The Syrian army's advance in Aleppo slowed on December 8 but a victory was still firmly in sight after President Bashar al-Assad vowed that retaking the city would change the course of the six-year-old war.
Syria's army and allies pushed into rebel-held parts of Aleppo's Old City on December 6, a monitoring group said, looking closer than ever to achieving their most important victory of the five-year-old civil war by driving rebels out of their last urban stronghold.
Syrian rebels on November 30 vowed to fight on in east Aleppo in the face of sudden government advances that have cut the area held by the opposition by a third in recent days and brought insurgents in the city to the brink of a catastrophic defeat.
Russian or Syrian government warplanes pounded a women's hospital in Syria's rebel-held Idlib province on November 25, killing three people nearby, a monitoring group and an aid organization said.
Russian tankers have smuggled jet fuel to Syria through EU waters, bolstering military supplies to a war-torn country where Moscow is carrying out air strikes in support of the government, according to sources with knowledge of the matter.
US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said on October 25 that Democrat Hillary Clinton's plan for Syria would "lead to World War Three," because of the potential for conflict with military forces from nuclear-armed Russia.
The battle for control of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo intensified on October 23 with air strikes, ground offensives and shelling, the morning after a resurgence in fighting ended a Russian ceasefire, a monitor and rebel groups said.
US Secretary of State John Kerry played down expectations of a new Syrian ceasefire deal with Russia after talks in Geneva aimed at agreeing on how to separate al Qaeda-linked militants from opposition fighters in the besieged city of Aleppo.
Syria's President Bashar al-Assad said on October 14 that the Syrian army's capture of Aleppo, which has come under renewed bombardment in an effort to seize its rebel-held sector, would be "a very important springboard" to pushing "terrorists" back to Turkey.
Russian warplanes and their Syrian government allies battered rebel-held areas in and around Aleppo on October 1, and rebels and aid workers accused them of destroying one of the city's main hospitals and killing at least two patients.
Government troops and insurgents fought in several parts of Syria on September 11, apparently seeking to strengthen their positions on the eve of a ceasefire that Free Syrian Army rebels said they would observe but with major reservations.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said on September 6 there was a possibility of reaching an agreement on a ceasefire in Syria within 24 hours.
The United States and Russia will work in the next few days on a deal to curb fighting in Syria and build cooperation in the fight against terrorism, their leaders said on September 5, as blasts claimed by Islamic State killed dozens across the Arab nation.
The United Nations Security Council must not allow civilians on both sides of the Syrian city of Aleppo to be cut off from humanitarian aid, the United States said on August 8 as Russia accused Washington of politicizing a humanitarian issue.
US-backed Syrian forces edged closer to an Islamic State stronghold on the border with Turkey on June 18 while Russia's defense minister visited President Bashar al Assad to discuss military operations.
The U.S. administration sought on June 17 to contain fallout from a leaked internal memo critical of its Syria policy, but showed no sign it was willing to consider military strikes against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces called for in the letter signed by dozens of American diplomats.
Air strikes on a camp housing Syrians uprooted by war killed at least 28 people near the Turkish border on May 5, a monitoring group said, and fighting raged in parts of northern Syria despite a deal to cease hostilities in the city of Aleppo.
VOV.VN - The Syrian opposition has withdrawn from peace talks in Geneva due to what it calls the deteriorating security and humanitarian situation in Syria. This has stalled efforts to end Syria’s 6-year civil war.
Syrians voted in a parliamentary election in government-held areas of the country on April 13 in what they called a show of support for President Bashar al-Assad, while his opponents and Western powers denounced the poll as illegitimate.
President Bashar al-Assad said it would not be difficult to agree on a new Syrian government including opposition figures, but his opponents responded on March 30 that no administration would be legitimate while he remained in office.
