This ended more than 50 years of dictatorship in Syria. On Sunday, December 8, an armed coalition led by Abu Mohammad al-Julani’s Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) stormed the capital Damascus following a blitzkrieg offensive. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who inherited power from his father and was notorious for brutality and corruption, immediately fled the country. His downfall was greeted with cheering protests in Syria and Europe, where nearly 1.3 million Syrians have sought refuge since 2015.
Assad has found refuge in Russia with fellow dictator and longtime ally Vladimir Putin. As of now, the outgoing leader is not expected to meet the Russian president.
The fall of the Syrian regime was a setback for the Kremlin, which had a valuable naval base at Tartus and an air force base near Latakia to the west, Russia’s only port with direct access to the Mediterranean. It remains to be seen how President Putin, who is preoccupied with the Ukraine issue, will react. For the time being, the sudden fall of the Assad family marks the beginning of a political turning point after years of civil war that has robbed the country of its vitality.
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