Contemporary · Middle East · War
2011
Syria's civil war begins
March 15, 2011
A handful of teenage boys in Daraa scrawled anti-Assad graffiti on a wall and were tortured. The protests that followed were met with bullets. Within months Syria was at war with itself; within years it was a proxy battlefield for half the world. By decade's end half the population was displaced.
In context
Also in 2011 (6 other events on record)
- Tōhoku earthquake and Fukushima · East Asia · Disaster
- Tahrir Square fills · Africa · Politics
- Bin Laden killed in Abbottabad · South Asia · War
- Gaddafi killed in Sirte · Africa · War
- U.S. troops leave Iraq · Middle East · War
- Royal wedding at Westminster · Europe · Culture
Before and after in Middle East
Before and after in War
Era
Contemporary (2001–2026), one of 196 events from that era on Saeculum.