What just happened in Syria and who is in charge?

The Assad family ruled Syria for more than 50 years with an iron fist. Now that has come to an end.

Bashar al-Assad assumed the presidency following the death in 2000 of his father Hafez, who had ruled for nearly three decades.

In 2011, it brutally crushed a peaceful pro-democracy uprising, sparking a devastating civil war in which more than half a million people died and 12 million more were forced to flee their homes.

Thirteen days ago, the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and allied rebel factions launched a major offensive in northwestern Syria.

The rebels quickly captured the country’s second-largest city, Aleppo, and then advanced south along the highway toward the capital, Damascus, as the army collapsed.

Russia announced that Assad had resigned and left Syria on Sunday, hours after rebels entered Damascus and crowds gathered in the streets to celebrate. It later emerged that Assad had flown to Moscow and been granted asylum.

Meanwhile, HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani arrived in Damascus and told Syrians: “The future is ours.”

For the past four years, it had felt like the civil war was over.

Assad’s government had regained control over most of Syria’s cities with the help of Russia, Iran and Iranian-backed militias such as Hezbollah, and the front lines were largely frozen.

However, much of the country was still outside government control.

The last stronghold of the rebels was in the provinces of Aleppo and Idlib, bordering Turkey and where more than four million people lived, many of them displaced. It was dominated by HTS, but several allied rebel groups and jihadist groups were also based there. Turkish-backed rebel factions also controlled the territory with the support of Turkish troops.

On November 27, HTS and its allies launched their surprise offensive.

After three days, they took control of most of Aleppo, Syria’s second largest city. They said they faced little resistance on the ground after the government quickly withdrew its troops and security forces.

Meanwhile, Turkish-backed rebel factions capitalized on the government’s withdrawal by launching a separate offensive into territory north of Aleppo controlled by a Kurdish-led and US-backed militia alliance, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

Assad vowed to “crush” the rebels with the help of his allies. Russian warplanes stepped up attacks on rebel-held areas and Iranian-backed militias sent reinforcements to help the army near Hama, the next city south on the road to Damascus.

But Hama fell to the rebels on Thursday, after several days of fierce battles that eventually led the military to withdraw.

The rebels declared their next goal was to take Homs, Syria’s third-largest city, and they achieved it Saturday night after just a day of fighting. At the same time, other rebel factions arrived in the suburbs of Damascus.

Early on Sunday, HTS-led rebels announced that they had entered Damascus and released those detained in the most famous military prison in the country, Saydnaya.

Less than two hours later, they declared: “Tyrant Bashar al-Assad has fled.”

The rebels also promised to build a “homeland for everyone, including all sects and social classes.”

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, reported that at least 910 people had been killed, including 138 civilians, since the start of the rebel offensive.

The Islamist militant group that led the offensive against Assad was created in 2012 under a different name, al-Nusra Front.

The Al-Nusra Front, which pledged allegiance to Al Qaeda the following year, was considered one of the most effective and deadly groups fighting President Assad.

But he was feared for his jihadist ideology and was seen as at odds with the main, largely secular rebel coalition, the Free Syrian Army.

In 2016, Al-Nusra severed ties with Al Qaeda and adopted the name Hayat Tahrir al-Sham when it merged with other factions a year later.

However, the UN, the United States, the United Kingdom and several other countries continue to consider HTS an affiliate of Al Qaeda and frequently refer to it as the Nusra Front. The United States named Abu Mohammed al-Jolani as a specially designated global terrorist and offered a $10 million reward for information leading to his capture.

HTS consolidated its power in the provinces of Idlib and Aleppo by crushing its rivals, including cells of the group Al Qaeda and Islamic State (IS). He established the so-called Syrian Salvation Government to administer the territory according to Islamic law.

For several years, Idlib remained a battleground as Syrian government forces attempted to regain control.

But in 2020, Türkiye and Russia negotiated a ceasefire to stop a government attempt to retake Idlib. The ceasefire largely held despite sporadic clashes.

HTS and its allies said on November 27 that They had launched an offensive to “deter aggression”accusing the government and allied militias backed by Iran of escalating attacks on civilians.

But it came at a time when the government had been weakened by years of war, sanctions and corruption, with its allies Russia and Iran preoccupied with other conflicts.

The Iranian-backed Hezbollah group had recently suffered from Israel’s offensive in Lebanon. Israeli strikes had eliminated Iranian military commanders in Syria and Russia was distracted by the war in Ukraine.

Without them, Assad’s forces were exposed.

Outgoing Prime Minister Mohammed al-Jalili said on Monday that most members of his former cabinet were working with the rebels “to make the transition period quick and smooth.”

The rebels said in a brief statement that their forces were close to establishing full control of Damascus and preserving public property. They also said that Syria’s new government would begin its work as soon as it was formed.

The National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, which represents the now-former opposition groups, said on Sunday it was committed to “completing the transfer of power to a transitional governing body with full executive powers, paving the way for a free and democratic democracy.” and pluralistic”.

The statement did not mention HTS, but its vice president, Dima Moussa, told the BBC that “the transition requires the union of all the Syrian people, including those who carry weapons.”

Meanwhile, the war continued in other parts of Syria.

HTS and its allies said their forces were advancing in the western countryside of Deir al-Zour, the largest city in eastern Syria.

Turkish-backed rebel factions fighting under the flag of the Syrian National Army were also advancing northwest of Aleppo toward territory controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

Israel confirmed it was attacking suspected government chemical weapons and missile sites in Syria, saying this was to prevent them from falling into the hands of extremists. He also said he would maintain a “limited” troop presence in what had been a demilitarized buffer zone in part of the Golan Heights because Syrian troops had abandoned their posts there.

Former Assad loyalists also appeared to still control the Mediterranean coast and mountains in the country’s west. The region is a stronghold of Assad’s minority Alawite sect and also the location of two key Russian military bases: the Hmeimim air base and the Tartous naval base.

Russian media said Bashar al-Assad and his family had been granted asylum. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia was “shocked” like everyone else by what happened and that Syria was “going through a very difficult period now, due to instability.”

Iran expressed its hope for “the rapid end of military conflicts, the prevention of terrorist actions and the beginning of national dialogue” with all sectors of Syrian society.

Türkiye said Syria is now at a stage “where the Syrian people will shape the future of their own country.” Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said the new government “must be established in an orderly manner” and warned that “the principle of inclusion must never be compromised.”

US President Joe Biden said the collapse of Assad’s government was a “fundamental act of justice” after decades of repression, but warned that the takeover by Islamist rebels created a moment of “risk and uncertainty.” “.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the collapse of Assad’s government was the “direct result” of his country’s action against Hezbollah and Iran.

Iraq, where powerful Iranian-backed militias sent fighters to support the Syrian army in the civil war, said it supported efforts to open a dialogue in Syria “leading to the adoption of a pluralist constitution that preserves the human and civil rights of Syrians.”

King Abdullah of Jordan, whose country backed rebel factions at the start of the war, said Jordan respected the will and decisions of the Syrian people. He stressed the importance of avoiding “any conflict that could lead to chaos.”

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called Assad’s fall “a positive and long-awaited development” and said the bloc’s priority was to ensure security in the region.