Critical

Syrian Civil War

Multi-sided war after the Syrian uprising, involving state forces, opposition factions, jihadist groups and foreign intervention.

Timeline
2011-present
Duration
15 years
Region
Middle East
Record
Ongoing conflict

Historical overview

Ongoing conflict overview and stored locally on May 11, 2026.

The Syrian civil war was an armed conflict that began with the Syrian revolution in March 2011, when popular discontent with the Ba'athist regime ruled by Bashar al-Assad triggered large-scale protests and pro-democracy rallies across Syria, as part of the wider Arab Spring. The Assad regime responded to the protests with lethal force, which led to a series of defections, the emergence of armed opposition groups, and the civilian uprising descending into a civil war. The war lasted almost 14 years and culminated in the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024. Many sources regard this as the end of the civil war even though clashes have continued into 2026.

Theater countries

SyriaTurkeyIraqLebanon

Actors

Syrian governmentopposition factionsKurdish forcesISISRussiaIranTurkey

Tags

civil-warregional-interventionstate-fragmentation

Border context

2009-2013historical border era

Arab uprisings and insurgency expansion

Uprisings, regime collapse and insurgencies spread across the Middle East, North Africa and the Sahel.

Syria and Libya enter civil war. Mali and Lake Chad become major insurgency theaters.
2014-2019historical border era

ISIS wars and renewed interstate pressure

The ISIS territorial project, Yemen's war and Russia's first phase of war against Ukraine reshape conflict geography.

ISIS loses territorial control by 2019. Crimea, Donbas, Yemen and the Sahel remain decisive zones.
2020-2022historical border era

Pandemic-era wars and invasion shock

Wars in Ethiopia, Myanmar and Ukraine show state collapse, mass mobilization and renewed interstate war.

Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion reorients European security. Myanmar's coup turns into nationwide civil war.
2023-2025historical border era

Current conflict pre-live archive

Sudan, Gaza, Ukraine, Myanmar and the Middle East escalation define the archive immediately before the live endpoint.

The next tick after 2025 is the live worker-backed map. Static history stops before the live endpoint.

Navigation