Half a century of rule by the Assad family in Syria crumbled with astonishing speed after insurgents burst out of a rebel-held enclave and converged on the capital, Damascus, taking city after city in a matter of days.
Opposition forces swept across the country and entered Damascus with little or no resistance as the Syrian army melted away. President Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s ruler for 24 years – succeeding his father, Hafez Assad – fled the country. Russian state media reported that he was in Moscow.
It’s a stunning development in Syria’s devastating 13-year conflict. Anti-government protests in 2011 met with a brutal crackdown, escalating into a civil war that has killed more than half a million people and displaced half of Syria’s pre-war population of 23 million.
Assad, backed by Iran and Russia, gradually regained control of more than two-thirds of Syria, leaving the rebels with one stronghold in the northwest of the country.
And there the conflict remained, largely frozen, for years until late November. Here’s a look at a seismic two weeks for the Middle East.
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