Opposition rebels in Syria took advantage of an opportunity to weaken the hold of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad after 13 years of civil war.
Launched just two weeks ago, the operation caught nearly everyone off guard with its rapid success in capturing Syria’s second-largest city, Aleppo.
Five decades of Assad family dominance came to an end on Sunday as the rebel alliance arrived in Damascus in just over a week.
The success of the lightning advance was primarily because Syria’s army was worn out and demotivated; his key allies, Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon, were badly weakened by the war with Israel; and Russia, his other major military backer, was disinterested and distracted.
Here’s a detailed look at some reasons for Assad’s sudden downfall.
Vulnerable times
Assad was weakest when the rebels attacked.
His military supporters, Iran, Russia, and Hezbollah in Lebanon, were sidetracked by battles elsewhere and could not muster the type of decisive force that had sustained him for years. Syria’s feeble military could not hold back. A regime source told Reuters that corruption and looting had left tanks and planes without fuel.
The unnamed source claimed that army morale had drastically declined during the previous two years.
The HTS-led coalition was more coherent and powerful than any other rebel group during the conflict, “and a lot of that is Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani’s doing,” according to Aron Lund, a fellow at Century International, a think tank with a focus on the region. However, he claimed that the decisive element was the regime’s weakness.
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