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Demonstrations commanded the release of political prisoners. Some were shot dead by security forces which triggred unrest that slowly spread through the country.
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Damascus and Deraa experienced their bloodiest day when 72 protesters were killed by security forces firing at the crowds. Many of the deceased were in the suburbs of Damascus and the souther village of Ezra, near Deraa.
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According to the Syrian government, 120 security personnel had been killed in the northwestern town of Jisr al-Shughour. This signified that the protests went from peaceful to armed.
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Opposition groups formed the Syrian National Council that pledged to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad.
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The Arab League votes on suspending Syria. Syria was accused of failing to perform an Arab peace plan, and imposed sanctions.
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Syrian forces attack the city of Homs in a month-long attack. Early reports said there were as many as 200 deaths, but later confirmed the number down to 55 deaths. The bodies of 45 people were mostly women and children from the neighborhood of Karm el-Zeytoun.
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The U.N. Security Council backed the Arab League in their peace plan to end all the violence in Syria. They wanted to provide humanitarian relief and secure a peaceful transition of power. The Syrian government accepted the plan six days later.
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As part of the Annan peace plan, the U.N. observers sent a group of six people to begin monitoring the situation on ground in Syria. That number increased to 300, but because of the continued violence that began escalating, they suspended their operations on June 16, 2012.
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Largest series of attacks blamed on suicide bombers in Damascus. 55 people died after explosions went off outside the military intelligence building. The attacks targeted mainly security facilities. The Syrian government blamed anti-regime forces and Islamist groups linked to al-Qaeda. The opposition said these attacks were staged at an attempt to discredit the Syrian government.
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Houla, a region near Homs, experienced one of the worst massacres in Syria's uprising. 108 people were killed, according to the U.N. Most of them were women and children who were killed by shell fire or shot at point-blank range or stabbed. The government blamed terrorists and the survivors and human rights groups blamed the army allied to the government.
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Army tanks bombarded the village of Tremseh for several hours before pro-government militiamen came in and began shooting and stabbing victims at a close range. As many as 220 were reported to have been murdered. The Syrian government said that number was 50 people and they blamed "armed terrorist groups".
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President Assad's brother-in-law, Assef Shawkat, and Defence Minister Daoud Rajiha are killed in a suicide attack during a meeting at the national securit headquarters. The assistant to the vice-president, General Hassan Turkomani is also killed in that attack. The Free Syrian Army and a jihadist group called the Lord of the Martyrs Brigade said they were behind the bombing.
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Syria had threatened to unleash chemical and biological weapons if Syria faced a foreign attack. This was the country's first acknowledgement that it possesses weapons of mass destruction.
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Obama said the U.S. will consider military involvement in Syria if Assad's regime uses chemical or biological weapons. Obama called this action the "red line" for the United States.
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Assad ignores international demands to step down and pledges to continue the battle "as long as there is one terrorist left" in Syria.
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The White House said that U.S. intelligence indicated that Assad has twice used chemical weapons in his country, but the information isn't enough for the U.S. to get involved.
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Obama authorized sending weapons to Syrian rebels after there were conclusive evidence that Assad's regime used chemical weapons on a small scale against the opposition forces. Overall death toll in the civil war at about 93,000 through the end of April 2013.
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Assad's regime is accused of using chemical weapons in the city of Damascus to kill a large number of civilians, including children as they slept. The Syrian government denied using chemical weapons.
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The Obama administration says they have "high confidence" that the Syrian government carried out the chemical weapon attack that killed more than 1,400 people outside Damascus.
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Obama said he has decided that the U.S. should take military action against Syria in response to the chemical attacks outside of Damascus. Obama said he would first seek congressional authorization before using force.
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Obama voiced his support for the U.N. Security Council talk that was aimed at a diplomatic breakthrough that would allow Syria's government to avoid U.S. missile strikes if it surrendered its chemical weapons.
