14 September 2015
Satellite images reveal Russians constructing an airbase near Latakia, north-west Syria. Russian bombers and fighters rebase to Syria under cover of long-planned military exercises.

30 September 2015
Russia’s upper house of parliament unanimously authorizes Putin to use military force in Syria, in response to a request from Bashar al-Assad. Russian air force jets start bombing. Moscow says the strikes were against Islamic State, but observers say they mostly appear to target western- and Turkish-backed rebel groups. US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter accuses Moscow of throwing ‘gasoline on the fire’.

7 October 2015
Warships from the Russian Navy’s Caspian Flotilla launch 48 cruise missiles at targets within Syrian territory. The pre-dawn escalation is captured in a ‘shock and awe’ video produced by the defence ministry. It is prompted by the Russian military’s realization that the Syrian army is close to collapse. Instead of the claimed 130,000 soldiers, only 25,000 are operational.

8 October 2015
Syria’s 4th Assault Army Corps, cobbled together under Russian supervision, launches attack on al-Bab as part of a campaign to reduce rebel pressure on Aleppo and cut off access to the Turkish border.

20 October 2015
Assad flies secretly to Moscow to thank Putin. ‘If it were not for your actions and your decisions, the terrorism which is spreading in the region would have swallowed up a much greater area’. 

17 November 2015
Islamic State plants a bomb to down a Russian airliner full of tourists over Sinai. Russia deploys strategic bombers to Syria, raises the number of aircraft to 70 and installs latest S-400 air defence system. 

24 November 2015
A Turkish F-16 fighter shoots down a Russian Sukoi-24M bomber after it crosses Turkey’s southernmost tip. Barack Obama says Turkey has a right to defend its territory and airspace. Putin calls it a ‘stab in the back delivered by accomplices of the terrorists’ and promises ‘serious conequences’. 

30 December 2015
US State Department says Russian air strikes have ‘killed hundreds of civilians, including first responders, and hit medical facilities, schools and markets’. Putin says ‘far from all of our capabilities’ have been used and ‘more military means’ might be employed.  

24 January 2016
Government troops backed by intensive Russian airstrikes capture Rabia, the last major town held by rebels in Latakia province, ahead of the third round of Geneva peace talks. Russia-Turkish tensions rise amid reports that Russian forces are supporting Kurdish militia to expand their control of the Turkish border. 

12 February 2016
The US, Russia and other powers agree to a ‘cessation of hostilities’ in Syria within a week, but there is no commitment to end Russian airstrikes. Assad, whose forces control only one quarter of Syrian territory, promises to retake the whole country though this is not part of the plan agreed with Russia. 

14 March 2016
Putin surprises the world again by declaring that he is withdrawing the majority of Russian forces from Syria, saying they have largely achieved their objective. Syrian foreign minister, Walid Muallem, rules out any discussion at the Geneva peace talks of the fate of Assad, apparently angering Russia.

15 March 2016
Russian air strikes killed 4,408 people (including 1,733 civilians) between September 2015 and early March 2016, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Russian defence ministry says Russian aircraft flew more than 9,000 sorties and helped to liberate 400 settlements and 10,000 sq km. 2,000 terrorists from Russia were said to be killed. Russian ambassador Alexander Yakovenko tweets: ‘Mission accomplished: Russian strikes in Syria created conditions for political settlement’.