A dark anniversary passes this week in Syria as the country marks four years since the bloody conflict began. We take a look at the timeline of events that brought the country to its knees.
The violence was first ignited in Deraa, near Syria’s southwest border with Jordan, in March 2011.
What began as peaceful mass protests for democracy against the 40-year regime of the Assad dynasty descended into a bloody crackdown before morphing into a bitter civil war.
The arrest of a number of children for spraying anti-Assad graffiti, the deadly crackdown on the protests by others against their detention, and the killing of protesters after Friday prayers was the first instance of the pattern of events that would become familiar across Syria.
Read: Six dead in crackdown as unrest spreads to Syria (March 2011)
As the protests spread from rural areas into the towns and cities across the Sunni-majority country and eventually into Assad’s Damascus heartland, the crackdown from government forces was swift.
The international community watched on as the cycle of violence took on ugly sectarian dimensions and the death toll climbed.
Four years later, the most recently available figures show the impact of the conflict:
For ordinary Syrians, the war had a major impact; life expectancy has tumbled from 76 years to 56, the UN estimates that four in five people of what was a prosperous country now live in poverty – for 30 per cent of the population this poverty is abject.
The United Nations has been criticised for its failure to reach a consensus on how to end the conflict.
Russia and China have consistently blocked Security Council resolutions intended to pressure Assad to end the violence and stop killing his own people.
As reports of crimes against humanity being inflicted on both sides grew, Kofi Annan quit his role as international mediator after 17 months.
Read: Annan steps down as peace envoy on Syria August 2012
Speaking at the time, he said Assad must leave office – something the loose coalition of the Free Syrian Army were demanding – but accused the security council of engaging in “finger-pointing and name calling” instead of constructive efforts towards peace.
Online, the crimes of Assad’s forces were broadcast in bloody, unverified detail.
In Syria, the FSA lost ground to better-funded groups with Islamist links. Refugees continued to funnel into Turkey, Jordan and other neighbouring countries.
Shortly after Annan was replaced by Lakhdar Brahimi, US President Obama warned the regime and other groups that the use of chemical weapons was a “game changer”.
In August 2013, the first credible evidence of such an attack emerged – though allegations had been made by rebel fighters.
Assad’s forces were accused of killing as many as 1,729 people after firing rockets loaded with nerve gas in the Damascus suburbs of Ain Tarma, Zamalka and Jobar.
Read: Obama warning to Syria on chemical weapons August 2012
The regime strongly denied using weapons. The UN investigation into the attacks found evidence chemical weapons were used, and the US and UK said this evidence pointed to Assad.
UN failures NGOs have been criticising the lack of action by the United Nations Security Council and their own lack of funds since 2011.
In February 2014, the UN finally passed a resolution to call for the following:
Read: Syria chemical attack: the video evidence August 2013
Then in July and December last year, it adopted two more resolutions (2165 and 2196) enabling the UN to deploy aid operations inside Syria without the consent of the government.
Despite this, the UN figures estimates that 76,000 people died in 2014.
Barrel bombs are still used with frequency, activists and NGOs say, despite the UN resolution last year outlawed them last year.
1,950 barrel bombs have been dropped by the regime killing 6,400 people, according to the Syrian Network of Human Rights.
Railway and transport hubs, bakeries, hospitals, aid distribution points and other vital civilian infrastructure targets continued to be hit by barrel bombs, whilst an estimated 212,000 people live in besieged locations.
The international community is being urged to step up its commitment to aid agenices working in and around Syria and scale-up its resettlement programmes.
The UK has settled merely 90 refugees from the conflict – and countries around Syria are being urged to make it easier for refugees to seek asylum.