TIMELINE - Collapse of Syria's Bashar al-Assad regime

By Mehmet Sah Yilmaz

DAMASCUS / Syria’s popular movement which began on March 15, 2011 when a group of students wrote on a wall, "Hey Doctor (Bashar al-Assad), now it's your turn" has now culminated in the end of the country’s Baath Party rule after 61 years, when anti-regime forces captured the capital Damascus on Sunday.

Armed groups that overthrew the Baath regime began clashing with regime forces in the western countryside of Aleppo on the morning of Nov. 27.

The groups first established control in Aleppo and then soon take control of the cities of Idlib, Hama, and Homs, and on Sunday morning captured the capital Damascus.

Here is Anadolu's review of key developments in recent weeks that led to the collapse of the Assad regime.

Nov. 27

- Heyet Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) launches a large-scale operation in the western countryside of Aleppo. Other groups join HTS, which started its move in the town of Kabtan Al Jabal.

Nov. 28

- Armed anti-regime groups seize heavy weapons and military vehicles belonging to the regime in the regions they took control of.

- Many regime soldiers are killed in clashes and dozens are taken prisoner.

- Anti-regime groups seize the villages of Trimbe, Dadikh, Kafr Battikh, Jobas, Shabur and Mardih, which were under Assad regime control.

- Armed anti-regime groups clashing with Assad regime forces reach within one kilometer (about 0.62 miles) of the outskirts of Aleppo.

Nov. 29

- Anti-regime groups clashing with Assad regime forces take control of strategically important Saraqib district in Idlib, in northwestern Syria.

- Armed anti-regime groups begin to enter Aleppo city center.

Nov. 30

- Anti-Assad regime armed groups take control of many neighborhoods in Aleppo as well as most of the city.

- Aleppo International Airport handed over to PKK terror group by Assad regime during the day, but in the evening, anti-regime groups clashing with the PKK/YPG terrorists retake it

- Anti-regime groups take control of Idlib’s strategically important Maarrat al-Numan, Khan Shaykhun and Jarjanaz districts.

- Anti-regime groups take control of Manbij-Aleppo road and M4 highway.

- Terrorist group PKK/YPG takes control from regime of Sheikhnajjar, Aleppo’s industrial zone; the regime leaves Dayr Hafir, Maskana and Qafsayi, south and west of Manbij, to the occupation of the terrorist PKK/YPG.

- Armed anti-regime groups retake the Khan Shaykhun district and establish control over the entire Idlib province against regime forces.

Dec. 1

- Opposition Syrian National Army (SNA) launches Operation Dawn of Freedom against PKK/YPG terrorists' plan to create terror corridor between Tel Rifaat and northeastern Syria.

- SNA takes control of the entire Tel Rifaat district center in Operation Dawn of Freedom against terrorist PKK/YPG.

- A demonstration of support is held in southern Syria’s Suwayda province, which has a predominantly Druze population, for the recapture of Aleppo and Idlib from Bashar Assad regime forces.

- In Al-Tanf, where US forces are deployed in Homs and Deir ez-Zor, the US-backed Syrian Free Army launches an attack on the Al-Bukamal and Mayadin districts.

Dec. 2

- Armed anti-regime groups advance on Aleppo and Idlib provinces and recapture 16 more residential areas from regime forces in Hama province.

Dec. 3

- US-backed terrorist group PKK/YPG launches attack to remove Assad regime forces and Iranian-backed groups from seven villages east of the Euphrates in Deir ez-Zor province.

- It is announced that between Nov. 27 and Dec. 2, a total of 81 civilians were killed and 304 civilians injured in attacks carried out by Assad regime and Russia in northern provinces of Aleppo and Idlib.

- Anti-regime forces clashing with Assad regime forces take control of the settlements of Zor Al Mahruka, Zor Al-Haysa, ⁠Zor Abu Zeyid, ⁠Zor Al-Masaliq, Zor Aj-Jadid, and Hattab in northern Hama, as well as Nasriyeh Hill.

Dec. 4

- Assad regime detains people age 15-47 who have guns in Eastern Ghouta region of capital Damascus.

- Armed anti-regime groups clashing with Assad regime forces about 5 km (3.1 miles) outside the city center of Hama take control of 20 more villages.

Dec. 5

- Regime forces forcibly recruit males, including minors, in many areas of the capital Damascus.

- Armed anti-regime groups in Hama take control of city center.

Dec. 6

- Unidentified aircraft carries out airstrike on Resten highway bridge connecting Homs and Hama provinces.

- Anti-regime groups capture Rasten and Talbise districts in strategically important Homs province, a gateway to the capital Damascus.

- Israeli army announces it carried out airstrikes on the border gates between Syria and Lebanon.

- In strategically important Homs province, armed anti-regime groups advance to inner parts of the city center.

- With growing pressure of armed anti-regime groups on Homs and the capital Damascus, the regime army on the Iraqi border begins to shift some elements to the west.

- Assad regime hands over control of Deir ez-Zor province on the Iraqi border to terrorist group PKK/YPG.

- Kamikaze drone attacks area where state radio and television and Defense Ministry building are located in center of Damascus.

- Local armed groups in southern Syria’s Suwayda province, which has a predominantly Druze population, give Assad regime forces 24 hours to leave the city.

Dec. 7

- Groups advancing against Assad regime forces begin to enter southern suburbs of Damascus.

- In Homs, gateway to the capital Damascus, anti-Assad regime groups take control of the city center.

- Local opposition groups in southern Suwayda province take control.

Dec. 8

- Assad regime largely loses control of Damascus after demonstrators enter key settlements.

- Prisoners in Sednayah Prison, which is identified with the regime and notorious for its torture, are freed by protesters.

- The 61-year bloody rule of the Baath Party, which comes to power in Syria in 1963, collapses when Damascus is taken from regime control.

- A group of opposition groups announce on Syrian state TV that Assad has been overthrown and all prisoners in prisons have been released.

- With the collapse of the 61-year Baath regime in Syria and the end of the Assad family era, statues of Bashar Assad's father Hafez Assad are torn down in various cities of the country.

- Armed anti-regime groups began to enter the center of Deir ez-Zor, occupied by the terrorist organization PKK/YPG, which is trying to gain ground in eastern Syria.

*Writing by Serdar Dincel in Istanbul