Here is a timeline of key dates and events related to this chapter.

6 March 2011: Arrest of 15 teenagers in the southern city of Daraa` for anti-government graffiti
12 March 2011: Protests in the Kurdish region against the continuing state of emergency laws
15 March 2011: ‘Day of Rage’ protests centred on Daraa`, spreading to Damascus and Aleppo
18 March 2011: Protests continue, with government forces arresting hundreds and several killed, sparking further unrest
May 2011: Government forces enter Daraa`, Homs, Banyas and the suburbs of Damascus to remove anti-government protests, leading to an escalation of violence
July 2011: Unrest spreads throughout the country
23 August 2011: Formation of the opposition Syrian National Council, claiming to represent a united opposition front to the Assad regime
12 November 2011: Syrian regime suspended from the Arab League
February 2012: Government bombardment of major cities commences, opposition offensive in the north commences
July 2012: Fighting begins in the northern city of Aleppo
December 2012: The US, the UK, France, Turkey and the GCC states withdraw formal recognition of the Assad regime
May 2013: Lebanon’s Hezbollah formally enters the conflict alongside the Assad regime to secure strategic points on the Syrian–Lebanese border
21 August 2013: Syrian regime alleged to have used chemical weapons against opposition forces near Damascus
October 2013: Significant divisions emerge within the opposition, seeing it increasingly splintered along geographic and ideological lines
February 2014: Failure of first major UN-backed peace initiative
June 2014: ‘Islamic State’/daesh emerge as a significant militant organisation in the conflict, seizing areas in the west, centre and north of Syria
September 2014: Kurdish forces increasingly active in the conflict, fighting daesh, the Assad regime as well as in confrontation with the Turkish forces on Syria’s northern border
September 2014: Daesh declare ‘Caliphate’ in Syria’s east
23 September 2014: US begins airstrike campaign against daesh in Syria
28 March 2015: Islamist group jabhat al-nusra take control of the city of Idlib
30 September 2015: Russia begins airstrike campaign against daesh and other opposition movements in Syria
December 2015: Homs falls to regime forces after being under opposition control since 2012
August 2016: First major Turkish offensive over the Syrian border targeting both daesh and Kurdish groups
December 2016: Aleppo falls to regime forces