In the first week of December 2024, the Syrian civil war reached a sudden and stunning conclusion. An offensive launched by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham from the rebel-held northwest swept through Aleppo, Hama and Homs almost unopposed, and on 8 December rebel forces entered Damascus as President Bashar al-Assad fled the country, granted asylum in Russia.
The collapse of the Assad regime, in power for 24 years and in his family’s hands for more than 50, took just eleven days. Years of war had hollowed out the regime’s armies, and its key allies, Russia distracted by Ukraine and Iran’s proxies shattered by Israel, were no longer able or willing to save it. Crowds tore down statues of Assad and his father across the country, and Syrians queued at prisons to search for the missing.
The fall closed one of the longest chapters of the Arab uprisings and opened an era of enormous uncertainty. The country was in ruins, foreign powers including Turkey, Israel and the United States still held territory and influence, and the rebel coalition that took power, led by a group once affiliated with al-Qaeda, promised a transition that few believed would be easy. For millions of Syrian refugees, it raised the agonising question of whether the road home was finally open.