Timeline Syria
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Sunni
Muslims comprised 74% of Syria’s people. The
Alawites, a
religious group that broke away from Shiite Islam in the 9th century,
comprised about 15% of Syria’s
population. Pres. Hafez Assad was a member of the sect.
(WSJ, 6/12/00, p.A30)(SSFC, 5/4/03, p.A11)(Econ,
10/1/05, p.41)
100,000BC Hunters stalked giant
camels in the Syrian desert about this time. Bones of the “Syrian
Camel,” as tall as some modern-day elephants, were discovered 150 miles
north of Damascus in 2005.
(AP, 10/11/06)
9000BC In 2007 French archaeologists discovered an
11,000-year-old wall painting underground in northern Syria which they
believe is the oldest in the world. The 2 square-meter painting, in
red, black and white, was found at the Neolithic settlement of Djade
al-Mughara on the Euphrates, northeast of the city of Aleppo.
(Reuters, 10/11/07)
3600BC-1000BC The Mesopotamian settlement of Nagar
(in northeastern Syria) grew to become one of the first large cities of
the Middle East. It began before 6,000BC and continued to about 1000BC.
(MT, summer 2003, p.11)
3000BC-2000BC Ebla was a commercial capital of this
era. In 1975 tens of thousands of cuneiform tablets were found that
supported Ebla's role.
(WSJ, 9/30/99, p.A26)
2400BC The Mesopotamian city of Nagar (in
northeastern Syria) became the powerful state of Nagar about this time.
(MT, summer 2003, p.11)
2300BC Akkadian armies conquered Nagar about this
time.
(MT, summer 2003, p.13)
2291BC-2254BC Naram-Sin ruled Akkad. He defeated a
rebel coalition in Sumer and re-established Akkadian power. He
re-conquered Syria, Lebanon, and the Taurus mountains, destroying
Aleppo and Mari in the process. During his reign the Gutians
sacked the city of Agade and eventually destroyed all of Sumer
(southern Iraq). During his reign Naram-Sin campaigned against the
region of Magan (Oman).
(http://tinyurl.com/ctv5f)
2100BCE Amorites came from the Arabian peninsula and
were the first important Semitic settlers in the area of Damascus. They
established many small states.
(SFEC, 11/21/99, p.A26)
c2000BCE A palace was built at Qatanah, 12 miles
south of Damascus, that was discovered in 1999.
(SFEC, 11/21/99, p.A6)
1500-1200BCE The Amorites in the time of Moses came
from northeast Syria.
(MT, Spg. ‘97, p.11)
1468BCE In Egypt Hatshepsut died and Tuthmosis III,
in his early thirties, declared war on the Prince of the Syrian city of
Kadesh, who had organized a confederacy in Palestine and Syria.
Tuthmosis defeated the Syrians following an 8 month siege of Megiddo.
(ON, 3/01, p.11)
1294BC-1279BC Sethi I (Seti I), son of Rammeses I and
the father of Rammeses II, ruled during Egypt’s 19th Dynasty. He
restored the ancient gods of Egypt, such as Amun-Re, Ptah, Seth, and
Osiris. At Abydos he built a splendid temple to Osiris. Sethi claims to
have inflicted a victory against the Hittite king, Mursillis II, the
successor to Suppililiumas, at the towns of Yenoam and Bethshael. Seti
overran Palestine, made peace with the Hittites in Syria, opened mines
and quarries, and enlarged the Temple of Amun-Re at Karnak. His tomb
was discovered in 1817.
(NG, 9/98, p.17,19)(AM, 7/01,
p.56)(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty18e.html)
c1182BC Ramessu III beat back a formidable attack by
northern countries. An inscription describing this war was engraved on
the second pylon of the temple of Medinet Habu. The inscription
describes how the northerners were disturbed, and proceeded to move
eastward and southward, swamping in turn the land of the Hittites,
Carchemish, Arvad, Cyprus, Syria, and other places of the same region.
The Hittites and North Syrians had been so crippled by them that
Ramessu took the opportunity to extend the frontier of Egyptian
territory northward... the twofold ravaging of Syria left it weakened
and opened the door for the colonization of its coast-lands by the
beaten remnant of the invading army.
(R.M.-P.H.C.p.23)
738BC Mittinti, king of Ashkelon
revolted, trusting to the support of Rezon of Syria. But the death of
Rezon so terrified the king that he fell sick and died. His son
Rukipti, who reigned in his stead, hastened to make submission.
(R.M.-P.H.C.p.63)
734BC Rezon of Syria, and Pekah of
Samaria were in league, whereas Ahaz of Jerusalem had become a vassal
of the king of Assyria. The Philistines had attached themselves to the
Syrian league, so that Tiglath-Pileser came up with the special purpose
of sacking Gaza. Hanunu, the king of Gaza, fled to Sebako, king of
Egypt; but he afterwards returned and, having made submission, was
received with favor.
(R.M.-P.H.C.p.63)
732BC Tiglath-pileser III, an
Assyrian, took Damascus and killed Rezin. He then captured many cities
of northern Israel and took the people to Assyria. The Egyptian troops
had at one time joined forces with Damascus, Israel and some other
states to resist Shalmaneser III at Qarqar.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
300-64BCE Antioch served as the capital of the
kingdom of Syria.
(WUD, 1994 p.66)
175-164BCE King Antiochus IV, Seleucid tyrant, ruled
Syria.
(MH, 12/96)(SFC, 12/6/04, p.B2)
170BCE The rebel Maccabees were able to gain victory
in Jerusalem occupied by Antiochus IV During the re-dedication of the
temple they stretched a days worth of oil out to 8 days for which the
holiday of Hanukkah is celebrated.
(SFC, 11/27/96, zz1 p.F1)
168BCE Syria’s Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes
ruled over Israel and tried to outlaw Judaism. He tried to Hellenize
the Jews by erecting idols. The Jews resisted and began the Maccabean
revolt. The Maccabees were successful until internal dissension tore
them apart.
(eawc, p.15)(PC, 1992 ed, p.27)
167BCE Antiochus IV, the Hellenistic tyrant of the
what later became called the Middle East, began to increase religious
persecution against the Jews in Palestine and outlawed observance of
the Torah. This included the circumcision of males, dietary
restrictions and observance of the Sabbath. He installed a cult of Zeus
in the Temple in Jerusalem. The Jewish priest Mattathias of Modin
defied Antiochus, escaped outside Lydda with his 5 sons and began a
revolt.
(WSJ, 12/11/98, p.W15)(PC, 1992 ed, p.27)
165BCE Jerusalem and sacred temple of Judah were
recaptured by the Maccabees. They used guerrilla tactics and elephants
as tanks to throw off the tyranny of the Greco-Syrian oppressors.
During the cleanup they found one container of the sacred oil used to
light the temple's candelabra known as a menorah. They gathered to
light the oil which was expected to last only a day, but lasted eight
nights. The event was memorialized in the celebration of Hanukkah
(rededication), the Feast of Lights. [see 164BCE]
(SFC,12/10/97, Z1 p.4)(SFC,12/23/97, p.A13)(WSJ,
11/27/98, p.W8)
6-4BCE Publius Quinctilius Varus served as Roman
governor of Syria.
(http://www.rovenet.com/tno/tacitus%20named%20officials/varus.html)
4BCE Publius Sulpicius Quirinus
served as Roman governor of Cilicia, which was annexed to Syria.
(www.botcw.com/bible/kjv/easton/east0953.htm)
6CE Sulpicius Quirinius
(Cyrenius), Roman governor of Syria, ordered a 2nd census of Judea.
(Econ, 1/1/05,
p.38)(www.biblehistory.net/volume2/Quirinius.htm)
9CE Sep 15, Publius Quinctilius
Varus, Roman viceroy of Syria, died of suicide at 59.
(MC, 9/15/01)
19CE Oct 10, Germanicus, the best
loved of Roman princes, died of poisoning. On his deathbed he accused
Piso, the governor of Syria, of poisoning him.
(HN, 10/10/98)
c40CE Saul of Tarsus, while on the
road to Damascus, experienced a profound conversion to Christianity. He
became known as St. Paul. In 1997 A.N. Wilson wrote "Paul: The Mind of
the Apostle." Wilson argued that Paul was the real founder of the
Church of Jesus. Paul was a student of the Jewish scholar Raban Gamliel.
(CU, 6/87)(SFC, 3/28/97, p.C11)(Internet)
117 Aug 11, The Roman army of
Syria hailed its legate, Hadrian, as emperor, which made the senate's
formal acceptance an almost meaningless event. One of his first acts
was to withdraw Rome’s army from Mesopotamia (modern Iraq).
(www.roman-emperors.org/hadrian.htm)(Econ, 7/19/08,
p.94)
222 Mar 11, Varius A. Bassianus
(18), Syrian emperor of Rome (218-22), was murdered.
(MC, 3/12/02)
235 Mar 18, Marcus Aurelius
Alexander, Syrian emperor of Rome (222-235), was murdered.
(MC, 3/18/02)
266CE King Odenathus of Palmyra,
ruler of the Roman province of Syria, was murdered. Zenobia Septimia,
his wife, took control in the name of her teenage son, Vaballathus.
(ON, 7/00, p.1)
270 Zenobia of Syria proclaimed
herself “Queen of the East” and attacked Roman colonies adjoining her
and conquered Egypt.
(ON, 7/00, p.1)
272 Roman emperor Aurelian sent an
army to attack Zenobia’s troops in Egypt and was repulsed.
(ON, 7/00, p.1)
272CE Queen Zenobia led a failed
uprising against the Romans, which left the city of Palmyra partly
destroyed. Forces of Emperor Aurelian laid siege on Palmyra, from which
Zenobia and a few retainers escaped. They were soon captured by Roman
scouts. In 1967 Agnes Carr Vaughn authored “Zenobia of Palmyra.” In
1994 Richard Stoneman authored “Palmyra and Its Empire: Zenobia’s
Revolt Against Rome.”
(AMNHDT, 11/99)(ON, 7/00, p.3)
359CE Christians allegedly
established a camp in Skythopolis, Syria, to torture and execute pagans
from around Europe. This can only be a reference to the Arian Bishop of
Scythopolis, Patrophilus, who cruelly abused Christian bishops exiled
to his see under Constantius. These included Eusebius of Vercelli. It
was not a death-camp, nor did it last 30 years, nor were pagans the
victims.
(Arch, 1/05,
p.70)(www.tektonics.org/af/crimeline.htm)
362CE Jun 17, Emperor Julian
issued an edict banning Christians from teaching in Syria.
(HN, 6/17/98)
526 May 20, An earthquake killed
250,000 in Antioch, Turkey. This was the capital of Syria from
300-64BCE. [see May 29]
(MC, 5/20/02)
526 May 29, A devastating
earthquake destroyed the city of Antioch. [see May 20]
(AM, 11/00, p.69)
600-700CE Calinicus, an engineer from Heliopolis,
Syria, is thought to have brought “Greek fire,” (flammable
petrochemicals) to Constantinople.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.57)
628 Apr 3, In Persia, Kavadh sued
for peace with the Byzantines. He handed back Armenia, Byzantine
Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine and Egypt.
(HN, 4/3/99)
636 Aug 15, At the Battle at
Yarmuk, east of the Sea of Galilee, Islamic forces beat a Byzantine
army and gained control of Syria.
(PC, 1992, p.61)
686 Aug 2, John V, 1st
Greek-Syrian Pope (685-86), died.
(MC, 8/2/02)
701 Sep 8, Sergius I, Syrian and
Italian Pope (687-701), died.
(MC, 9/8/01)
c800-900 The Alawi faith was founded by a 9th century
Muslim, who declared himself the “gateway” to the divine truth and
abandoned Islam.
(WSJ, 6/12/00, p.A30)
1098 Dec 12, The 1st Crusaders
captured and plundered Mara, Syria.
(MC, 12/12/01)
1099 Jan 13, Crusaders set fire to
Mara, Syria.
(MC, 1/13/02)
1110 Dec 4, Syria harbor city of
Saida (Sidon) surrendered to the Crusaders.
(MC, 12/4/01)
1124 May 6, Balak, Emir of Aleppo
(Syria), was murdered.
(MC, 5/6/02)
1126 Nov 26, Al-Borsoki, emir of
Aleppo-Mosoel (Syria), was assassinated.
(MC, 11/26/01)
1133-1193 Rashid Al-Din Sinan, also known as "The Old
Man of the Mountain," was a leader of the Assassins. He used the Syrian
Masyaf castle as a base for spreading the beliefs of the Nizari Ismaili
sect of Islam to which he and his followers belonged.
(www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=104843)(Reuters, 7/13/07)
1144 In Syria the Knights
Hospitallers began expanding a fortress 90 miles northwest of Damascus.
It became known as The Crac des Chevaliers. The Mamelukes captured it
in 1271 and converted the chapel into a mosque.
(WSJ, 1/31/08, p.W12)
1148 Jul 23, Crusaders of the 2nd
Crusade attacked Damascus.
(MC, 7/23/02)(V.D.-H.K.p.109)
1174 Nureddin, the ruler of Syria
died. Saladin, the vizier of Egypt, married Nureddin’s widow and
assumed control of both state.
(ON, 6/07, p.5)
1176 May 22, There was a murder
attempt by "Assassins" (hashish-smoking mountain killers) on Saladin
near Aleppo.
(MC, 5/22/02)
1187 Salah al Din, who ruled from
his imperial seat in ancient Syria, defeated Christian armies of the
Crusaders and forced their retreat from the Holy Land. The battle was
depicted in a mosaic that was found and restored for the palace of
Pres. Hafez Assad of Syria.
(WSJ, 9/30/96, p.A1)
1193 Mar 3, Saladin [Salah
ed-Din]) Yusuf ibn Ayyub (52), sultan of Egypt and Syria (1175-1193),
died.
(WUD, 1994 p.1261)(SC, 3/3/02)
1201 Jul 5, An earthquake in Syria
and upper Egypt killed some 1.1 million people.
(www.geohaz.org/member/news/signif.htm)
1218 Aug 31, Al-Malik ab-Adil,
Saphadin, Saif al-Din, brother of Saladin, died.
(MC, 8/31/01)
1260 Mar 1, Hulagu Khan, grandson
of Genghis, conquered Damascus.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1271 The Mamelukes captured The
Crac des Chevaliers in Syria and converted the chapel into a mosque. It
had been held by the Knights Hospitallers since 1144.
(WSJ, 1/31/08, p.W12)
c1400-1500 A Damascus cookbook titled “Kitab
al-Tibakha” included a recipe that said “brown noodles in the oven and
cook them with rice.” The SF treat Rice-A-Roni began using the same
basic recipe in 1958.
(SFC, 11/25/98, Z1 p.5)
1496 Mar 12, Jews were expelled
from Syria.
(HN, 3/12/98)
1497 Jan 6, Jews were expelled
from Graz, Syria. [see Mar 12, 1496]
(MC, 1/6/02)
1516 Aug 24, At the Battle of
Marjdabik, north of Aleppo, the Turks beat Syria. Suliman I, the
Ottoman Sultan, routed the Mamelukes (Egypt) with the support of
artillery capturing Aleppo and Damascus.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.11)(PC, 1992, p.169)
1799 Feb 10, Napoleon Bonaparte
left Cairo, Egypt, for Syria, at the head of 13,000 men.
(AP, 2/10/99)
1837 Jan 22, An earthquake in
southern Syria killed thousands.
(MC, 1/22/02)
1860 France sent 5,000 troops to
Syria to stop the massacre of Maronite Christians at the hands of the
Druze, which the Ottoman authorities were neither willing nor able to
stop.
(SFC, 9/7/08, Books p.5)
1876 Aug 19, George Smith
(b.1840), British Assyriologist, died of dysentery in Syria. He was on
his way home from a 3rd trip to Mesopotamia. Smith had completed the
translation of the complete Epic of Gilgamesh in 1874.
(ON, 11/07,
p.6)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Smith_(assyriologist))
1883 May 20, Faisal ibn Husayn
(d.1933), the 3rd son of the grand sherif of Mecca, was born in Mecca.
He later became 1st king of Syria (1920) and Iraq (1921).
(www.wordiq.com/definition/Faisal_I_of_Iraq)
1916 May 19, The Sykes-Picot
Agreement was a secret understanding between the governments of Britain
and France defining their respective spheres of post-World War I
influence and control in the Middle East. The boundaries of this
agreement still remains in much of the common border between Syria and
Iraq. Britain and France carved up the Levant into an assortment of
monarchies, mandates and emirates. The agreement enshrined Anglo-French
imperialist ambitions at the end of WW II. Syria and Lebanon were put
into the French orbit, while Britain claimed Jordan, Iraq, the Gulf
states and the Palestinian Mandate. Sir Mark Sykes (d.1919 at age 39)
and Francois Picot made the deal.
(WSJ, 2/27/00,
p.A17)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sykes-Picot_Agreement)
1918 Oct 1, Damascus (Syria) fell
to Arab forces as Turkish Ottoman officials surrendered the city.
(ON, 10/05, p.9)(AP, 10/1/08)
1918 Arab Prince Feisal took
control of Syria.
(ON, 10/05, p.9)
1920 Mar, Faisal I ibn Hussein ibn
Ali became the 1st king Syria.
(www.wordiq.com/definition/Faisal)
1920 Jul 23, King Faisal's Arab
Army was defeated at Maysaloun and Syria fell effectively under French.
(AP, 7/23/97)
1920 The French carved Lebanon out
of Syria to create a predominantly Christian country. A constitution
was drawn up that required the president to be a Maronite Christian,
the prime minister a Sunni Muslim, and the speaker of parliament a
Shiite.
(SFC, 9/28/98, p.A10)
1920-1946 Syria was a French-mandated territory.
(SFC, 7/18/98, p.A11)
1921 At the Cairo Conference,
convened by Winston Churchill, Britain and France carved up Arabia and
created Jordan under Emir Abdullah; his brother Faisal (Feisal) became
King of Iraq. France was given influence over Syria and Jewish
immigration was allowed into Palestine. Faisal I died one year
after independence and his son, Ghazi I succeeded him. In 2004
Christopher Catherwood authored “Churchill’s Folly,” and account of the
founding of Iraq.
(HNQ, 6/20/99)(SSFC, 10/14/01, p.D3)(WSJ, 7/22/04,
p.D10)
1923 Jul 24, The Treaty of
Lausanne, which settled the boundaries of modern Greece and Turkey, was
concluded in Switzerland. It replaced the Treaty of Sevres and divided
the lands inhabited by the Kurds between Turkey, Iraq and Syria.
Article 39 allowed Turkish nationals to use any language they wished in
commerce, public and private meetings, and publications. The treaty
specifically protected the rights of the Armenian, Greek and Jewish
communities. The former provinces of Baghdad, Basra and Mosul were
lumped together to form Iraq. Both countries agreed to a massive
exchange of religious minorities. Christians were deported from Turkey
to Greece and Muslims from Greece to Turkey. In 2006 Bruce Clark
authored “Twice a Stranger: The Mass Expulsions that Forged Modern
Greece and Turkey.”
(WSJ, 3/20/97, p.A17)(AP, 7/24/97)(SSFC, 12/22/02,
p.A14)(Econ, 3/19/05, Survey p.9)(Econ, 10/14/06, p.50)(Econ, 12/9/06,
p.92)
1924 Mar 3, Kemal Ataturk forced
the abolition of the Muslim caliphate through the protesting assembly
and banned all Kurdish schools, publications and associations. This
ended the Ottoman Empire and created the modern Middle East, though
Iraq, Jordan, Syria and Saudi Arabia were still colonies of Britain and
France.
(WSJ, 2/11/99, p.A24)(SSFC, 10/14/01, p.A3)
1926 May 19, French air force
bombed Damascus, Syria. The French launched a major military campaign
in Syria to suppress a revolt by the Druze, which began in 1925 under
the leadership of Sultan al-Atrash. A large French force sent against
them was defeated and the revolt spread into the Druze portions of
Lebanon. When the insurgents gained a foothold in Damascus, the French
bombarded the city.
(HNQ, 5/25/99)(MC, 5/19/02)
1930 Oct 6, Hafez Assad, president
from 1970-2000, was born. This was the official date but research
indicated that he was born several years earlier. The family’s official
name had been changed from Wahsh (wild beast or monster) to Assad
(lion).
(WSJ, 6/12/00, p.A30)
1930 Ali Ahmed Said, poet later
known as Adonis, was born in Syria. He became a naturalized Lebanese
citizen in 1960. His work included the 1970’s poem “The Funeral of New
York,” and the book “Transformations of the Lover” (1984).
(SSFC, 9/30/01, DB p.63)
1941 Nov 26, Free French General
Georges Catroux was placed in control of Syria and Lebanon. Shortly
after taking up this post, Catroux recognized the independence of Syria
and Lebanon in the name of the Free French movement.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syria-Lebanon_campaign)
1945 Feb 26, Syria declared war on
Germany and Japan. [see Mar 26]
(HN, 2/26/98)
1945 Mar 26, Syria declared war on
Germany. [see Feb 26]
(HN, 3/25/98)
1945 Oct 20, Egypt, Syria, Iraq
and Lebanon formed the Arab League to present a unified front against
the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine.
(HN, 10/20/98)
1946 Apr 12, Syria gained
independence from France.
(MC, 4/12/02)
1946 Apr 17, The last French
troops left Syria.
(HN, 4/17/98)
1946 The Muslim Brotherhood,
founded in Egypt in 1928 by Hasan al-Banna (d.1949), opened a branch in
Syria. Branches soon began spreading across the globe.
(WSJ, 12/8/95, p.A-8)(WSJ, 9/21/01, p.A16)(WSJ,
9/7/04, p.A20)(Econ, 6/4/05, p.44)
1947 Dec 2, Syrian mob burned a
synagogue where the Aleppo Codex was hidden. Nearly two-thirds of the
pages were retrieved by congregant, Mourad Faham. But 196 pages
vanished, including books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, Esther, Daniel, Ezra and Nehemiah, as well
as pages from other books.
(AP, 9/27/08)
1947 The Syrian Baath Party was
created and Hafez Assad became a member.
(WSJ, 6/12/00, p.A30)
1948 May 15, Hours after declaring
its independence, the new state of Israel was attacked by Transjordan,
Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. The first president of the State of
Israel, Chaim Weizmann, took office with the founding of the nation.
David Ben-Gurion was Israel’s first prime minister. Weizmann, born in
Russia in 1874, taught chemistry in England and as a leading Zionist
influenced Britain’s Balfour Declaration of 1917 favoring a Jewish
homeland in Palestine. Weizmann settled in Palestine in 1934 and
served as president of Israel from 1948 until his death in 1952.
(AP, 5/15/97)(HNQ, 6/19/99)
1948 May 20, Israel made the 1st
use of its Air Force and claimed its 1st war victory with the defeat of
the Syrian army.
(MC, 5/20/02)
1949 Jul 20, Israel's 19 month war
of independence ended with a ceasefire agreement with Syria.
(www.wikipedia.org)
1954 A French military court
sentenced Alois Brunner to death in absentia for war crimes. He had
sent 23,000 French Jews to death camps. Brunner fled from Germany to
Syria.
(SFC, 3/3/01, p.A10)
1955 Dec 11, Israel launched an
attack on Syrian positions along the Sea of Galilee.
(EWH, 1968, p.1241)(HN, 12/11/98)
1958 Feb 1, Syria and Egypt formed
the United Arab Republic. Most Syrians resented the merger, which was
led by the radical Baath (Arab Socialist Resurrection) party. The union
of Syria and Egypt was dissolved in 1961 following a coup in Syria.
Egypt kept the name United Arab Republic until 1971.
(WUD, 1994, p.1555)(HNQ, 6/5/98)(AP, 2/1/08)
1958 Feb 5, Gamel Abdel Nasser was
formally nominated to become the first president of the new United Arab
Republic. Egypt used the UAR name from 1961-1971.
(AP, 2/5/97)(WUD, 1994, p.1555)
1958 Feb 21, Egypt-Syria as UAR
elected Gamel Nasser president with a 99.9% vote.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1961 Syria withdrew from the UAR
following a coup.
(WUD, 1994, p.1555)(HNQ, 6/5/98)
1961 Syria revoked the citizenship
of its native Kurds.
(Econ, 4/23/05, p.46)(http://tinyurl.com/7zamn)
1963 Mar, In Syria the pan-Arab
Baath party staged a coup. Hafez Assad played an important role.
(WSJ, 6/12/00, p.A30)(SSFC, 5/4/03, p.A11)
1964 Dec 31, Syrian-based al-Fatah
guerrillas of Yasser Arafat launched their 1st raid on Israel with the
aim of provoking a retaliation and sparking an Arab war against Israel.
Fatah, a Palestinian movement for independence, made the first terror
attack on Israel and initiated the armed struggle for a state.
(WSJ, 1/22/98, p.A1)(SFEC, 1/2/00, p.A24)(WSJ,
6/5/02, p.D7)
1966 Feb, The Alawis took power
and presented themselves as standard Muslims. Hafez Assad, a member of
the Alawite clan, was rewarded for his role and appointment as Defense
Minister. Nearly 80% of Syrians are Sunnis.
(WSJ, 1/9/96, p.A-1)(WSJ, 6/12/00, p.A30)
1966 Mar 1, Ba'ath-party took
power in Syria.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1967 Apr 7, Israeli-Syrian border
fights took place.
(MC, 4/7/02)
1967 Jun 5, The Six Day War
erupted in the Middle East as Israel, convinced an Arab attack was
imminent, raided Egyptian military targets. Syria, Jordan and Iraq
entered the conflict.
(AP, 6/5/97)(HN, 6/5/98)
1967 Jun 10, The Six-Day Middle
East War ended as Israel and Syria agreed to observe a United
Nations-mediated cease-fire. Israel took Gaza and the Sinai from Egypt,
Old Jerusalem and the West Bank from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from
Syria. In 2002 Michael B. Oren authored “Six Days of War: June 1967 and
the making of the Modern Middle East.”
(AP, 6/10/97)(WSJ, 6/5/02, p.D7)
1967 Jun 11, Israel and Syria
accepted a UN cease-fire. The UN brokered a cease-fire between Israel
and the defeated Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, ending the Six-Day War with
Israel occupying the Sinai, West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan
Heights.
(HN, 6/11/98)(AP, 6/11/03)
1967 Jun 11, Israel annexed the
largely Arab East Jerusalem, which included the Old City, and has since
ringed it with Jewish neighborhoods.
(SFC, 6/25/96, p.A10)
1967 Israel occupied Syrian
territory.
(WSJ,11/24/95, p.A-1)
1968 Hafez Assad was appointed as
Field Marshal.
(WSJ, 6/12/00, p.A30)
1969 Feb, Gen. Hafez al-Assad
became head of Syria.
(http://i-cias.com/e.o/assad_hafiz.htm)
1970 Nov 12, Hafez al-Assad
(1930-2000), Syrian defense minister, had his opponents arrested and
took full control of Syria.
(http://lexicorient.com/e.o/assad_hafiz.htm)
1970 Nov 27, Syria joined the pact
linking Libya, Egypt and Sudan.
(HN, 11/27/98)
1971 Jul 13-1971 Jul 19, Jordanian
troops proceeded to wipe out Palestinian guerrillas; some 1,500
prisoners were brought to Amman; Iraq and Syria soon broke off
relations with Jordan.
(WUD, 1994, p.
1688)(www.onwar.com/aced/data/bravo/blacksept1970.htm)
1971 Aug 12, Syrian Pres Assad
dropped diplomatic relations with Jordan.
(www.answers.com/topic/1971)
1973 Sep 13, Israel shot down 12
Syrian aircraft to1 Israeli loss when IAF jets were attacked during a
reconnaissance mission over Syrian territory.
(www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/intel73.html)
1973 Oct 6, The fourth
Arab-Israeli war in 25 years was fought. Israel was taken by surprise
when Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Jordan attacked on the Jewish holy day of
Yom Kippur, beginning the Yom Kippur War. The Yom Kippur War in which
Syria tried to regain the Golan Heights with a massive attack with
1,500 tanks. The assault was repulsed by air power.
(WSJ, 5/6/96, p.A-13)(TL-MB, p.21) (TMC, 1994,
p.1973)(AP, 10/6/97)(HN, 10/6/98)
1973 Oct 16, OPEC, the Arab
oil-producing nations, announced they would begin cutting back on oil
exports to Western nations and Japan. The next day, the five Arab
members of the OPEC committee were joined in Kuwait by the oil
ministers of Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, and Syria. The result was
a total embargo that lasted until March 1974 and caused oil prices to
quadruple.
(www.harvardir.org/articles/1659/)(AP,
10/17/97)(WSJ, 7/28/03, p.A8)
1973 Oct 22, Israeli troops
reconquered Mount Hermon from Syria. The UN Security Council Resolution
338 called for a cease fire to the Yom Kippur War. The UN Security
Council issued Resolution 338 calling for a ceasefire and the start of
negotiations aimed at implementation of Resolution 242.
(http://tinyurl.com/5m3oom)(http://tinyurl.com/4s8kua)
1973 Oct 23, In the Yom Kippur War
Syria announced it had accepted a UN sanctioned cease-fire, and the
Iraqi government ordered its forces home.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom_Kippur_War)
1973 Oct 24, The UNSC passed
Resolution 339, serving as a renewed call for all parties to adhere to
the cease fire terms established in Resolution 338. Organized fighting
on all fronts ended by October 26.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom_Kippur_War)
1973 Dec 21, Israel, Egypt, Syria,
Jordan, US and USSR leaders met in Geneva. The Geneva Conference of
1973 was an attempt to negotiate a solution to the Arab-Israeli
conflict as called for in UN Security Council Resolution 338 which was
passed after the 1973 Arab-Israeli War.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva_Conference_(1973))
1973 Syria acquired chemical
weapons from Egypt just before war with Israel.
(SSFC, 5/4/03, p.A11)
1974 May 31, Israel and Syria
signed an agreement on the Golan Heights.
(HN, 5/31/98)
1974 Quneitra, a city in the Golan
Heights destroyed by Israel, was returned to Syria. It was preserved by
Syria as an example of Israeli brutality.
(SSFC, 5/6/01, p.A14)
1974 Haitham Naal, a communist
dissident, was convicted for his affiliation with the Arab Communist
Organization. 5 members were sentenced to death and executed. Naal was
freed in 2002 due to deteriorating health.
(SFC, 8/12/02, p.A8)
1976 Aug 12, Syrian backed
Christian militias completed their siege of the Tell al-Za'tar
Palestinian camp in Lebanon leaving some 2000 people killed.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tel_al-Zaatar_massacre)
1976 Nov 15, A Syrian peace force
took control of Beirut, Lebanon. The Arab League gave Syria a
peacekeeping mandate.
(HN, 11/15/98)(SFC, 4/27/05, p.A8)
1976 Nov 21, Syrian army completed
its final phase of occupation of Lebanon.
(AP, 11/21/02)
1976 The film “The Message” by
Syrian-American producer Moustapha Akkad (d.2005) told the story the
Prophet Mohammad and the emergence of Islam.
(SFC, 11/24/05, p.E2)
1977 Nov 19, The Libyan flag was
adopted, after Libya left the Federation of Arabs Republic, which
consisted of Libya, Egypt and Syria.
(www.worldflags101.com/l/libya-flag.aspx)
1978 Oct 2, Syrian troops pounded
Christian districts of Beirut with heavy artillery and rocket fire
early today, and right-wing officials said Lebanese militias were
fighting back with every weapon they had.
(http://archive.gulfnews.com/indepth/30thyear/onthisday/10157571.html)
1979 Jun 16, In Aleppo, Syria,
Captain Ibrahim el-Yousuf, the officer on duty (in charge of
moral and political steering and head of Ba’ath Party Unit) at the
Military Artillery school, committed a massacre, killing 32 cadets and
wounding 54 others. The culprits targeted cadets from the Alawite sect,
however the then minister of information Mr. Ahmad Iskander Ahmad
stated that they included Christians and Sunni Muslims.
Immediately after the massacre, a country-wide campaign was started to
uproot the Muslim Brotherhood organization.
(www.shrc.org.uk/data/aspx/d5/315.aspx)
1980 Feb 4, Syria withdrew its
peacekeeping force in Beirut.
(HN, 2/4/99)
1980 Jun 26, In Syria there was an
assassination attempt on Pres. Assad. Syrian security forces retaliated
by killing hundreds of Islamist inmates at a prison. The Syrian public
did not find out about this until January 1981.
(http://tinyurl.com/5u5jw7)
1980 Aug, Iraq and Syria broke
diplomatic ties after Damascus sided with Iran just before the
Iran-Iraq war.
(SFC, 2/28/00, p.C2)
1980 Abdullah Ocalan (b.1948),
leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) crossed the border to Syria
just before the September 12 Turkish military coup.
(WSJ, 3/7/97, p.A10)(SFC, 1/6/99, p.A7)
1981 Apr 2, Heavy battle took
place between Christian militia and Syrian army in East Lebanon.
Casualties and injuries were in the hundreds.
(www.2la.org/lebanon/ee/terrorlb.htm)
1981 The film “Lion in the Desert”
by Syrian-American producer Moustapha Akkad (d.2005) told the story of
Omar Mukhtar, hero of the Libyan resistance to Italian colonization
during the Mussolini era.
(SFC, 11/24/05, p.E2)
1982 Feb 2, Pres. Hafez Assad
ordered the Syrian army under his brother, Rifaat Assad, to crush a
fundamentalist Muslim revolt in Hama and at least 10,000 residents were
massacred.
(WSJ, 6/13/00,
p.A26)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hama_Massacre)(Econ, 10/27/07, p.33)
1982 Jun 9, Israel wiped out
Syrian SAM missiles in Bekaa Valley.
(www.adl.org/ISRAEL/Record/lebanon.asp)
1983 Nov 25, Syria and Saudi
Arabia announced a cease-fire in PLO civil war in Tripoli.
(www.defense-update.com/2005/02/arafats-dissidents-challenge-to-abu.html)
1983 Nov, Hafez Assad, president
of Syria, suffered a heart attack and his brother Rifat (b.1937) tried
to take power by moving tanks against other Alawite chieftains. Hafez
Assad recovered and stripped Rifat of power.
(SFC, 6/13/00,
p.A10)(www.meib.org/articles/0006_sd.htm)
1983 Dec 4, US jet fighters struck
Syrian anti-aircraft positions in Lebanon in retaliation for
Syrian-backed attacks on the US peacekeeping force. The Syrian anti-air
defense shut down two American airplanes and a pilot was captured. The
positions of the Marines at the Beirut International Airport were
bombarded. Eight Marines were killed.
(http://tinyurl.com/35ek6z)(SFC, 4/27/05, p.A8)
1984 Mar, Hafez Assad, president
of Syria, appointed his brother Rifaat as one of Syria's three
Vice-presidents (a relatively powerless position) and issued a decree
transferring his command of the Defense Companies to another military
officer.
(www.meib.org/articles/0006_sd.htm)
1984 May, Hafez Assad, president
of Syria, sent his brother Rifaat on a working visit to the USSR and
ousted Rifaat’s associates at home. Rifaat moved to Geneva and began
conspiring against the regime, reportedly meeting with Yasser Arafat,
his brother's arch enemy at the time. Rifaat spent most of his time in
France, Switzerland and Spain, though he retained the nominal position
of vice-president until February 1998. He returned to Syria in 1992
following the death of his mother and stayed there off and on until
1998, when he again went into exile.
(www.meib.org/articles/0006_sd.htm)
1984 Syria began the production of
nerve gas.
(SSFC, 5/4/03, p.A11)
1985 Dec 28, A Syrian sponsored
peace agreement was signed in Damascus between warring Lebanese Moslem
and Christian leaders.
(www.lebanese-forces.org/lebanon/agreements/damascus85.htm)
1985 Syria began manufacturing
chemical warheads for missiles.
(SSFC, 5/4/03, p.A11)
1987 Syria sent troops into West
Beirut to enforce a cease-fire.
(SFC, 4/27/05, p.A8)
1989 Nov, Turkey’s Pres. Turgut
Ozal (1927-1993) alarmed Syria and Iraq when he announced that the flow
of the Euphrates River would be held back for a month to fill the
Ataturk dam. Flow was increased for 2 months before the cutback to
offset the loss.
(NG, 5/93, p.49)(http://tinyurl.com/2mmycb)
1989 Rafik Hariri financed a
gathering of Lebanese politicians at the Saudi city of Taif to hammer
out a deal to disband militias and distribute power more equitably. The
Taif Agreement maintained sectarian divisions in government and led to
the end of the civil war. It stipulated that Syria withdraw its troops
to the border and leave within 2 years.
(SFC, 9/28/98, p.A10)(SFC, 4/4/02, p.A13)(Econ,
2/19/05, p.43)
1989 In Lebanon PM Michel Aoun
waged a “war of liberation” against Syrian forces. Pro-Syrian
legislator Elias Hrawi was elected president.
(SFC, 4/27/05, p.A8)
1990 Oct 13, In Lebanon, rebel
Christian General Michel Aoun ended his mutiny against the government.
Syrian forces defeated the army under Aoun.
(AP, 10/13/00)(SFC, 4/27/05, p.A8)
1991 May 12, Syrian President
Hafez Assad, meeting with US Secretary of State James A. Baker the
Third, refused to yield on key demands for joining a Middle East peace
conference.
(AP, 5/12/01)
1991 Jul 20, Lebanon joined Syria
in agreeing to participate in Mideast peace talks with Israel.
(AP, 7/20/01)
1991 Nov 3, Syria opened its first
one-on-one meeting with Israel in 43 years.
(AP, 11/3/01)
1991 In Lebanon Pres. Hrawi signed
the “Treaty of Brotherhood, Cooperation and Coordination” with Syrian
Pres. Hafez Assad. It formalized the intervention of Syria.
(SFC, 6/2/00, p.A16)(SFC, 4/27/05, p.A8)
1991 The government passed
legislation known as Law No. 10 to facilitate private investment.
(WSJ, 6/19/00, p.A25)
1991 Akram Ojjeh, Syrian-born
financier and art collector, died at age 68. He made his fortune as an
arms dealer and investments in oil, hotels, and real estate.
(WSJ, 9/3/99, p.W10)
1993 The president's son, Basel,
died in a car crash.
(WSJ, 1/9/96, p.A-1)
1994 Jan 16, President Clinton
held marathon talks in Geneva with Syrian President Hafez Assad, who
offered Israel "normal, peaceful relations" in exchange for land.
(AP, 1/16/99)
1994 Jan 21, Basil Assad (b.1961),
the son of Syria’s Pres. Hafez Assad, was killed in a car accident.
(SFEC, 6/11/00,
p.A12)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basil_al-Assad)
1994 Oct 27, In the first trip to
Syria by an American president in 20 years, Pres. Clinton met with
Syrian President Hafez Assad before heading to Jerusalem to meet with
Israeli officials.
(AP, 10/27/99)
1996 May 27, The latest of a
series of explosions left a small crater outside the walls of the Old
City of Damascus.
(SFC, 6/10/96, C3)
1996 Dec 31, A New Year’s Eve bomb
on a bus killed 9 and injured 44.
(SFC, 1/3/97, p.A17)
1996 Dec 31, the number of
political prisoners rose to 2,800, a hundred more than the previous
year.
(SFC, 2/26/97, p.A8)
1996 The Zeyzoun Dam was built to
collect water from the Orontes River. It burst in 2002.
(SFC, 6/8/02, p.A26)
1996 Syria acquired new chemical
weapons technology from Russia.
(SSFC, 5/4/03, p.A11)
1997 May 6, It was reported that
Syrian missiles were tipped with VX, a lethal chemical that kills on
contact with the skin. The Syrian chemical weapons program was assisted
by Anatoly Kuntsevich, former head of the Russian Army’s Chemical
Troops. The existing stockpile of Sarin, the nerve gas used by the
terrorists in Tokyo, was hoped to be upgraded to VX.
(WSJ, 5/6/97, p.A22)
1997 May 15, Saadallah Wannous,
playwright, died at 56 in Damascus. His plays included “A Night Party
for July 5,” “Rituals of Signs and Changes,” “The King Is the King,”
and “The Rape,” an adoption of a Spanish play that was banned.
(SFC, 5/19/97, p.A24)
1998 Jan 25, The population was
reported to have reached 16 million with half under the age of 16.
(SFEC, 1/25/98, p.A18)
1998 Mar 30, A Syrian-Iraqi Health
week started. Health Minister Iyad Shatti arrived in Iraq from Syria
with 12 trucks of food and medicine.
(SFC, 3/30/98, p.A9)
1998 Jun 24, The Clinton
administration claimed that Syria has an active chemical weapons
program and has armed missiles with the nerve gas sarin.
(SFC, 6/25/98, p.A9)
1998 Oct 6, Syria anointed army
chief Emile Lahoud, a Maronite Christian, as Lebanon’s president.
(WSJ, 10/7/98, p.A1)(SFC, 10/16/98, p.D2)
1998 Oct 21, Turkey and Syria
signed an accord whereby Syria agreed to brand the Kurdish Workers
Party (PKK) as a terrorist group.
(SFC, 10/22/98, p.C5)
1999 Feb 10, Pres. Hafez Assad
(68) was elected to a 5th 7-year term.
(SFC, 2/11/99, p.C2)
1999 Nov 29, A bus collided with a
train in northern Syria and 11 people were killed.
(SFC, 11/30/99, p.A17)
1999 Nov, In Damascus Pres.
Assad's son, Maher, shot Assef Chawkat, a son-in-law of Pres. Assad and
the head of military intelligence. Chawkat was treated in Paris.
(SFC, 12/1/99, p.C3)
1999 Dec 8, Israel and Syria
agreed to resume peace negotiations following a visit by Madeleine
Albright to Damascus.
(SFC, 12/9/99, p.A1)
1999 Dec 15, With President
Clinton’s close mediation, Syria reopened peace talks with Israel in
Washington.
(AP, 12/15/00)
1999 Dec 16, Israel and Syria
ended a first round of peace talks and scheduled a resumption for Jan 3.
(SFC, 12/17/99, p.A12)
2000 Jan 17, The Clinton
administration announced that talks between Israel and Syria had been
postponed indefinitely.
(SFC, 1/18/00, p.A1)
2000 Feb 28, It was reported that
Iraq and Syria had established diplomatic ties that were cut in
Aug 1980 when Damascus sided with Iran just before the Iran-Iraq war.
(SFC, 2/28/00, p.C2)
2000 Mar 26, Pres. Clinton met
with Pres. Assad of Syria in Geneva but failed to get an agreement to
revive peace talks with Israel.
(WSJ, 3/27/00, p.A1)
2000 Mar, Prime Minister Mahmoud
el-Zoubi resigned after serving 13 years.
(SFC, 6/15/00, p.A16)
2000 Mar, A new prime minister and
several other ministers were appointed. The new government cut taxes on
new joint stock companies from 56% to 25%.
(WSJ, 6/19/00, p.A25)
2000 May 21, Syria’s former PM
Mahmoud el-Zoubi (al-Zubi) committed suicide rather than answer
questions on corruption.
(SFC, 6/15/00, p.A16)(Econ, 10/15/05, p.50)
2000 Jun 10, In Syria Pres. Hafez
Assad (69), the “Lion of Damascus,” died. His son Bashar Assad (34) was
expected to be named his successor. Assad had given Alawites powerful
positions in the army and Baath party while the Sunnis were given a
free rein in trade and industry.
(SFEC, 6/11/00, p.A1)(SFC, 6/15/00, p.A16)
2000 Jun 11, A day after the death
of Syrian President Hafez Assad, his son, Bashar, was unanimously
nominated by Syria’s ruling Baath Party to succeed his father.
(AP, 6/11/01)
2000 Jun 12, Rifaat Assad, the
brother of Hafez Assad, claimed himself the rightful heir of power in
Syria. Syrian security forces were ordered to arrest Rifaat if he
entered the country.
(SFC, 6/13/00, p.A10)
2000 Jun 18, Bashar Assad was
elected as sec. gen. of the ruling Baath Party.
(SFC, 6/19/00, p.A9)
2000 Jun, Gen. Hikmat Al-Shihabi,
chief of staff for 20 years until 1998, fled to the US. He was alleged
to have illegally earned millions from arms deals.
(SFC, 6/15/00, p.A16)
2000 Jul 17, Bashar Assad, son of
Hafez Assad, began a seven-year term as Syria’s 16th head of state.
(AP, 7/17/01)
2000 Sep 27, 99 intellectuals
published a demand for more democracy and freedom of expression.
(SFC, 9/29/00, p.D5)
2000 Nov 16, Pres. Bashar Assad
announced an amnesty for some 600 political prisoners.
(SFC, 11/17/00, p.A20)
2000 Nov 21, Pres. Assad ordered
the Mezze political prison to be turned into a hospital.
(WSJ, 11/22/00, p.A1)
2000 Nov, In southern Syria at
least 17 people were killed in clashes between urban residents and
nomadic shepherds over grazing rights.
(WSJ, 11/13/00, p.A1)
2000 Nov, Syria opened a pipeline
to Iraq’s oil that generated at least $2 per day for Saddam Hussein’s
regime.
(SFC, 1/23/01, p.A11)
2000 Dec 11, Syria freed some 50
Lebanese political prisoners to placate an anti-Syria movement in
Lebanon.
(SFC, 12/12/00, p.B2)
2000 Syrian writer authored
“Banquet for Seaweed.” Publication in Egypt caused protests for what
students claimed as insults to Islam.
(SFC, 5/9/00, p.A14)
2000 Syria began the 1st of 5
redeployments in Lebanon.
(SFC, 4/27/05, p.A8)
2001 Jan 21, Syria approved
private banking and ended artificial exchange rates.
(WSJ, 1/22/01, p.A1)
2001 Apr 16, Israeli warplanes
struck deep in Lebanon and attacked a Syrian radar site. 3 Syrians were
killed.
(SFC, 4/16/01, p.A9)(WSJ, 4/16/01, p.A1)
2001 May 5, Pres. Bashar Assad
greeted Pope John Paul II with a speech against Israel.
(SSFC, 5/6/01, p.A14)
2001 May 6, In Syria Pope John
Paul II prayed in the Great Umayyad Mosque, the 1st time a pontiff ever
visited and prayed in a Muslim house of worship.
(SFC, 5/7/01, p.A1)
2001 May 15, Fidel Castro arrived
in Syria from Qatar for a 2-day visit.
(SFC, 5/16/01, p.D14)
2001 Jun 19, Syria completed a
pullout of its forces from Beirut.
(WSJ, 6/20/01, p.A1)
2001 Sep 18, The US asked Lebanon
and Syria to extradite Palestinian and Lebanese Shiites suspected of
terrorism in the past 20 years.
(WSJ, 9/19/01, p.A12)
2001 Oct 2, Farouk al-Sharaa, the
foreign minister, said Syria is determined to help the int’l. effort to
combat terrorism. He added that to achieve that goal, terrorism’s roots
and causes would have to be addressed.
(WSJ, 10/3/01, p.A17)
2001 Oct 8, Syria won a seat on
the UN Security Council and was opposed only by Israel.
(SFC, 10/9/01, p.B1)
2001 Nov 19, Egypt and Syria
confirmed the extradition of Rifai Ahmed Taha, a former aide to Osama
bin Laden, from Syria to Egypt.
(SFC, 11/20/01, p.A12)
2001-2003 Canadian citizens Abdullah Almalki, Muayyed
Nureddin and Ahmad El Maati were labeled as terrorists and arrested on
separate visits to Syria where they were imprisoned and tortured and
then released without charge. In 2008 a federal inquiry said Canadian
officials indirectly contributed to their torture by wrongly sharing
intelligence information with Syria. The men later sued the Canadian
government demanding apologies, compensation and the removal of their
names from any watch lists.
(SFC, 10/22/08, p.A2)
2002 Mar 3, Syria’s Pres. Assad
officially visited Lebanon for the 1st time in 27 years and met with
Lebanon’s Pres. Emile Lahoud.
(SFC, 3/4/02, p.A5)
2002 Apr 3, Israeli tanks entered
the Wet Bank cities of Jenin, Salfeet and Nablus. At least 1 Israeli
soldier and 12 Palestinians were killed. Gunners from Lebanon’s
Hezbollah exchanged artillery and mortar fire with Israeli troops.
Scores of Palestinian gunmen were holed up in the Church of the
Nativity in Bethlehem. The Egyptian government announced a cutoff of
official contacts with Israel. Syria shifted 20,000 troops in Lebanon
toward the Lebanese-Syrian border reportedly in accord with the 1989
Taif agreement.
(SFC, 4/3/02, p.A1)(SFC, 4/4/02, p.A1,13)(WSJ,
4/4/02, p.A1)
2002 Jun 4, In Syria the Zayzoun
Dam (b.1996) near Idlib burst and at least 20 people were killed. A 24
square-mile area was flooded and 3 villages submerged.
(SFC, 6/7/02, p.A13)
2002 Sep 14, In Syria 2 buses
collided in the northeast, killing 13 people and injuring four others.
(AP, 9/15/02)
2002 Sep 26, US immigration
officials seized Maher Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian, after his name
popped up on a watch list at JFK. US officials refused to allow legal
council or a phone call. The CIA questioned him and then handed him
over to Syrian intelligence where he was held and tortured for 10
months before being released. The case came to be called an instance of
"torture by proxy." In 2006 a Canadian government report said the US
"very likely" sent the software engineer to Syria, where he was
tortured, based on the false accusation by Canadian authorities that he
was suspected of links to al-Qaida.
(SSFC, 1/4/04, p.D1)(AP, 9/19/06)
2002 Oct 2, In northern Syria
mountain homes collapsed after caves beneath them gave way in the Sawad
Hill district. 31 people were killed and 22 injured.
(AP, 10/2/02)(SFC, 10/3/02, p.A9)
2003 Feb 16, A Syrian
military truck carrying diesel fuel overturned and caught fire at a
Lebanese-Syrian border crossing, killing at least 17 people.
(AP, 2/16/03)
2003 Mar 2, Syria
reportedly finished pulling 4,000 troops out of Lebanon in an effort to
reduce tensions and keep radical Sunni groups from attacking Israel.
(SSFC, 3/2/03, A6)
2003 Mar 23, A US bomb struck a
bus at a service area in al-Rutba, Iraq, enroute from Baghdad to Syria.
5 people were killed.
(SFC, 3/25/03, p.W7)
2003 cApr 15, US forces cut off
oil flow from Iraq to Syria. Oil flow had reached 130,000 barrels a day
providing both countries over $10 million a month in profits.
(SFC, 4/11/03, p.A18)
2003 Apr 17, Rafiq Jwaijatti (81),
a former Syrian ambassador to the US and a renowned Syrian literary
figure, died in Paris.
(AP, 4/19/03)
2003 Jul 15, Officials reported
that Syrian troops had begun dismantling bases in Lebanon.
(SFC, 7/16/03, p.A3)
2003 Sep 18, Syria's new prime
minister formed a 31-member Cabinet, touted as a new effort to carry
out economic and bureaucratic reforms.
(AP, 9/18/03)
2003 Oct 5, Israeli warplanes
bombed the Ein Saheb base northwest of Damascus, Syria, in retaliation
for a suicide bombing at a Haifa restaurant. Israeli military called it
an Islamic Jihad training base. Residents later told the Associated
Press the camp was abandoned years ago.
(AP, 10/5/03)(AP, 10/6/03)
2003 Oct 20, Bush administration
officials said some $3 billion of Saddam Hussein's former government
was being held in Syria and Lebanon.
(AP, 10/21/03)
2003 Nov 30, Syria handed over 22
suspects to Turkey in connection with the Nov 16 suicide bombings in
Istanbul.
(SFC, 12/1/03, p.A16)
2003 Nov, In Syria NewBoy Design
Studio introduced the Fulla doll, a modest looking doll in Arab dress
designed to reflect Arab values. The doll was manufactured at the same
factory in Hong Kong that makes the Barbie doll.
(SFC, 11/24/05,
p.A31)(www.un-instraw.org/revista/hypermail/alltickers/en/0111.html)
2003 Dec 3, It was reported that
Syria's president had agreed to a proposal to halt violence along
Israel's northern border if Israel promises to end flights over Lebanon
and not attack its territory.
(AP, 12/4/03)
2003 Dec 5, Syria continued to
reject US pressure to hand over an estimated $250 million that Saddam
Hussein's regime had deposited there.
(WSJ, 12/5/03, p.A1)
2003 Dec 12, Pres. Bush signed
legislation calling for economic penalties against Syria for not doing
enough to fight terrorism.
(SFC, 12/13/03, p.A3)
2004 Jan 6, President Bashar Assad
began the first-ever visit to Turkey by a Syrian head of state, hoping
to further improve ties forge a joint position on growing Kurdish
autonomy.
(AP, 1/6/04)(WSJ, 1/7/04, p.A1)
2004 Mar 8, Syrian authorities
broke up a rare protest by human rights activists demanding political
and civil reforms on the 41st anniversary of the ruling party's
accession to power.
(AP, 3/8/04)
2004 Mar 12, In Qamishli, Syria,
spectators inside the stadium were crushed in a stampede to escape an
attack by rival fans and at least 5 people were killed. A riot broke
out the next day during funeral services for 3 of the dead. The soccer
riots spread to 3 other towns over the next few days and left 25 people
dead and more than 100 injured in Kurdish areas of northern Syria.
(AP, 3/13/04)(AP, 3/19/04)
2004 Apr 11, Syrian Kurdish
parties issued a statement saying the Assad regime had arrested
hundreds and tortured some to death following the unrest in March.
(WSJ, 4/12/04, p.A1)
2004 Apr 27, In Damascus 4 gunmen
detonated a bomb placed under a car before firing bullets and grenades
at Syrian security forces. Hours later police found weapons including
rocket propelled grenades and guns during the raid in the nearby town
of Khan al-Sheih.
(AP, 4/28/04)
2004 May 11, The Bush
administration ordered economic sanctions against Syria for supporting
terrorism. Food and medicine were excepted.
(SFC, 5/12/04, p.A3)
2004 Sep 15, The Egyptian and
Syrian presidents linked calls by the UN and fellow Arab leaders for
Syrian troops to leave Lebanon to past UN resolutions demanding that
Israeli pull out of the West Bank and Golan Heights.
(AP, 9/15/04)
2004 Sep 21, Hundreds of Syrian
soldiers stationed in the hills near Lebanon's capital began
dismantling their bases in an effort to appease a U.N. Security Council
demand that all 20,000 Syrian troops leave the country.
(AP, 9/21/04)
2004 Sep 26, Ezzedin Sheikh
Khalil, a senior Hamas operative, was killed in a car bombing outside
his house in Damascus, the first such killing of a leader of the
Islamic militant group in Syria. The hit was claimed by Israeli
security officials.
(AP, 9/27/04)(Econ, 10/2/04, p.47)
2004 Oct 4, Syrian President
Bashar Assad replaced about one-third of his Cabinet, bringing new
faces to the key interior and information ministries.
(AP, 10/4/04)
2004 Dec 22, Turkey and Syria
signed a free-trade accord.
(WSJ, 12/23/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec, Syrian-born Mustafa
Setmarian Nasar (b.1958), a.k.a. Abu Musab, Nouradin, Blond Blond, Abu
al-Abed, Omar Abdelhakin, Abu Musab al Siri, Umar Abd al-Hakim,
authored "The International Islamic Resistance Call." His book named
enemies as "Jews, Americans, British, Russian and any and all of the
NATO countries, as well as any country that takes the position of
oppressing Islam and Muslims."
(AP, 8/4/05)
2004 Israel rejected a Syrian
attempt to create a channel of communications. In response Alon Liel, a
former Israeli ambassador, began talks with Ibrahim Suleiman, a Syrian
in Washington with close ties to Pres. Assad, under the mediation of a
Swiss diplomat.
(Econ, 1/20/07, p.55)
2005 Jan 8, Former Democratic
presidential candidate John Kerry met with Syria's president and said
he was hopeful that strained U.S.-Syrian relations could be improved.
(AP, 1/8/05)
2005 Jan 13, Israel's foreign
minister said the planned sale of advanced Russian missiles to Syria
will disrupt regional stability and Moscow should call off the deal.
(AP, 1/13/05)
2005 Feb 3, Iran and Syria
rejected President Bush's charges that they sponsored terrorism. An
Iranian official called the claims groundless. The Syrian information
minister said the democracy America seeks for the Middle East could not
come through force.
(AP, 2/3/05)
2005 Feb 12, Syrian authorities
released 55 members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood who had spent up
to 20 years in jail.
(AP, 2/12/05)
2005 Feb 16, Syria and Iran
announced a united front amid perceived US threats.
(WSJ, 2/17/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 21, The Arab League chief
said that Syria will "soon" take steps to withdraw its army from
Lebanese areas in accordance with a 1989 agreement. Tens of thousands
of opposition supporters shouted insults at Syria and demanded the
resignation of their pro-Syrian government in a Beirut demonstration.
(AP, 2/21/05)
2005 Feb 23, Egyptian President
Hosni Mubarak said that he expects further Syrian troop redeployments
in Lebanon, and he dispatched his intelligence chief to Damascus to
meet with President Bashar Assad to discuss increasing American and
European pressure on Syria.
(AP, 2/23/05)
2005 Feb 24, Lebanon's defense
minister said Syria will withdraw troops from mountain and coastal
areas in Lebanon in line with a 1989 agreement.
(AP, 2/24/05)
2005 Feb 27, Iraqi security forces
reported the capture of Saddam Hussein's half-brother and former
adviser. Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan, the 6 of diamonds, was No. 36 on the
list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis. Syria captured al-Hassan and 29 other
fugitives and handed them over to Iraqi security. 2 American soldiers
were killed in an ambush in the capital.
(AP, 2/27/05)(SFC, 2/28/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 2, In a new book entitled
"Mari, the Metropolis of the Euphrates," Jean-Claude Margueron said the
third millennium BC city, in modern day Syria, was "one of the first
modern cities of humanity.
(AP, 3/2/05)
2005 Mar 2, President Bush
demanded in blunt terms that Syria get out of Lebanon.
(AP, 3/2/05)
2005 Mar 3, An Arab League meeting
opened in Cairo. An Arab diplomat said Syria has told Arab countries it
needs to keep 3,000 troops and early-warning stations inside Lebanon to
maintain its security despite international pressure for a full
withdrawal. Saudi Arabia told Syria to withdraw its troops.
(AP, 3/3/05)(SFC, 3/4/05, p.A3)
2005 Mar 5, Syria’s Pres. Assad
outlined a two-step pullback: 1st to Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, nearer to
the Syrian border; 2nd, a redeployment from there all the way to the
Syrian frontier. He failed to address broad international demands that
he completely withdraw Syria's 15,000 troops after nearly 30 years in
Lebanon.
(AP, 3/5/05)
2005 Mar 7, The presidents of
Syria and Lebanon announced that Syrian forces will pull back to
Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley by March 31, but a complete troop
withdrawal will be deferred until after later negotiations.
(AP, 3/7/05)
2005 Mar 9, Syrian soldiers
flashed victory signs and waved automatic rifles as they drove east
through Lebanon's mountains in the first phase of a pullback.
Government lawmakers advised the president to bring back his
pro-Damascus prime minister who was forced by opposition protests to
resign.
(AP, 3/9/05)
2005 Mar 11, The last Syrian
troops left northern Lebanon but left behind intelligence officers in
nine offices. The U.N. Mideast envoy said Syria needs to produce a
timetable for a full withdrawal from the rest of Lebanon. Since 1976
some 15,000 Syrian troops were killed in the Lebanese civil war.
(AP, 3/11/05)(Econ, 4/2/05, p.41)
2005 Mar 29, Syria promised the UN
that it will withdraw all troops from Lebanon before parliamentary
elections but didn't mention a pullout of its intelligence operatives
as demanded by the Security Council.
(AP, 3/29/05)
2005 Apr 23, It was noted that
Rami Makhlouf, a younger first cousin of Pres. Bashar Assad, is
arguably the most powerful economic figure in Syria.
(Econ, 4/23/05, p.45)(www.neal-us.org/who's_who.htm)
2005 Apr 24, Syrian troops burned
documents and dismantled military posts in their final hours in
Lebanon, before deploying toward the border and effectively ending 29
years of military presence in the country.
(AP, 4/24/05)
2005 Apr 26, Syria ended its
29-year military domination of Lebanon as soldiers flashing victory
signs completed a withdrawal.
(AP, 4/26/05)
2005 May 8, In Syria a prominent
Kurdish Islamic scholar was murdered in Damascus.
(WSJ, 6/6/05, p.A1)
2005 May 20, Syrian Ambassador
Imad Moustapha said Syria has cut off military and intelligence
cooperation with the US over the last 10 days amid strains in relations
between the two countries over the insurgency in Iraq.
(AP, 5/24/05)
2005 May 26, Syria's UN ambassador
said Syria has arrested more than 1,200 people trying to cross the
border into Iraq in recent weeks and sent many back to their home
countries because of suspicions they were trying to join the insurgency.
(AP, 5/26/05)
2005 May 27, According to Israeli
sources Syria test fired 3 Scud missiles, one of which broke up over
two Turkish villages causing no injuries, in an act of defiance to the
US and the UN. Syria denied the charges.
(AFP, 6/3/05)(AP, 6/4/05)
2005 May, US forces fired across
the Iraqi frontier and killed a Syrian soldier during an American
military operation. The event was reported by a Syrian general 5 months
later.
(AP, 10/28/05)
2005 Jun 9, Syria's ruling Baath
Party endorsed reforms that include allowing some independent political
parties, relaxing a state of emergency and granting more press freedom.
(AP, 6/9/05)
2005 Jun 9, Syrian forces raided a
suspected terrorist hideout near the capital, killing 2 men, arresting
a third and foiling alleged bombing plots that targeted the nation's
Justice Palace.
(AP, 6/11/05)
2005 Jun 21, In Lebanon a bomb
killed a politician who was a harsh critic of Syria's power, the second
slaying of an anti-Syrian figure this month.
(AP, 6/21/05)
2005 Aug 1, Trucks loaded with
produce and other merchandise began crossing into Syria from Lebanon on
their way to Gulf countries after Syria eased restrictions that left
them stranded for nearly four weeks in the border area.
(AP, 8/1/05)
2005 Sep 2, Syrian troops clashed
with members of the Jund al-Sham Islamic militant organization in the
northern city of Hama. Five militants were killed.
(AP, 9/3/05)
2005 Sep 8, In northeastern Syria
security forces clashed with Islamic militants, killing one and
arresting three others in the country's latest move against a group
accused of planning bomb attacks.
(AP, 9/8/05)
2005 Sep 10, Syrian President
Bashar Assad met with leaders of 10 militant Palestinian groups based
in Syria, defying U.S. pressure to crack down on these groups. Syria's
official news agency SANA reported Assad urged the radical Palestinian
leaders, including Khaled Mashaal, the political leader of the militant
Hamas group, to close ranks and continue the struggle in order to
achieve their goal of an independent Palestinian state.
(AP, 9/10/05)
2005 Sep 12, Syria consented to a
UN investigator's request to question top officials about the
assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, a probe
that increases the pressure on an increasingly isolated Damascus.
(AP, 9/12/05)
2005 Oct 4, A new Syrian TV series
began broadcasting around the Middle East. It tells the story of Arabs
living in residential compounds in Saudi Arabia and the militant
Islamists who want to blow them up so they can collect their rewards in
heaven, 72 beautiful virgins.
(AP, 10/10/05)
2005 Oct 12, Ghazi Kanaan, Syria's
interior minister, died. He was one of several top officials caught up
in the UN investigation into the slaying of Lebanon's former prime
minister. The country's official news agency said he committed suicide
in his office.
(AP, 10/12/05)(Econ, 10/15/05, p.50)
2005 Oct 16, In Syria a
pro-democracy group issued the Damascus Declaration for Democratic
National Change. The group came to be called the Damascus Declaration.
(AP, 10/29/08)(http://tinyurl.com/5jc9vh)
2005 Oct 20, A UN report
implicated the brother-in-law of Syria's president in the Feb 14
assassination of former Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri, and Lebanese
intelligence officials helped organize it. The UN inquiry officially
linked Damascus to the slaying for the first time. Syria rejected the
report. The names of top Syrians were edited out in the final version
of the report.
(AP, 10/21/05)
2005 Oct 28, A top military
officer said Syria has increased military posts and patrols along its
border with Iraq and stopped thousands of infiltrators from entering
into the war-torn country.
(AP, 10/28/05)
2005 Oct 28, Egyptian Pres. Hosni
Mubarak held unexpected talks with his beleaguered Syrian counterpart
Bashar Assad to discuss Damascus' crisis with the West over the killing
of a former Lebanese leader.
(AP, 10/28/05)
2005 Oct 28, The US joined with
the UN, Russia and the EU in demanding Syria immediately close the
offices of Islamic Jihad in Damascus and prevent use of its territory
for terror actions.
(AP, 10/28/05)
2005 Oct 29, Syrian President
Bashar Assad issued an order for a special committee to investigate any
Syrian involvement in the assassination of former PM Hariri in
neighboring Lebanon.
(AP, 10/29/05)
2005 Oct 31, A UN resolution
sponsored by the US, France and Britain demanded that Syria assist
fully with a probe into the February killing of former Lebanese leader
Hariri. The P-5 ambassadors (the five permanent council nations) from
the US, Russia, China, Britain and France, conducted intense
negotiations to try to reach agreement on the resolution.
(WSJ, 11/1/05, p.A1)(AP, 11/3/05)
2005 Nov 2, Syrian President
Bashar Assad gave amnesty to 190 political prisoners to mark the Muslim
feast of Eid al-Fitr.
(AP, 11/2/05)
2005 Nov 17, It was reported that
Syria had detained 4 Australian-Iraqi women at the Damascus airport for
allegedly trying to take gun parts hidden in a child's toy onto a plane
bound for Australia.
(AFP, 11/17/05)
2005 Dec 3, Troops exhumed the
remains of 25 bodies from a mass grave near a former Syrian military
base in eastern Lebanon. About 17,000 Lebanese who disappeared during
1975-90 civil war are still missing, including 61 Lebanese soldiers.
(AP, 12/03/05)
2005 Dec 4, Syrian security forces
clashed with militants planning to launch terror attacks in the
northern city of Aleppo. Five people were wounded, including two
militants.
(AP, 12/04/05)
2005 Dec 8, In northern Syria 8
Muslim militants died in a battle with security forces at a farmhouse.
(AP, 12/08/05)
2005 Dec 17, The chief UN
investigator into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister
Rafik Hariri said in published remarks that he believed Syrian
authorities were behind the killing.
(AP, 12/17/05)
2005 Dec 19, Lebanon closed a
military route that crossed its border into Syria, ending nearly 3
decades of unmonitored flow of high-ranking officials and goods between
the two countries.
(AP, 12/19/05)
2005 Dec 27, Official Syrian news
reported that Syria has signed a $2.7 billion memorandum of
understanding with a Russian company for construction of a refinery and
petrochemical plant in northeast Syria.
(AP, 12/27/05)
2005 Dec 27, Abdel-Qadar Abdel
Qader, a Syrian, was arrested in Lebanon on suspicion of involvement in
the assassination of Gibran Tueni, the anti-Syrian general manager and
columnist of Lebanon's leading newspaper.
(AP, 12/27/05)
2005 Dec 29, Syria’s former Vice
President Abdul-Halim Khaddam said in a television interview from Paris
that Syrian President Bashar Assad threatened former Lebanese Prime
Minister Rafik Hariri months before Hariri was assassinated in a truck
bombing.
(AP, 1/1/06)
2005 Dec 31, Syria's ruling Baath
Party stripped former Vice President Abdul-Halim Khaddam of membership
and joined parliament in demanding his trial on a charge of high
treason. The French Foreign Ministry confirmed Khaddam has been in
France for several months but declined to give any details on his
whereabouts.
(AP, 1/1/06)
2005 Flynt Leverett authored
“Inheriting Syria: Bashar’s Trial by Fire.”
(Econ, 4/23/05, p.79)
2005 Syria’s population at this
time was about 18 million with 90.3% Arabs.
(Econ, 10/1/05, p.41)
2006 Jan 18, Syrian authorities
released five pro-democracy activists, including two prominent former
legislators, after they had served nearly four years of their five-year
prison sentences.
(AP, 1/19/06)
2006 Jan 18, Pres. Bush ordered
assets of Asef Shawkat, head of Syria’s military intelligence, to be
frozen and barred trade with him because of violent meddling in Lebanon.
(WSJ, 1/19/06,
p.A1)(www.iht.com/getina/files/303997.html)
2006 Jan 19, Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad began a visit to Syria to consolidate an old
alliance made increasingly crucial as both countries face mounting US
pressure and the threat of international sanctions.
(AP, 1/19/06)
2006 Jan 19, Syria asserted that
Iran had a right to atomic technology and said Western objections to
Tehran's nuclear ambitions were not persuasive.
(AP, 1/19/06)
2006 Feb 4, Rage against
caricatures of Islam's revered prophet poured out across the Muslim
world. Aggrieved believers in Syria called for executions, stormed,
European buildings and torched the Danish and Norwegian embassies in
Damascus. In Gaza Palestinians marched through the streets, storming
European buildings and burning German and Danish flags.
(AP, 2/4/06)(AP, 2/4/07)
2006 Feb 10, In Turkey a Syrian
was charged with masterminding suicide bombings that killed 58 people
in Istanbul, and Turkish prosecutors claimed that Osama bin Laden
personally ordered him to carry out terror attacks in this pro-Western
country. Loa'i Mohammad Haj Bakr al-Saqa (32) was accused of serving as
a point man between al-Qaida and homegrown militants behind the series
of suicide bombings in Istanbul in 2003, said the indictment. It said
al-Saqa gave the Turkish militants about $170,000. He was captured in
Turkey in August after an alleged failed plot to attack Israeli cruise
ships in the Mediterranean.
(AP, 2/10/06)
2006 Feb 14, The UN asked Lebanon
to explain reports of arms shipments crossing the Syrian border
destined for the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah.
(AP, 2/14/06)
2006 Feb 24, French legal
authorities refused to extradite to Lebanon Zouheir Mohammad Assediq,
an ex-Syrian intelligence officer, to answer questions about the murder
of former Lebanese PM Rafiq el-Hariri.
(AFP, 2/26/06)
2006 Mar 17, Exiled Syrian
opposition figures in Belgium formed a united front, calling for a
transitional government to prepare for the overthrow of President
Bashar Assad's regime.
(AP, 3/17/06)
2006 Apr 3, Mohammed al-Maghout
(72), a Syrian poet and playwright known for his satirical depictions
of authoritarian Arab regimes, died of a stroke at his home in Damascus.
(AP, 4/3/06)
2006 May 14, Syria detained Michel
Kilo (66), a prominent writer and democracy campaigner, who has
long been one of the government's most outspoken critics.
(AP, 5/15/06)
2006 Jun 2, Clashes between Syrian
security forces and Islamic militants in an area of Damascus filled
with government buildings left five dead and four wounded.
(AP, 6/2/06)
2006 Jun 5, Key Syrian opposition
figures urged Syrians to work to oust President Bashar Assad by using
acts of civil disobedience reminiscent to the upheaval that freed
nations behind the Iron Curtain.
(AP, 6/5/06)
2006 Jun 7, In Syria Mohammad
Ghanem, a journalist who edits a Web site and advocates greater rights
for Kurds in Syria, was sentenced to a year in prison, but the military
court commuted his sentence to six months. Ghanem was convicted on
charges of "insulting the Syrian president, discrediting the Syrian
government and fomenting sectarian unrest."
(AP, 6/7/06)
2006 Jun 26, Syrian President
Bashar Assad said in a published interview that Lebanon is becoming a
shelter for al-Qaida-linked militants fleeing across the Syrian border
after a crackdown by authorities there.
(AP, 6/26/06)
2006 Jul 23, Syria, one of
Hezbollah's main backers, said it will press for a cease-fire to end
the fighting between Israel and the Islamic militant group but only in
the framework of a broader Middle East peace initiative.
(AP, 7/23/06)
2006 Aug 23, Syria opposed
deployment of an international force along its border to prevent arms
shipments to Hezbollah, and Israel called the situation in Lebanon
"explosive." In southern Lebanon 3 Lebanese soldiers were killed while
they dismantled an unexploded missile. An Israeli soldier was killed
and three others wounded in southern Lebanon when their tank drove over
a land mine.
(AP, 8/23/06)(AP, 8/24/06)
2006 Aug 30, Venezuelan President
Hugo Chavez said in Damascus that he and Syrian President Bashar Assad
shared a "decisive and firm" stance against American "imperialism" and
"domination."
(AP, 8/30/06)
2006 Sep 1, UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan said that Syria had pledged to step up border patrols and
work with the Lebanese army to stop the flow of weapons to Hezbollah.
(AP, 9/1/06)
2006 Sep 7, Cyprus impounded a
Panama-flagged vessel on arms smuggling suspicion. It carried 18 North
Korean mobile radar units and 3 command vehicles due for delivery to
Syria.
(WSJ, 9/8/06, p.A1)(Reuters, 9/11/06)
2006 Sep 9, Italy's PM Romano
Prodi said Syria has agreed "in principle" to a European Union presence
on its border to help stem the flow of weapons into Lebanon.
(AP, 9/9/06)
2006 Sep 12, In Syria armed
Islamic militants attempted to storm the US Embassy in Damascus. Four
people were killed, including three of the assailants. One of Syria's
anti-terrorism forces was killed and 11 other people were wounded. The
only Islamic militant arrested in the attack died from his wounds, and
authorities were unable to question him.
(AP, 9/12/06)(AP, 9/13/06)
2006 Sep 23, The TV series “The
Renegades,” directed by Najdat Anzour of Syria, began showing in
Lebanon and the rest of the Arab world. It fictionalized the
devastating effects of terrorism on Muslim families.
(SFC, 10/4/06, p.A7)
2006 Oct 19, Syrian authorities
ordered prominent writer and pro-democracy activist Michel Kilo
released on bail after more than four months in detention.
(AP, 10/19/06)
2006 Nov 6, Syria's foreign
minister said his country was ready to resume peace talks with Israel
and he urged the Jewish state's government to heed calls from within
the country for renewed negotiations.
(AP, 11/7/06)
2006 Nov 20, Iran invited Iraq and
Syria to talks in Tehran aimed at curbing violence in Iraq.
(SFC, 11/21/06, p.A1)
2006 Nov 21, Iraq restored
diplomatic relations with Syria as part of a wider regional effort to
clamp off violence in Iraq. Iraqi and US forces raided Baghdad's Sadr
City and detained seven militia members, including one believed to have
information about an American soldier kidnapped last month. A young boy
and two other people were killed in the early morning raid.
(AP, 11/21/06)
2006 Nov 25, Israel and the
Palestinians agreed to a cease-fire to end a five-month Israeli
military offensive in the Gaza Strip and the firing of rockets by
Palestinian militants into the Jewish state. Hamas' leader,
Damascus-based supreme leader Khaled Mashaal, said his group was
willing to give peace negotiations with Israel six months to reach an
agreement for a Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank, but
threatened a new uprising if the talks fail.
(AP, 11/25/06) (AP, 11/25/07)
2006 Nov 28, A Syrian leader of an
Islamic militant group blew himself up at a border post with Lebanon
after a gunbattle with Syrian security forces.
(AP, 11/28/06)
2006 Dec 13, Syria said it has
admitted more than 800,000 Iraqis who have fled the violence in their
country.
(AP, 12/13/06)
2006 Dec 18, Syria’s official SUNA
news agency said Syria and Iraq had signed on to a plan to cooperate in
combating terrorism and crime.
(AP, 12/18/06)
2006 Dec 19, Syrian President
Bashar al-Assad said he was ready for dialogue with the United States
but warned Washington against giving Damascus orders.
(AP, 12/19/06)
2007 Feb 5, Syria’s President
Bashar Assad said cooperation, and negotiations, between Syria and the
US could be the "last chance" to avoid full-scale civil war in Iraq.
(AP, 2/5/07)
2007 Feb 11, A Syrian court
sentenced Mohammed Haydar Zammar, a man believed to have known the
Sept. 11 hijackers, to 12 years in prison for membership in the banned
Muslim Brotherhood organization.
(AP, 2/11/07)
2007 Feb 17, Syrian President
Bashar Assad arrived in Iran to discuss Iraq and other Middle East
issues with President Mahmoud Ahmadinajed.
(AP, 2/17/07)
2007 Feb 22, The Israeli daily
Haaretz reported that Syria has embarked on an "unprecedented" effort
to bolster its armed forces with Iranian and Russian help.
(AP, 2/22/07)
2007 Feb 28, Syria said it would
participate in a Baghdad-organized conference of Iraq's neighbors that
the US plans to attend. Iran said it was considering whether to take
part.
(AP, 2/28/07)
2007 Mar 8, Syria’s Pres. Bashar
Assad inaugurated the first stage of a joint Syrian-Iranian auto
factory, test-driving one of the new cars and declaring that the
project will boost cooperation between the allies.
(AP, 3/9/07)
2007 Apr 1, In Syria US House
members meeting with President Bashar Assad said they believed there
was an opportunity for dialogue.
(AP, 4/1/07)
2007 Apr 4, In Damascus US House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi held talks with Syria's leader despite White House
objections, saying she pressed President Bashar Assad over his
country's support for militant groups and passed him a peace message
from Israel.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 12, A Syrian-American
businessman with ties to the Damascus government made an unprecedented
appearance before an Israeli parliamentary panel, telling lawmakers
that Syrian President Bashar Assad is ready to make peace with the
Jewish state.
(AP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 14, Syria distanced
itself from comments by a Syrian-American businessman who recently told
Israeli lawmakers that President Bashar Assad was ready to make peace
with the Jewish state.
(AP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 18, The UN Security
Council expressed "serious concern" at mounting reports of weapons
being smuggled from Syria to Lebanon and authorized an independent
mission to evaluate monitoring of the border between the two countries.
(AP, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 23, Syrians voted for a
second day in a tightly controlled election to pick a new legislature,
a vote President Bashar Assad hopes can consolidate his rule, soften
his regime's authoritarian image and ease its international isolation.
(AP, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 24, A Syrian court
convicted prominent human rights activist Anwar al-Bunni of
disseminating hostile information and sentenced him to five years in
jail.
(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 26, Syria’s government
said that the ruling coalition took an overwhelming majority of seats
in parliamentary elections that were boycotted by the opposition as a
farce.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 May 3, In Egypt a conference
of nearly 50 nations opened at Sharm el-Sheik to rally international
support, particularly from Arab nations, for an ambitious plan to
stabilize Iraq. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met Syria's
foreign minister in the first high-level talks between the two
countries in years. Hours after the chief military spokesman in Iraq
said Syria had moved to reduce "the flow of foreign fighters" across
its border.
(AP, 5/3/07)
2007 May 8, A newspaper owned by
Saudi Arabia's royal family said one of seven recently exposed Saudi
terrorist cells used Syria as a base for coordinating with al-Qaida in
Iraq and held training camps in the desert of neighboring Yemen.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 9, In northern Syria 7
people were killed and 7 were wounded when a 5-story building collapsed.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, Kamal Labwani, a
Syrian dissident who was arrested after meeting with White House
officials two years ago, was convicted and sentenced to 12 years in
prison for contacting a foreign country and inciting attack against his
country. His sentencing follows another in recent days against Anwar
al-Bunni, a human rights lawyer, who received a five-year prison
sentence, signaling a continuing of a crackdown by authorities against
dissent.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 13, A Syrian court
sentenced four pro-democracy campaigners, including one of Syria's most
respected writers, to prison terms as part of President's Bashar
Assad's latest crack down on dissent.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 23, In northern Syria 14
people were killed and 20 injured when an Iraqi bus overturned on the
Raqqa-Aleppo highway about 250 miles north of Damascus.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, Hundreds of thousands
of Syrians thronged Damascus to support a second seven-year term for
President Bashar Assad.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 26, In Washington, DC,
some 100 supporters of Syria’s largest exile opposition group, the
National Salvation Front, gathered outside the Damascus embassy to
protest against the government of Pres. Assad.
(WSJ, 1/25/07, p.A1)
2007 May 27, Syrian President
Bashar Assad cast his vote at a polling station as part of a one-day
public referendum to endorse him for a second term and bolster his
autocratic rule. Assad won another seven years in office, getting 97%
of the vote in a nationwide referendum in which he was the only
candidate.
(AP, 5/27/07)(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 Jun 17, A Syrian court found
7 pro-Democracy advocates guilty of endangering the state and sentenced
them 5 to 7 years in prison.
(SFC, 6/19/07, p.A7)
2007 Jun, The World Monuments Fund
added the Jordan River Valley to its list of 100 most endangered sites.
Israel, Jordan and Syria diverted over 90% of the Jordan River water
annually for drinking and irrigation, reducing flow to the Dead Sea.
(SSFC, 8/12/07, p.A15)
2007 Jul 17, Syria’s Pres. Bashar
Assad was sworn in for a 2nd, seven-year term in office.
(AP, 7/17/07)
2007 Jul 21, In northern Syria 2
buses collided head-on, killing 20 people and wounding 50.
(AP, 7/21/07)
2007 Jul 26, In northern Syria an
explosion at an ordnance depot that was blamed on summer heat killed at
least 15 soldiers and wounded 50 others.
(AP, 7/26/07)
2007 Aug 20, Iraq's embattled PM
Nouri al-Maliki came to Syria on his first visit here as prime minister
amid efforts to garner neighbors' support for curbing violence at home.
Syria said Iraq should set a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign
troops. A roadside bomb killed Mohammed Ali al-Hassani (52), the
governor of the predominantly Shiite Muthanna province, along with his
driver and guard. Two bombings struck the Shiite district of Sadr City
and a busy market district elsewhere in Baghdad, killing at least 7
people and wounding more than 20. Thousands rallied against the US in
Sadr City, waving Iraqi flags and shouting "No, no to America."
(AP, 8/20/07)
2007 Aug 27, Israel’s Haaretz
newspaper reported that security officials fear Hamas' exiled
leadership in Syria is working to renew suicide attacks against Israel
in an effort to derail peace efforts by Israel and Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas. Israeli intelligence assessed that Islamic
Hamas militants have smuggled 40 tons of weapons into the Gaza Strip
since the group wrested control of the territory in June.
(AP, 8/27/07)
2007 Sep 6, Israeli troops backed
by tanks and bulldozers crossed into southern Gaza to strike at
Palestinian militants and 10 militants were killed. Palestinian
militants said fighters in a pickup truck and jeep crashed through a
fence on the Gaza-Israel border and attacked an Israeli army post. An
Israeli airstrike hit in Syria where it was believed weapons, being
sent from Iran to the militant Islamic group in Lebanon, were stored.
It was later reported that the airstrike was aimed at a partly
constructed nuclear reactor.
(AP, 9/6/07)(AP, 9/12/07)(SSFC, 10/14/07, p.A19)
2007 Sep 11, Syria complained to
the UN about Israeli "aggression and violation of sovereignty" after
what a US official said was Sep 6 airstrike deep in Syria.
(AP, 9/11/07)(AP, 9/12/07)
2007 Sep 21, North Korea and Syria
held high-level talks in Pyongyang, amid suspicions that the two
countries might be cooperating on a nuclear weapons program.
(AP, 9/21/07)
2007 Sep 22, North Korea's No. 2
leader met with a Syrian delegation in Pyongyang, amid suspicions of a
secret nuclear connection between the two countries.
(AP, 9/22/07)
2007 Oct 1, Syria began requiring
visas for Iraqis entering the country, hoping to stem the flow of
refugees fleeing violence in their homeland.
(AP, 10/1/07)
2007 Oct 4, Iranian state
television reported that Iran and Syria have signed an agreement for
Tehran to export a billion dollars worth of gas every year to its chief
regional ally.
(AP, 10/4/07)
2007 Oct 17,
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, on a visit to Turkey, said that
Damascus would back a possible Turkish incursion into northern Iraq to
crack down "against terrorist activities" there.
(AP, 10/17/07)
2007 Oct 18, The UN said action
would be taken against the interpreter responsible for an erroneous
report that Syria has a nuclear facility and expressed regret at the
incident.
(AP, 10/18/07)
2007 Oct 21, In Syria a high-level
North Korean official held talks with PM Naji Otari on ways to improve
cooperation between the two countries.
(AP, 10/21/07)
2007 Oct 25,
In northern Syria authorities hanged five men for murders they
committed during attempted robberies.
(AP, 10/25/07)
2007 Dec 18, A human rights group
said that Syrian authorities have arrested two activists, raising to at
least seven the number detained following a recent meeting of
opposition groups in Damascus. The two had attended the National
Council of the Damascus Declaration for Democratic Change, a Dec. 1
gathering of numerous opposition groups and activists calling for
democratic reforms in Syria.
(AP, 12/18/07)
2007 Dec 30, President Nicolas
Sarkozy said France will have no more contact with Syria until Damascus
shows its willingness to let Lebanon end its current crisis and appoint
a new president.
(AP, 12/30/07)
2007 Dec 31, Syria’s state-run
media called on the US to begin a direct dialogue, a day after an
influential US senator said Washington could "bridge the gap" between
Israel and Syria.
(AP, 12/31/07)
2007 Syria’s oil exports were
expected to almost cease by this time.
(SFEC, 1/25/98, p.A18)
2007 Syria’s population numbered
about 19 million.
(Econ, 11/17/07, p.55)
2008 Jan 5, Syria joined other
Arab nations in endorsing the head of Lebanon's army as that country's
next president, putting pressure on the Lebanese opposition to drop
demands that have blocked a compromise over the post.
(AP, 1/5/08)
2008 Jan 9, The US imposed
sanctions on Mishan Jaburi, owner of Al Zawra television in Syria, and
Brig. Gen. Ahmed Foruzandeh, leader of the Iranian Quds Force, for
broadcasting attacks on American troops and calls to violence. Jaburi,
a former parliamentarian in Iraq, had fled to Syria in 2006 amid
charges that he had embezzled millions from Iraq’s treasury. The BBC
said the station was last seen July 27.
(SFC, 1/10/08, p.A13)
2008 Feb 12, In Syria Imad
Mughniyeh (45), the suspected mastermind of dramatic attacks on the US
Embassy and US Marine barracks that killed hundreds of Americans in
Lebanon in the 1980s, died in a car bombing. Hezbollah and its Iranian
backers blamed Israel for the killing. Israel denied involvement and
said it was looking into the death.
(AP, 2/13/08)
2008 Feb 14, The chief of
Hezbollah vowed to retaliate against Israeli targets anywhere in the
world after accusing the Jewish state of killing the militant Imad
Mughniyeh in Syria.
(AP, 2/14/08)
2008 Mar 3, Tens of thousands of
Syrians filled the central square of the capital to protest an Israeli
offensive in the Gaza Strip that has left scores of Palestinians dead.
(AP, 3/3/08)
2008 Mar 8, North Korea’s official
news agency reported that leader Kim Jong Il hopes for stronger
friendship with Syria, amid lingering suspicions of a secret nuclear
connection between the two countries.
(AP, 3/8/08)
2008 Mar 11, At least 42 people
were killed across Iraq. A roadside bomb hit a bus traveling in
southern Iraq, killing at least 16 civilians, while gunmen opened fire
on another bus in the capital, leaving one person dead. The Pentagon
said up to 90% of the foreign fighters in Iraq cross from Syria.
(AFP, 3/11/08)(AP, 3/12/08)(WSJ, 3/12/08, p.A1)
2008 Mar 14, In northern Syria a
bus carrying high school students rammed into a house and flipped over,
killing at least 24 people and injuring 34.
(AP, 3/14/08)
2008 Mar 24, Saudi Arabia said its
king would send a lower level diplomat to the March 29 Arab League
summit in Syria, which hoped to help solve the stalemate in Lebanon.
(WSJ, 3/25/08, p.A1)
2008 Mar 25, It was reported that
Syria is cracking down more on Internet use, imposing tighter
monitoring of citizens who link to the Web, as well as jailing bloggers
who criticize the government and blocking YouTube and other Web sites
deemed harmful to state security.
(AP, 3/25/08)
2008 Mar 28, Jordan, Iraq and
Yemen announced at the last minute that their top leaders will not
attend this weekend's Arab summit in Damascus.
(AP, 3/28/08)
2008 Mar 29, An Arab League summit
in Damascus, where Syrian President Bashar Assad questioned how long
Arab nations can keep offering Israel a land-for-peace proposal.
Islamic and Arab leaders denounced a Dutch film that portrays Islam as
a ticking time bomb aimed at the West, demanding international laws to
prevent insults to religions.
(AP, 3/29/08)(AP, 3/30/08)
2008 Mar 30, In Syria Iraq refused
to endorse the final declaration of the Arab summit because it did not
condemn terrorism in the country, a divisive end to a gathering marred
by disputes and boycotts.
(AP, 3/30/08)
2008 Apr 18,
Former US Pres. Jimmy Carter arrived in Syria where he met Pres.
Bashar Assad, the political leader of the militant Palestinian Hamas
group and Syrian businessmen.
(AP, 4/18/08)
2008 Apr 19, In Syria defying US
and Israeli warnings, former President Jimmy Carter met again on with
Khaled Mashaal, the exiled leader of the militant Hamas group, and his
deputy, Moussa Abu Marzouk.
(AP, 4/19/08)
2008 Apr 23, Syria handed over a
trove of some 700 looted artifacts to Iraq after seizing the items from
traffickers since the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
(AP, 4/24/08)
2008 Apr 24, Syria dismissed US
accusations that North Korea was helping it build a nuclear reactor
that could produce plutonium. Israeli warplanes bombed a site in Syria
on Sept. 6, 2007, that private analysts said appeared to have been the
site of a reactor, based on commercial satellite imagery taken after
the raid. Syria later razed the site.
(AP, 4/24/08)
2008 Apr 26, Turkey's PM Erdogan
was in Syria in a bid to restart peace negotiations between Damascus
and its Mideast foe, Israel.
(AP, 4/26/08)
2008 May 21, Israel and Syria said
they were holding indirect peace talks through Turkish mediators on a
dispute that centers on the Golan Heights.
(AP, 5/21/08)
2008 Jun 2, The chief of the
International Atomic Energy Agency says Syria has agreed to let
inspectors into the country this month to probe allegations of illegal
nuclear activity.
(AP, 6/2/08)
2008 Jun 5, Diplomats said Syria
has told a 35-nation meeting that it will limit what UN nuclear
inspectors can see when they go to check on allegations that Damascus
is hiding atomic facilities.
(AP, 6/5/08)
2008 Jun 15, Israeli officials
said that indirect peace talks between Israel and Syria have resumed,
with Turkish mediation.
(AP, 6/15/08)
2008 Jun 16, Officials said 2 days
of peace talks in Turkey involving Israel and Syria had concluded and
more talks were planned.
(AP, 6/16/08)
2008 Jun 23, UN experts began
probing allegations that Syria has a hidden nuclear program, as
Damascus imposed strict secrecy on the visit, warning the UN not to
drag it into a drawn-out investigation like the standoff with Iran.
(AP, 6/24/08)
2008 Jun 25, A senior UN atomic
inspector said an initial probe of US allegations that a Syrian site
hit by Israeli warplanes was a secretly built nuclear reactor is
inconclusive and further checks are necessary.
(AP, 6/25/08)
2008 Jul 5, In Syria military
police officers killed at least 9 inmates during a riot at the Saydnaya
Prison. The prisoners took 9 officials and guards hostage.
(SSFC, 7/6/08, p.A7)
2008 Jul 12, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy met his Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak, kicking off
a round of diplomacy with Middle East leaders ahead of an
EU-Mediterranean summit. Sarkozy said that Syria and Lebanon will open
embassies in each other's countries for the first time. Syria's leader
cautioned there was still work to be done before that could happen.
(AP, 7/12/08)(AP, 7/13/08)
2008 Aug 1, A sniper assassinated
Brig. Gen. Mohammed Suleiman, a senior Syrian general close to
President Bashar Assad, at a beach resort in the northern port city of
Tartous.
(AP, 8/4/08)
2008 Aug 9, Syria said it would
bar UN nuclear investigators from revisiting a site bombed by Israeli
jets on suspicion it was a secretly built atomic reactor.
(AP, 8/9/08)
2008 Aug 14, Syria agreed to a
longtime Lebanese demand to negotiate the demarcation of their border a
day after the countries said they would establish full diplomatic
relations for the first time.
(AP, 8/14/08)
2008 Sep 3, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy encouraged Syria to pursue face-to-face peace talks
with Israel during his first trip to the Arab nation, a visit also
aimed at undercutting Iranian influence in Damascus.
(AP, 9/4/08)
2008 Sep 4, Syrian President
Bashar Assad announced that his country has handed over proposals for
peace with Israel to Turkish mediators and would wait for Israel's
response before holding any face-to-face negotiations.
(AP, 9/4/08)
2008 Sep 12, Russia’s Itar-Tass
news reported that Syria’s Tartous port is being renovated to provide a
permanent facility for the Russian navy.
(SFC, 10/3/08, p.A14)
2008 Sep 27, In Damascus, Syria, a
car packed with explosives detonated on a crowded residential street,
killing 17 people and wounding more than a dozen others.
(AP, 9/27/08)
2008 Oct 9, Two American
journalists, Holli Chmela (27) and Taylor Luck (23), who went missing
during a vacation in Lebanon eight days ago were released in Syria and
returned to Jordan. The next day they said they had been "kidnapped" by
their taxi driver and taken into Syria, where they were held in custody
for a week before being released.
(AP, 10/9/08)(AP, 10/10/08)
2008 Oct 14, Syria established
diplomatic relations with Lebanon, ending six decades of
non-recognition of its neighbor's sovereignty in an apparent bid to
curry favor with the West as it pursues indirect peace talks with
Israel.
(AP, 10/14/08)
2008 Oct 15, The foreign ministers
of Syria and Lebanon signed an agreement formalizing diplomatic ties
between the two countries for the first time in their turbulent history.
(AP, 10/15/08)
2008 Oct 26, Four US military
helicopters attacked a civilian building under construction shortly
before sundown in Sukkariyeh about five miles inside the Syrian border.
A government statement said eight people were killed, including a man
and his four children and a woman. An Associated Press journalist at
the funerals in the village's cemetery saw the bodies of seven men,
none of them minors. The area targeted is near the Iraqi border city of
Qaim, which had been a major crossing point for fighters, weapons and
money coming into Iraq.
(AP, 10/27/08)
2008 Oct 28, The Syrian government
ordered that an American school and a US cultural center in Damascus be
closed in response to a deadly raid by US helicopters near the Syrian
border with Iraq.
(AP, 10/28/08)
2008 Oct 29, A Syrian criminal
court convicted 12 dissidents of fomenting sectarian strife and
sentenced them to two and a half years in prison. The defendants,
members of a pro-democracy group known as the Damascus Declaration,
were arrested last December. The Damascus Declaration, formed in 2005,
is the broadest coalition of opposition figures in Syria.
(AP, 10/29/08)
2008 Oct 30, Scientists reported
that 1 in 17 men living on the coasts of North Africa and southern
europe may have a Phoenician direct male line ancestor. Evidence was
based on Y-chromosomes collected in Cyprus, Malta, Morocco, the West
Bank, Syria and Tunisia.
(SFC, 10/31/08, p.A14)
2008 Dec 14, In Syria former US
President Jimmy Carter met with Khaled Mashaal, the exiled leader of
the Palestinian militant group Hamas, for the second time this year.
(AP, 12/14/08)
2009 Jan 11, An estimated 2,500
Lebanese and Palestinians protested peacefully in downtown Beirut
against Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip, as hundreds of
demonstrators in neighboring Syria shouted insults at the both the
Jewish state and Arab leaders.
(AP, 1/11/09)
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