The Syrian civil war entered its seventh year in 2018 after President Bashar al-Assad's government defeated the ISIL group. But a tangled web of foreign involvements and alliances means there is no clear solution to the multi-sided conflict in sight.

This year saw government forces retaking rebel-held regions in several major offensives, a Turkey-Russia brokered demilitarized zone, and also appalling chemical attacks on civilians.