CHRONOLOGY: Hezbollah's showdown with Lebanese government

(Reuters) - Hezbollah fighters began withdrawing from Beirut on Saturday after the Lebanese army overturned government measures against the group.

The Iranian-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah had taken control of the Muslim half of Beirut on Friday, tightening its grip on the city in a major blow to the U.S.-backed government.

Here is a chronology of events since its deadlock with the pro-Western government began 18 months ago:

November 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.

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

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

June 13, 2007 - Anti-Syrian parliamentarian Walid Eido and five other people are killed by a car bomb near a Beirut beach club.

September 2 - Lebanese troops seize control of Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp after months of fighting with Fatah al-Islam militants in which more than 420 people are killed, including 168 soldiers.

September 19 - A car bomb in Beirut kills anti-Syrian Christian lawmaker Antoine Ghanem and six other people.

November 23 - President Emile Lahoud leaves the presidential palace at end of his term; no successor has been elected. The next day, Siniora says his cabinet is assuming executive powers.

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

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

January 15, 2008 - A car bomb in a Christian area of Beirut kills 3 people and wounds 16, damages a U.S. embassy car.

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

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

February 14 - Hezbollah holds a mass funeral for its assassinated commander Imad Moughniyah in Beirut. He was killed by a bomb in Syria a day earlier.