"December 8 marks the first anniversary of the fall of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad. The Assad family ruled Syria for over 50 years, with Hafez Assad in power from 1971 and then, after his death, his son Bashar taking over in 2000. The Assads' autocratic rule led to a popular uprising in 2011, then a brutal civil war that lasted almost 14 years."
"There are no longer barrel bombs being thrown out of helicopters or Russian air strikes on medical clinics. But, as a November briefing by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) reported, "Syria continues to grapple with a fragmented security landscape." The capital Damascus is comparatively calm, and according to Syria Weekly, a regular newsletter by Charles Lister, an expert at the US think thank the Middle East Institute, levels of violence are falling."
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) led a rapid offensive on December 8, 2024 that toppled Bashar al-Assad and ended more than five decades of Assad family rule. Assad and his family fled to Russia and HTS leader Ahmad al-Sharaa assumed the interim presidency. Large-scale aerial bombardment and Russian strikes have ceased, and violence levels in Damascus have declined. However, the security landscape remains fragmented, with clashes involving Kurdish and Druze groups, hidden pro-Assad elements, inter-communal violence that caused hundreds of deaths, and a resurgence of Islamic State exploiting gaps in security. Stabilization and political reconciliation efforts remain incomplete.
Read at www.dw.com
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