Syrian insurgents toppled President Bashar al-Assad’s on Sunday after a stunning, two-week offensive that saw major cities slip from the regime’s fingers one by one, until rebel forces captured the capital Damascus almost without a fight.
More than 50 years of Assad family rule in Syria collapsed with astonishing speed after insurgents burst out of a rebel-held enclave in the country’s north, capturing Aleppo and a string of other cities in a matter of days, before converging on Damascus.
Opposition forces entered the capital with little or no resistance on Sunday as the Syrian army melted away and President Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s ruler for 24 years, fled the country. His sudden demise marks a stunning development in Syria’s devastating 14-year conflict, which began with Assad’s brutal crackdown on anti-government protests in 2011, at the height of the Arab Spring.
The speed of the rebels’ victory has highlighted Islamist leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani’s success in shoring up a rebellion that looked to be cornered in its last bastion in northwestern Syria. It also exposed the weakness of the Assad regime and just how reliant it was on support from Iran and Russia – which at the crucial moment did not come.
Continue reading HERE
Source: https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20241208-why-the-assad-regime-collapsed-in-syria-and-why-so-fast
[Disclaimer]
