The story of Bashar al-Assad’s government in Syria came to an end after a long and hard-fought struggle that lasted almost 14 years. This conflict caused the deaths of many people and forced countless others to leave their homes. Here’s a simple timeline of what happened:
2011: Protests began as people wanted change in Assad’s government. Instead of listening, security forces arrested and shot many protesters. Some of these protesters took up arms, and some soldiers switched sides, making the fight turn into an armed rebellion with support from various countries.
2012: A group linked to al-Qaeda, called the Nusra Front, started its first big attack in Damascus. This group became stronger and started pushing out other groups that wanted freedom. While world leaders talked about how to help, they disagreed on the best way to do it which made it hard to find peace. Assad used airplanes to attack rebels, making the war even more brutal.
2013: Hezbollah, a group from Lebanon, started helping Assad gain back ground against the rebels. There was a deadly gas attack that killed many civilians but didn’t bring any military help from the U.S.
2014: The Islamic State, a terrorist group, took over Raqqa in Syria and began spreading further into Iraq. Some rebel fighters in Homs gave up, marking a significant loss. The U.S. then began attacking the Islamic State from the air, supporting Kurdish fighters.
2015: Rebels started gaining more strength and took control of Idlib, but there were more Islamist fighters in the mix. Russia joined the fight, providing support to Assad, which turned the tide against the rebels for some time.
2016: Turkey looked to stop Kurdish fighters from advancing, so they invaded a part of Syria. The Syrian army managed to defeat rebels in Aleppo, which was a big win for Assad. The Nusra Front began to change its name to appear more moderate.
2017: Israel attacked Hezbollah in Syria to weaken them. U.S.-backed Kurdish forces defeated the Islamic State in Raqqa, taking back important land.
2018: The Syrian army regained control of eastern Ghouta and other areas previously held by rebels.
2019: Islamic State lost its last territory in Syria. The U.S. decided to keep some troops in place to help its Kurdish allies.
2020: Russia helped the Syrian government, leading to a ceasefire agreement with Turkey. By now, Assad had regained control of most of Syria, with rebels holding onto the northwest.
2023: Following the attack on Israel by Hamas, fighting broke out between Israel and Hezbollah, weakening Hezbollah’s hold in Syria and seriously hurting Assad’s power.
2024: Rebels attacked Aleppo once again. With Assad’s allies distracted, his army fell apart quickly. Just eight days after Aleppo fell, rebels took over most major cities and entered Damascus, forcing Assad to flee.
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