Feb 17, 2011: Small protest in Syria shows people are fed up and ripe for revolution. 

Feb 20, 2011: Blogger Ahmad Abulkheir arrested for praising Tunisian revolution and posting anti-censorship information.

Feb 23, 2011: Rally in solidarity with Libya is violently dispersed.

Mar 6, 2011: Libyan rebels shoot down two Gaddafi fighter jets. Pilots had Syrian passports.

Mar 15, 2011: Having designated this day as a day of protests, many rallies across Syria: Damascus, Aleppo, Daraa, Homs, Banyas.

Mar 18, 2011: Violent clamp down leads protests to spread & escalate across the country. This is now a revolution.

Mar 20, 2011: Baath party headquarters in Daraa torched.

Mar 22, 2011: Stand off at Omari mosque in Daraa. Eventually 12 die and 200 are injured.

Mar 23, 2011: Regime already describes protests as a foreign powers plot carried out by Alqaeda.

Mar 25, 2011: One of the first “Friday demonstrations”. Daraa, Damascus, Douma, Homs, Hama, Latakia, Jableh. Deaths, injuries.

Mar 30, 2011: Bashar gives a speech to “his” parliament. Talks about emergency law and allowing multiple parties. Clamp down continues.

Mar 31, 2011: Assad forms a committee to study lifting emergency law, which was in effect since 1962.

April 8, 2011: Protests in Qamishlo (Kurdish majority town) despite offer of citizenship by Assad.

April 8, 2011: Protests in Daraa reach the 100,000 figure. Met with live gunfire. 23 reported dead in Daraa only on this day.

April 12, 2011: Regime starts a midnight military operation to clamp down on the city of Banias.

April 22, 2011: Protests reach Midan in the heart of Damascus. Clamp down continue. Overall death toll on this day 80+.

April 25, 2011: Full scale military operation by Assad’s army in Daraa. Rumors of defections. City is blockaded.

April 29, 2011: Protests get angrier across Syria, clamp down continues. More rumors about defections from Assad’s army in Daraa.

May & June 2011: Daily unarmed protests, especially on Fridays, across Syria. Clamp down continues. Demonstrators not backing down.

9 June 2011: Lt. Col. Hussein Harmoush among the first confirmed defections. Posts video and says him & other defectors will “protect the peaceful protests”.

Mid June 2011: Syrian army in full scale military operation in the north after defections. Revolution begins to adopt the pre-Baath flag.

16 June 2011: Billionnare tycoon, and Assad’s cousin Rami Makhlouf has publicly resigned

20 June 2011: Assad gives his third major speech since the uprising began.

July 8, 2011: Ibrahim Qashoush, who wrote & sang chants for unarmed protests, found dead. Larynx ripped out, dumped in river.

July 10 2011: Syrian officials announce a “National Dialogue” to advance political reform

July 19, 2011: Tanks deployed against protesters in Homs.

July 29, 2011: The Free Syrian Army (FSA) is declared.

July 31 2011:  Activists groups say 136 are killed in Hama, Dier ez-Zor, Harak, and Abu Kamal.

August 8 2011: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Bahrain recall their ambassadors to Syria.

August 18 2011: Leaders in the US, France, Germany, and Britain call for Assad to resign.

August 23 2011: Syrian dissidents in Turkey announce the formation of the Syrian National Council.

August 25 2011: Ali Ferzat, a famed political cartoonist, is beaten up by pro-regime assailants.

September 2 2011: The European Union bans imports of Syrian oil.

September 21 2011: Turkey’s prime minister, Recap Tayyip Erdogan, says he has cut off all contacts with Syria.

October 4 2011: China and Russia use their veto power at the UN to block potential sanctions on Syria.

October 29 2011: As part of the ‘Siege of Homs,’ Baba Amr is pummeled by tanks and artillery.

November 12 2011: Syria is suspended from the Arab League.

December 13 2011: U.N. says more than 5,000 people were killed in Syria’s conflict.

December 22 2011: Arab League monitors arrive in Syria.

December 30 2011: An estimated 500,000 people participate in protests around the country.