees have crossed the border and a UN refugee spokesman said the Red Crescent was preparing a fourth camp with room for 2,500 more. Witnesses said some 10,000 Syrians were sheltering near the border.
http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0612/syria.html
Turkey calls on Syria to rein in violence against civilians and promises not to turn away refugees.
Britain, France, Germany and Portugal hand the U.N. Security Council a draft resolution condemning Syria's crackdown on protesters, despite the risk of a Russian veto
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/13/us-syria-events-idUSTRE75C37V20110613
Syrian troops round up hundreds in a sweep through villages near Jisr al-Shughour.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/15/world/middleeast/15syria.html
Armed forces take control of Jisr al-Shughour as thousands of residents flee to Turkey, leaving much of the town deserted. At least 5,000 refugees have crossed into Turkey.
The Local Coordination Committees, the main activist group organizing protests, says in a statement that the crackdown has killed 1,300 civilians since February.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/13/us-syria-events-idUSTRE75C37V20110613
At least 36 protesters are shot dead across Syria activists say. Syria deploys helicopter gunships in the town of Maarat al-Numaan, they add, in the first known use of air power against the unrest in Syria.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/13/us-syria-events-idUSTRE75C37V20110613
In the town of Jisr al-Shughour, between the coastal city of Latakia and Aleppo, at least 120 members of the security forces are killed, state television says.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/13/us-syria-events-idUSTRE75C37V20110613
Security forces kill 63 protesters around Syria. At least 53 were killed in Hama.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/13/us-syria-events-idUSTRE75C37V20110613
Syria's exiled opposition calls on Assad to resign and hand over power to the vice president until a council is formed to transform the country to democracy, says a communique issued by 300 opposition delegates in Turkey.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/13/us-syria-events-idUSTRE75C37V20110613
The EU adds Assad and nine other senior members of the government to a list of those already sanctioned.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/13/us-syria-events-idUSTRE75C37V20110613
Security forces kill at least 44 civilians in protests across Syria, a Syrian human rights group says.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/13/us-syria-events-idUSTRE75C37V20110613
Tanks advance in the southern towns of Dael, Tafas, Jassem and al-Harra before Friday, the Muslim day of prayer.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/13/us-syria-events-idUSTRE75C37V20110613
EU sanctions come into effect. The EU had agreed to impose travel restrictions and asset freezes on up to 13 Syrian officials for their part in the crackdown.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/13/us-syria-events-idUSTRE75C37V20110613
President Bashar Assad has sent tanks deep into Syria's third city Homs, escalating a military campaign to crush a seven-week-old uprising against his autocratic rule.
Syrians demanding political freedom and an end to corruption have held weeks of what they say are peaceful demonstrations in the face of government repression, despite a civilian death toll that has reached 800, according to the Syrian human rights organization Sawasiah.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/13/us-syria-events-idUSTRE75C37V20110613
Security forces take control of the coastal city of Banias, where demonstrators have challenged Assad.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/13/us-syria-events-idUSTRE75C37V20110613
The United States imposes new sanctions on Syrian figures including Assad's cousin Atif Najib and his brother Maher, who commands the army division which stormed Deraa.
-- Security forces kill 17 demonstrators in Rastan, residents say. Some 50 members of the ruling Baath Party resign, according to a human rights activist.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/13/us-syria-events-idUSTRE75C37V20110613
Troops and tanks pour into Deraa, killing 20.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/13/us-syria-events-idUSTRE75C37V20110613
Security forces fire on mourners calling for the end of Assad's rule at mass funerals of pro-democracy protesters shot a day earlier, killing at least 12 people.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/13/us-syria-events-idUSTRE75C37V20110613
Security forces and gunmen loyal to Assad kill at least 100 protesters, a rights group says.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/13/us-syria-events-idUSTRE75C37V20110613
Government passes bill lifting emergency rule. Assad ratifies the law ending emergency rule two days later.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/13/us-syria-events-idUSTRE75C37V20110613
Assad unveils a new cabinet and orders the release of detainees arrested during a month of protests.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/13/us-syria-events-idUSTRE75C37V20110613
A Syrian rights group accuses security forces of committing a crime against humanity by killing 37 people during Friday's nationwide demonstrations.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/13/us-syria-events-idUSTRE75C37V20110613
Demonstrators protest across Syria; 22 people killed in Deraa, according to security sources. In the east, thousands of ethnic Kurds demonstrate for reform.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/13/us-syria-events-idUSTRE75C37V20110613
Syrian President Bashar Assad appointed a former agriculture minister on Sunday to form a new government, part of a series of overtures toward reform as the country faces a wave of anti-government protests.
Hundreds of people were marching in Douma, a suburb of the capital Damascus, for funerals to mourn those killed in the latest round of protests, which started two weeks ago. At least 80 people have died in clashes with security forces.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/13/us-syria-events-idUSTRE75C37V20110613
Assad sets up a committee to look into replacing the emergency law with anti-terrorism legislation.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/13/us-syria-events-idUSTRE75C37V20110613
The Syrian government resigned Tuesday amid an unusual wave of unrest that has roiled the nation, state TV reported.
President Bashar al-Assad accepted the resignations Tuesday, the same day that tens of thousands of Syrians poured onto the streets of Damascus to demonstrate in favor of the government.
A new government should be named within hours, said Reem Haddad, a spokeswoman for the Syrian Information Ministry.
Meanwhile, the president is expected to address the nation in a speech before the People's Assembly at 11 a.m. (5 a.m. ET) Wednesday, state TV said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/13/us-syria-events-idUSTRE75C37V20110613
Assad orders the formation of a committee to raise living standards and study lifting the law covering emergency rule, in place for 48 years.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/13/us-syria-events-idUSTRE75C37V20110613
Syrian forces kill six people in an attack on protesters in the Omari mosque in Deraa and open fire on hundreds of youths marching in solidarity.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/13/us-syria-events-idUSTRE75C37V20110613
Crowds set fire to the headquarters of the ruling Baath Party in Deraa, residents say.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/13/us-syria-events-idUSTRE75C37V20110613
Security forces break up a gathering in Marjeh square in Damascus of 150 protesters holding pictures of imprisoned relatives. Witnesses say 30 people are arrested.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/13/us-syria-events-idUSTRE75C37V20110613
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