Rebel factions in Syria that launched an unprecedented offensive on November 27 against government forces overthrew President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday (Dec. 8) and ended nearly six decades of his family’s iron-fisted rule.
This is one of the most consequential turning points in West Asia for generations, as the fall of the Assad administration wiped out a bastion from which Iran and Russia exercised influence across the Arab world, a report by the news agency Reuters on Monday said.
The Kremlin told Russian media that Assad and his family were in Moscow.
So, what is next for Syria? Here’s a look
> Reuters reported that Assad’s sudden overthrow at the hands of the rebel factions led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) limited Iran’s ability to spread weapons to its allies and could cost Russia its Mediterranean naval base.
> Both Iran and Russia have been the main supporters of the Assad administration. However, they failed to stem the tide in Syria as they are caught up in their own conflicts— Iran and its proxies in their 14-month conflict with Israel, and Russia in a war with Ukraine since late February 2022.
> Assad became president of Syria in 2000. Over the years, academics and analysts characterised Assad’s rule as a highly personalist dictatorship, which governed Syria as a totalitarian police state, and was marked by numerous human rights violations and severe repression.
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> A report by the Financial Times (FT) on Monday said Assad used the cruellest means to put down his opponents during the civil war which began in 2011.
> The report said that Assad’s ouster from Syria would be welcomed by the millions of people who suffered under his rule as he refused to compromise and negotiate a political settlement with his opponents.
> During the November 27 offensive, there was coordination between the HTS and Turkish-backed factions that operate under the umbrella of the Syrian National Army, and other groups.
> The FT report pointed out that the HTS is only one of the numerous opposition groups that are the remnants of the original rebellion and took part in the assault. In the past, various rebel factions have clashed with each other.
> With the ouster of Assad, there is a risk of intra-rebel clashes. There are also fears that the Islamic State, which once took vast swathes of territory in Syria, would seek to exploit the chaos and make a comeback.
(With inputs from agencies)