How the government of Bashar al-Assad was removed from Syria

The rebels captured Syria’s second largest city, Aleppo, and pushed south to the capital, Damascus, where they outnumbered Syrian forces.

Many Syrians say they have breathed the air of freedom while others express concern about what will happen in the future.

For years, it was expected that the war in Syria would come to an end after the Assad regime took control of most of the Syrian cities, and it succeeded in doing so with the help of Russia, Iran and the rebel groups supported by Iran.

The government has managed to hold large areas of the conflict, but most parts of the country are not in government hands.

Among them are the northern and eastern parts of the country, which are in the hands of Kurdish fighters supported by the United States, called the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

The last areas occupied by the rebels before now are Aleppo and Idlib which are close to Turkey and where at least four million people live, but most of them are refugees.

The areas are occupied by HTS fighters, but they are allied with other jihadist groups that live in the areas.

There is also a Turkish-backed rebel group called the Syrian National Army (SNA) which also maintains some units.

The self-proclaimed jihadist group was founded in 2012, under the name al-Nusra, and only a year later it announced its allegiance to al-Qaeda.

Al-Nusra is seen as the most dangerous group that has ever come out against President Assad. However, it is considered to be strong because of its policy of jihad and not because of the desire to bring about change. And at that time it was seen that it had different policies with the main rebel group of the Free Syrian Army.

In 2016, Al-Nusra split from al-Qaeda and changed its name to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham when it merged with other rebel groups.

However, the United Nations, the United States and the United Kingdom continue to view HTS as a group loyal to al-Qaeda, and call it al-Nusra Front. The United States declared the search for the leader of the group, Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani, in full swing, and even put a reward of $10m for anyone who helps to arrest him after putting him on the list of wanted terrorists.

HTS continued to take control of the cities of Idlib and Aleppo, after defeating its rivals al-Qaeda and IS. She established what she called the Syrian Liberation Government which is ruled by Islamic law.

In an interview with CNN, Jawlani said, “The goal of their uprising is to overthrow the Assad government” and he said that he is ready to establish a government that will rule according to the provisions of the constitution.

Fighting has been raging in Idlib for years, where Syrian government forces are trying to seize control.

But in 2020, Turkey and Russia brokered a ceasefire that ended the government’s bid to capture Idlib. The ceasefire has been successful even though the conflict is still flaring up in some places.

On November 27, HTS and its allies said they had launched a war to prevent their invasion, accusing the government and Iran-backed groups of attacking civilians in the northwest.

And this comes at a time when the government has been struggling with years of war, many sanctions and rampant corruption. And her foreign friends are facing their own crisis.

Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which Iran supports, helped a lot in recent years when Syria defeated rebels, but Israel’s attacks have prevented such help now.

Israeli strikes have also killed Iran’s top military commander in Syria, and blocked access to pro-government fighters.

Russia is also bent on war with Ukraine.

This gap has revealed the weakness of Assad’s forces.

Rebel-led HTS fighters have seized control of parts of Aleppo – Syria’s second-largest city, just three days after launching a surprise offensive. They said that they did not face any resistance in their efforts, because the government was quick to withdraw its forces.

Assad has vowed to “crush” the rebels with the help of his allies. Russian warplanes have started attacking rebel strongholds and Iranian-backed fighters have deployed troops to bolster the Syrian government’s forces in the Hama region.

However, on Thursday, the rebels captured Hama, after days of fighting to force the government forces to withdraw.

The rebels immediately announced that their intention is to capture Homs, the third largest city in Syria and they succeeded in capturing the city on Saturday night.

At the same time, some other rebel fighters in the southwest of the country bordering Jordan invaded the villages on the outskirts of Damascus, after seizing power in Deraa and Suweida in just one day.

In the early hours of Sunday morning, the HTS group announced its entry into Damascus and released the prisoners held in the Saydanaya military prison, where dissidents suspected of involvement in the country’s civil war are being held.

Less than an hour later, they announced that “Bashar al-Assad, a liar, escaped.”

They said “After 50 years under the dictatorial regime, and 13 years under the rule of Assad… we announce the end of the repression and the opening of a new chapter in the history of Syria”.

A senior military officer said the president escaped in a plane to an unknown location.

Assad’s Prime Minister, Mohammed al-Jalali, published a video in which he said he was ready to “work together” with the choices of the Syrian people.

Jawlani ordered his soldiers not to enter the government buildings, saying that they will continue to be under the authority of the prime minister until the official transfer of power.

The White House said that the President of the United States, Joe Biden and his officials are following the events in Syria and is in contact with stakeholders in the country.