section_path: Abstract
section_name: Abstract
paragraph_text: On 8 December 2024, the Assad regime collapsed during a major offensive by opposition forces. The offensive was spearheaded by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and supported mainly by the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army as part of the ongoing Syrian civil war that began with the Syrian revolution in 2011. The capture of Syria's capital, Damascus, marked the end of the Assad family 's rule, which had governed Syria as a hereditary totalitarian dictatorship since Hafez al-Assad assumed power in 1971 after a successful coup d'état.
  
  As a rebel coalition advanced towards Damascus, reports emerged that Bashar al-Assad had fled the capital aboard a plane to Russia, where he joined his family, already in exile, and was granted asylum. Following his departure, opposition forces declared victory on state television. Concurrently, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed Assad's resignation and departure from Syria.
  
  The swift fall of the Assad regime was met with shock and surprise throughout the world, including with the Syrian people. Syrian opposition fighters were reportedly surprised at how quickly the Syrian government had collapsed in the wake of their offensive. Analysts viewed the event as a significant blow to Iran's Axis of Resistance due to their use of Assad's Syria as a waypoint to supply arms and supplies to Hezbollah, a key ally. Several Western academics and geopolitical commentators likened the regime's collapse to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, comparing the broader geopolitical shifts that occurred after both events.