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Early presidency
Bashir al-Assad rose to power in the year 2000 following the death of his father. In the year following his rise to presidency the "Damascus Spring" sought freedom with the emergence of various things like independent newspapers and people openly discussing politics. However, Assad has swiftly dealt with this brief uprise of freedom. -
Initial outbreak of civil war
a decade after the previous "revolt" inspired by their predecessors, pro-democracy protests appeared throughout Syria. This led to a brutal crackdown that would result in the deaths of its citizens, which led to the outbreak of the Syrian civil war. In 2013 Assad's regime was accused of going as far as using chemical weapons against its civilians which caused hundreds of deaths. During this time various international investigations implicated Assad to be linked to war crimes. -
Tyranny
in 2015 Russia intervened militarily in support of Assad, this helped provide assistance to Assad regime in fighting against the rebels, and this also helped him regain control over various territories that were deemed significant. In 2021 Assad through a "democratic" election won a 4th term in a presidential election, although it was widely viewed as a sham by international observers due to the fact it was neither free or fair. -
Slow downfall
in 2022 Syria announced its support for Russia in its war against Ukraine, being one of the few countries to actually do so. In the next 2 years there were no significant but in 2024 a rebel group HTS capitalized on Assads weakening regime due to years of fighting and launched a rapid attack in November of 2024, capturing major cities also partly due to members of the military being fed up with Assads rule. Following this Assads international allies distanced themselves from him. ctd 1/2 -
Downfall ctd
Following Assads allies distancing themselves from Syria, the rebel forced continued their march against Assad, eventually reaching Damascus after little to no resistance. When the rebel forces surrounded the city the regime collapsed on itself when high ranking officials fled or negotiated safe passage for ensuring control over key areas of control. This led to Assad fleeing the country seeking political asylum within Russia who took him in. -
Bashar al assad