In brief
As rebels closed in, Assad abandoned his regime, revealing the collapse of his authority after years of conflict.
In a surprising twist of events, President Bashar al-Assad, who has controlled Syria through a mix of fear and military might for over 20 years, dramatically fled the country on December 7, as rebel forces approached the capital, Damascus. Unbeknownst to his aides, who were preparing for a public speech aimed at a peaceful resolution to the ongoing civil war, Assad had already made plans to escape.While his staff believed that the government's defenses were secure, Assad sneaked out of the presidential palace under the cover of darkness. He first arrived at a Russian military base in northern Syria before boarding a plane that took him to Moscow, according to multiple government and security officials in the region. As Assad made his getaway, his brother Maher al-Assad and other military leaders also left the capital separately, heading into the desert towards Iraq. Their current whereabouts remain unknown. This sudden exit signals not just the end of Assad's reign but a potential shift in the war that has ravaged Syria for over a decade.
