Bashing Bashar: The Collapse of the Assad Regime in Syria
On Sunday, 8 December 2024, Syrian rebels occupied the capital of Damascus, effectively overthrowing the government and ending half a century of rule over Syria by the Assad family. Dictator Bashar al-Assad, in power since 2000, hot-footed it to exile and asylum in Russia, under the protection of bestie Vladimir Putin. His overthrow also represents the end of a civil war that began in 2011 with a pro-democracy uprising against Assad’s entrenched rule, and cost the lives of half a million Syrians, with 12 million more displaced from their homeland.
