Assad’s Fall: The End of Syria’s Brutal Ruling Dynasty
Live Mint-- Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president who inherited power in 2000 with promises of reform, only to brutally suppress his opponents in a war that claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, has been toppled in a lightning rebel advance, according to state television. Assad, according to multiple reports, fled Damascus as Islamist-led opposition forces entered the capital and put an end to more than half-a-century of his family’s rule. A Reuters report and a non-governmental group tracking the war in Syria suggested Assad’s plane left an airport in the capital shortly before rebels took over. The Assad government blamed the assault on Islamic extremists, but agreed to a US-Russian plan for international monitors to take control of Syria’s chemical weapons. A turning point in the war came in 2015, when Russia joined on Assad’s behalf and, along with Iranian forces, helped Assad halt the advance of opposition troops and begin to recapture territory.