US officials, engaging with rebels led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), urged them not to assume automatic leadership of the country but instead run an inclusive process to form a transitional government.

In the capital Damascus, people cheered as they stood on a toppled statue of former president Hafez al-Assad, in a highly symbolic moment for a country ruled with an iron fist for five decades by his clan.

The offensive that took the world by surprise

On July 17, 2000, Assad becomes Syria's new head of state, after the death of his father, aged 69, who ruled Syria with an iron grip for 30 years.

Syria's army command notified officers on Sunday that Assad's regime had ended, a Syrian officer who was informed of the move told Reuters.

The timeline shows how the conflict began with peaceful pro-democracy protests, then developed into a multi-sided conflict that sucked in world powers

US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet briefly on the sidelines of a summit of Asia-Pacific leaders in Vietnam and agree on the need for a political solution to Syria’s conflict.

More than 50 State Department diplomats signs an internal memo sharply critical of US policy in Syria, calling for military strikes against President Bashar al-Assad's government to stop its persistent violations of a cease-fire in the country's civil war.

New satellite imagery appears to reveal extensive damage to a strategically significant airbase in central Syria used by Russian forces after an attack by so-called Islamic State (IS).

At least 28 people are reported to have been killed in an air strike on a refugee camp in rebel-held northern Syria, monitors say.

At least 23 civilians are killed when missiles hit three hospitals and a school in rebel-held Syrian towns today, residents say, as Russian-backed Syrian troops intensify their push toward the rebel stronghold of Aleppo.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said that he intends to retake "the whole country".

Dozens of people have died in an offensive by so-called Islamic State on government-held areas of Deir al-Zour in eastern Syria, local media say.

At least 200 civilians are killed in Russian air strikes in Syria, an Amnesty International report says, quoting witnesses and activists.

The US is intensifying diplomatic efforts to end the "hell" of Syria's civil war even as it increases support for moderate rebels, US Secretary of State John Kerry has said.

Members of the US-led coalition against Islamic State call on Russia to cease air strikes they say are hitting the Syrian opposition and civilians.

Ending the conflict in Syria and Iraq is key to solving the migrant crisis facing Europe, a senior US official tells the BBC.

The UN has said that conflicts in the Middle East are depriving more than 13 million children of an education.