Timeline of the Syrian civil war

The Syrian Civil War began in 2011 after pro-democracy protests swept through Syria during the Arab Spring, threatening the rule of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. His violent suppression of protesters escalated into war between Assad’s forces and opposition militias. An offensive led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham resulted in Assad being removed from power in December 2024. The Syrian Civil War has been a source of significant instability in the Middle East since 2011, and the resultant civilian displacement and refugee exodus constitute one of the worst humanitarian crises in modern history.

From 2006 to 2010 Syria suffered its worst drought in modern history. The combined effects of the drought and preexisting economic disparities under the Assad regime contributed to the first nonviolent pro-reform protests, in 2011, riding the wave of Arab Spring uprisings. Divisions between the country’s Sunni majority and the ruling Alawite elite were also a factor. The Bashar al-Assad regime’s harsh military crackdown escalated tensions, and by September 2011 the peaceful protests had become an armed insurgency.

Since its start in 2011 and through 2018, the Syrian Civil War created the largest refugee population in the world, constituting over a third of the global refugee population. In 2018 the United Nations recorded 6.7 million Syrian refugees, nearly 40 percent of Syria’s population that year. Most fled to Turkey and other regional allies, but hundreds of thousands have found asylum in Germany, the United States, and Canada. Within Syria itself, an estimated 6.5 million civilians have been displaced. Several human rights organizations have called the Syrian Civil War the worst humanitarian crisis