Rebel forces claim to have taken control of the Syrian capital after storming through the country in less than two weeks.
According to reports, authoritarian ruler Bashar al Assad has fled Damascus on a plane headed to an unknown destination, ending his 24-year rule.
While Syrians celebrate in the streets with chants for freedom, attention will also turn to the insurgents and what happens next.
Who are the rebels?
The initial assault on regime forces, which began in the northern city of Aleppo last week, was carried out by a variety of Mr Assad’s opponents.
This included rebels under the banner of the Syrian National Army, backed by Turkey, but the offensive has mostly been led by jihadi group Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS).
Once known as the Nusra Front, a former wing of al Qaeda, HTS is said to have around 30,000 troops and has long been designated a terrorist group by the US and Russia.
It was formed to oppose the Syrian government and was founded by Abu Muhammed al Golani, cutting ties with al Qaeda in 2016 and making an effort to appear moderate.
Read more: Latest as Assad ‘flees’ Syria
Image: Rebel fighters in the city of Homs. Pic: Reuters
As rebels entered Aleppo, video showed him issuing orders by phone, forbidding fighters from entering homes and reminding them to protect citizens.
Aron Lund, a fellow at think-tank Century International, said Mr Golani and HTS have clearly changed, while adding they remain “pretty hardline”.
“It’s PR, but the fact they are engaging in this effort at all shows they are no longer as rigid as they once were,” he said.
“Old-school al Qaeda or the Islamic State would never have done that.”
But the US’s Commission on International Religious Freedom said in 2022 that despite the “rebrand”, HTS “restricts religious freedom” and threatens the safety of religious minorities.
What plans do they have?
Mr Golani, himself designated a terrorist by the US in 2013, has tried to reassure Syrian minorities who fear jihadists.
In 2023, he allowed the first Christian mass in years in the northwestern city of Idlib, and on Wednesday insisted he would protect residents of a Christian town south of Aleppo.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
0:57
Syrian rebels announce Damascus ‘freed’
The group’s political plans remain to be seen, with Robert Ford, former US ambassador to Syria, telling Sky News he has not seen “detailed programs”.
“We don’t know exactly what they’re going to do,” he said. “I would say here that after a 13-year incredibly bloody and vicious civil war, right now it’s a day for Syrians to celebrate, and to hope for things that will turn out better.
“There will be plenty of hard work quickly waiting for them.”
Why has this happened now?
These anti-Assad victories are years in the making, more than a decade on from the start of Syrian civil war.
But the rapid rebel progress has stunned the international community.
Image: Key locations in Syria as well as the Iraqi town of Al Qaim, where troops sought refuge.
Former head of the British Army’s chemical weapons unit, Hamish De Bretton-Gordon, said the timing is “no coincidence”.
“With Hezbollah much diminished, the Iranian proxy in the region, and also other Iranian militias, it gave the rebels an opportunity,” he told Sky News.
“With Russia taking so many forces away from Syria to bolster their special military operation in Ukraine, it left Assad exposed and the rebels have really taken advantage of it.”
What other nations have interests in Syria?
The assault had raised the prospect of another front reopening in the Middle East, at a time when US-backed Israel has been fighting Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, both Iran-allied groups.
Russia, which was Mr Assad’s main international backer, is also preoccupied with its war in Ukraine.
Previous military intervention by Russia and Iran – alongside support from other groups – had allowed Mr Assad to remain in power and retain 70% of Syria under his control.
Read more:Middle East power dynamics will utterly changeFast-moving conflict is unique geopolitical challenge
The US has about 900 troops in northeast Syria to guard against a resurgence by the Islamic State, which was defeated in Syria and Iraq by 2019, by a US-led coalition that included Kurdish fighters and UK air support.
Turkey, which also opposes Kurdish expansion, has forces in Syria alongside its reported influence with the broad alliance of opposition forces.
Source : Sky News
