An analysis of the fall of Bashar al-Assad, who fled Syria on Sunday after a rebel offensive launched on 27 November, and its likely regional consequences. The piece assesses that factionalism may destabilise post-Assad Syria while Iran and Russia weaken and Israel emerges as the sole net gainer.
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When Assad's allies became preoccupied—Russia with Ukraine and Iran with Israel—the rebels launched a strong offensive on 27 November.
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Bashar Al-Assad, the ruler of Syria since 2000, fled from his country on Sunday after his iron-clad security and political structures fell like a house of cards in the face of an unexpectedly strong rebel offensive.
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Bashar could not withstand the onslaught and fled Damascus on 8 December.
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the Assad regime, Russia and Iran, have been officially defeated in Syria by the Syrian people.
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Hafez al-Assad had killed 20,000 people in the city of Hama in 1982 to crush an uprising by the Muslim Brotherhood, a Islamic political group based in Egypt.
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The US and the UN blamed Assad for a chemical weapons attack that killed more than 1,000 people in 2013.
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Overall, 50% of Syria's 23 million people fled their homes, creating a significant refugee crisis for host countries in Europe.
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Overall, 50% of Syria's 23 million people fled their homes, creating a significant refugee crisis for host countries in Europe.
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They are a minority in Syria, making up only 10% of the population, which is more than 80% Sunni.
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They are a minority in Syria, making up only 10% of the population, which is more than 80% Sunni.
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Turkey is already hosting more than 3 million Syrian refugees.
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Bashar al-Assad's 24-year rule was marked by the brutal suppression of dissent.
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Bashar was only 34 when he returned to Syria to take charge following the death of his father, Hafez al-Assad, in 2000.
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Bashar Al-Assad, the ruler of Syria since 2000, fled from his country on Sunday after his iron-clad security and political structures fell like a house of cards in the face of an unexpectedly strong rebel offensive.
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Russia, a long-time ally of Bashar, announced that he is in Russia and that he has been granted political asylum.
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But come the “Arab Spring,” a series of public uprisings in 2011, Bashar was caught on the wrong foot.
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