ECONOMYNEXT – Syria’s Al-Assad family rule that started in 1971 with a military coup by the last President, Bashar al-Assad’s father, Hafez had ended with rebel groups entering the capital Damascus, media reports said.
Qatar-based Al Jazeera network reported celebratory gunfire in Damascus, statues brought to the ground, flags being torn down and burned and an empty presidential palace.
The sudden collapse of he Assad regime came after an offensive launched on November 27, by a coalition of rebel forces, which first captured a Aleppo, a key city and rapidly ran over the rest of the country as the government forces collapsed.
Israeli action in Lebanon which weakened Hizbollah, who had earlier supported the Assad regime has been pointed as one of the reasons for the fall of the regime.
The Assads belonged to an Arab ethnoreligious community called the Alawites, a splinter group of Shia Muslims with a distinct identity.
In a 1972 constitution General Hafez Al-Assad removed religion from the constitution and set up a leftist republic that was supported by outsiders including the Soviet Union.
Syria had been embroiled in a civil war from around 2011, with countries including Turkey and the US getting involved with continued Russian backing the regime and heavy fighting in cities such as Aleppo hitting headlines.
Russian General, Aleksandr Vladimirovich Dvornikov who led the invasion of Ukraine was dubbed the ‘butcher of Aleppo’ during the conflict.
The US and Nato forces were involved in a bombing campaign against the ISIS, one of the militant groups that captured large tracts of land in Syria.
Kurdish groups also captured territory, which is opposed by Turkiye. (Colombo/Dec08/2024)