The Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) captured Syria’s capital city, Damascus, on Sunday, 7 December.
The city’s capture marked the end of the Al-Assad dynasty’s rule in Syria, which had ruled for over 50 years.
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer welcomed the fall of the “barbaric” regime. He called for the “restoration of peace and stability”.
Syria’s President Bashar Al-Assad is reported to have fled to Russia with his family.
Al-Assad faced widespread international condemnation for employing chemical weapons against Syrian civilians throughout the Syrian Civil War (2011-24).
The Syrian Civil War forced nearly 7 million Syrians to become refugees, while over 500,000 were killed.
This was part of the “Syrian Refugee Crisis” in 2015-16, with millions of Syrians fleeing to Europe.
Many far-right parties in European countries took advantage of the situation to mount successful electoral campaigns.
However, political commentators widely assumed that Al-Assad’s regime was coming out of the cold.
Last year, the Arab League reversed its decision in 2013 to expel Syria on account of human rights abuses conducted by Al-Assad’s government.
That was not the case in Syria, where discontent remained, and the Civil War continued. Last week, the HTS captured Aleppo, Syria’s second-largest city.
The group then headed towards Damascus to topple Syria’s Government as Syrian military forces refused to engage.
Governments across the world have expressed cautious optimism that Syria will now be able to rebuild.
Still, concerns abound. The US has designated the HTS (the group that captured Damascus) a terrorist organisation and placed a $10 million bounty on Abu Mohammad al-Jolani (the HTS leader).
This remains a developing story.
“Bashar al-Assad in Russia (2015-10-21) 02 (Cropped)” by Пресс-служба Президента России is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.