• 15 March: Several dozen people march in Damascus after a Facebook call for a "Day of Dignity." Rights activists say it is the first overt protest in Syria since a state of emergency was declared in 1963.

• 18 March: Four protesters killed and dozens wounded by security forces in the southern town of Daraa, which becomes the centre of the protests.

• 23 March: Rights activists say scores killed in Daraa after security forces opened fire on protesters.

• 24 March: A human rights activist says around 100 people were killed in Daraa, although the government puts the toll at 10.

• 25 March: Demonstrators in Daraa tear down a statue of former president Hafez al-Assad.

- A human rights group says 17 protesters were shot dead in a village as they were marching towards Daraa.

• 26 March: Unrest spreads to the coastal city of Latakia.

- The regime frees 260 political prisoners, most of them Islamists.
- An office of Assad's ruling Baath party is burned down during unrest in Tafas, a town near Daraa.

• 27 March: Troops deployed in Latakia, where at least 15 people have been killed, many by snipers.

• Monday, 28 March: Parliament holds a minute's silence in honour of those killed in two weeks of unrest.

• Tuesday, 29 March: Hundreds of thousands of pro-Assad Syrians throng the streets of central Damascus and other cities.

- The government resigns.
- The Facebook group which has emerged as the motor behind the protests calls for sit-ins across Syria on Friday.
 

• Wednesday, 30 March: Assad blames conspirators for the unrest but declines to elaborate on major reforms in his first address since protests began, despite expectations he would lift the state of emergency.

- Gunfire breaks out in Latakia after Assad's speech.
- The Facebook group is abuzz with criticism of the speech.
- The United States says the speech lacked real substance and failed to mention the kind of reforms his people are demanding.
- The authorities release seven activists detained at a March 16 rally.

• Thursday, 31 March: Assad launches an immediate probe into deaths in Daraa and Latakia of civilians and troops.

- Assad forms a judicial committee to study abolishing the emergency law.
- A London-based rights group close to the Muslim Brotherhood says 25 people were killed by security forces in Latakia.
- Two Reuters journalists go missing.