May 8 (Reuters) - Iranian-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah has led a political campaign for almost 18 months against Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's anti-Syrian cabinet.

Here is a chronology of the campaign:

Nov. 11, 2006 - Five pro-Syrian Shi'ite Muslim ministers from Hezbollah and its ally, the Amal movement, resign after the collapse of talks on giving their camp more say in government.

Nov. 21 - Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel is killed by gunmen.

Dec. 1 - Hezbollah, Amal and supporters of Christian leader Michel Aoun camp outside Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's office in Beirut in open-ended campaign to topple the government.

Jan. 25, 2007 - Aid conference in Paris pledges more than $7.6 billion to help Lebanon recover from its 2006 war with Israel.

June 13 - Anti-Syrian parliamentarian Walid Eido and five other people killed by a car bomb near a Beirut beach club.

Sept. 2 - Lebanese troops seize complete control of Nahr al-Bared camp after months of fighting with Fatah al-Islam militants which kills over 420 people, including 168 soldiers.

Sept. 19 - Car bomb in Beirut kills anti-Syrian Christian lawmaker Antoine Ghanem and six other people.

Nov. 23 - Lahoud leaves presidential palace at end of his term, no successor has been elected. Next day Siniora says his cabinet is assuming executive powers.

Dec. 5 - Speaker Berri says rival Lebanese leaders have agreed on General Michel Suleiman as president, though parliament has yet to elect him.

Dec. 12 - Car bomb kills Brigadier General Francois al-Hajj, the army's head of operations, and a bodyguard in a Christian town east of Beirut.

Jan. 15, 2008 - Car bomb in Christian area of Beirut kills at least 3 people and wounds 16, damages a U.S. embassy car and destroys others.

Jan. 25 - Wisam Eid, a captain in a Lebanese police intelligence unit, is killed by a bomb blast in mainly Christian east Beirut. At least five other people are killed.

Feb. 11 - Three army officers and 16 soldiers are charged over the killing of seven opposition protesters on Jan. 27.

Feb. 14 - Lebanon's Hezbollah holds mass funeral for its assassinated commander Imad Moughniyah, in Beirut. He was killed in a bomb blast in Syria the day before.

April 20 - In the Christian town of Zahle, gunmen kill two local officials of the Christian Phalange Party, a member of the ruling anti-Syrian coalition.

April 22 - Parliament fails to hold a session to elect a president, the 18th time it has been unable to hold a vote.

May 6 - Tension between the government and Hezbollah escalates when the cabinet said the group's communication network was an attack on the country's sovereignty.

-- Hezbollah says it is infuriated by government allegations it was spying on Beirut airport and by the cabinet's decision to fire the head of airport security who is close to the opposition.

May 7 - Some 10 people are wounded as government supporters clash with gunmen loyal to the Hezbollah-led opposition in Beirut after followers of Hezbollah paralysed the capital.

May 8 - Hezbollah leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, says the government has declared war against the group after its decision to dismantle and take legal action over the group's communication network. (Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit)

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