Syrian President Bashar al-Assad left the country on Sunday, marking a dramatic end to his nearly 14-year struggle to maintain power, while his country was shattered by a brutal civil war that became a battleground for regional and international powers.
Assad’s departure was in stark contrast to his early months as Syria’s powerful president in 2000, when many hoped he would be a reformer after three decades of his father’s iron-fisted control.
At just 34 years old at the time, the Western-educated ophthalmologist was passionate about computers and was well-versed in technology, with a mild temperament.
But when faced with protests against his rule that erupted in March 2011, Assad turned to the brutal tactics of his father in an attempt to crush his opponents. As the uprising turned into a civil war, he deployed the army to opposition-controlled cities, with the support of his allies: Iran and Russia.
International human rights groups and prosecutors accused Assad’s regime of widespread use of torture and extrajudicial killings in government-run detention centers. The war has caused the deaths of half a million people and displaced half of the country’s pre-war population of 23 million.
The conflict seemed to have frozen in recent years, with Assad’s government regaining control over most of Syria, while the northwest remained under the control of opposition groups and the northeast under Kurdish control.
Although Damascus remained under paralyzing Western sanctions, neighboring countries had begun to accept the reality of Assad’s continued hold on power. The Arab League readmitted Syria last year, and Saudi Arabia in May announced the appointment of its first ambassador to Syria since severing ties with Damascus 12 years ago.
However, the geopolitical reality changed quickly when opposition groups in northwest Syria launched a surprise offensive at the end of November. Government forces capitulated rapidly, and Assad’s allies, involved in other conflicts – Russia’s war in Ukraine and the year-long wars between Israel and Iran-backed militant groups like Hezbollah and Hamas – appeared unwilling to intervene forcefully.
The End of the Assad Family’s Rule
Assad came to power in 2000 in a twist of fate. His father had prepared his older brother, Basil, as his successor, but in 1994, Basil was killed in a car accident in Damascus. The family brought Bashar back from London, where he had a clinic for eyes. He underwent military training and achieved the rank of colonel to fulfill the credentials needed to one day take power. When Hafez al-Assad died in 2000, parliament quickly lowered the minimum age for presidents from 40 to 34. Bashar’s rise to the presidency was cemented by a national referendum in which he was the only candidate.
Hafez, a military officer, ruled the country for nearly 30 years, during which he created a centrally planned economy of the Soviet-style and used an iron fist against opponents, to the point that Syrians feared even making political jokes with their friends. He followed a secular ideology that sought to eliminate sectarian differences, emphasizing Arab nationalism and the image of heroic resistance to Israel. He formed an alliance with the Shiite clerical leadership in Iran, consolidated Syrian domination over Lebanon, and created a network of Palestinian and Lebanese militant groups.
Bashar, at first, seemed completely different from his tough father. Tall and thin, he had a calm and gentle nature. His only official position before becoming president was as the head of the Syrian Computer Society.
His wife, Asma al-Akhras, whom he married shortly after taking office, was attractive, stylish, and of British origin. The young couple, who had three children, seemed to avoid the luxury of power. They lived in an apartment in the wealthy Abu Rummaneh neighborhood of Damascus, rather than in a grand palace like other Arab leaders.
Initially, when he took office, Assad released political prisoners and allowed freedom of expression. During the “Damascus Spring,” the country’s intellectuals gathered to discuss art, culture, and politics—things that were impossible under his father’s rule. However, after 1,000 intellectuals signed a public petition calling for democratic pluralism and greater freedoms in 2001, and a group attempted to form a political party, these activities were banned by the feared secret police, and dozens of activists were imprisoned.
Facing the Arab Spring, Assad Relied on Old Alliances to Maintain Power
Rather than allowing political opening, Assad pursued economic reforms. He gradually lifted economic restrictions, allowed foreign banks to open, opened the door to imports, and strengthened the private sector. In Damascus and other cities that had long been mired in misery, there was a boom in shopping malls, new restaurants, and consumer goods. Tourism increased. In foreign policy, he continued his father’s line, based on the alliance with Iran and a policy of stubbornness regarding the full return of the Golan Heights annexed by Israel, although in practice, Assad never faced Israel militarily.
In 2005, he suffered a deep defeat with the loss of Syria’s decade-long control over Lebanon after the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Many Lebanese accused Damascus of being behind the killing, and Syria was forced to withdraw its troops, paving the way for a pro-American government to take power.
At the same time, the Arab world split into two camps – one composed of US-allied countries led by Sunni-majority nations like Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and the other consisting of Syria and Shiite-led Iran with connections to Hezbollah and Palestinian militants.
Throughout this time, Assad largely relied on the same base as his father: his Alawite sect, a branch of Shiite Islam that makes up about 10% of the population. Many of the posts in his government were given to the younger generations of the same families that had worked for his father. He also included members of the newly-formed middle class created by his reforms, including prominent Sunni business families.
Assad also increasingly entrusted key roles to his wife, Asma, before she announced in May that she was undergoing treatment for leukemia and withdrew from the public scene.
When protests broke out in Tunisia and Egypt in 2011, ultimately toppling their rulers, Assad denied the possibility that the same thing could happen in his country, insisting that his regime was in harmony with its people.
As the Arab Spring reached Syria, his security forces launched a brutal crackdown, while Assad consistently denied that he was facing a popular revolt. He blamed “foreign-backed terrorists” for attempting to destabilize his regime.
His rhetoric was welcomed by many of Syria’s minority groups – including Christians, Druze, and Shiites – as well as some Sunnis who feared the prospect of extremist Sunni rule more than the authoritarian rule of Assad.
As the uprising turned into a civil war, millions of Syrians fled to Jordan, Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon, and Europe. It was ironic that on February 26, 2011, just two days after the ousting of Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak by protesters and only a few days before the wave of protests of the Arab Spring would spread to his own country, Assad sent an email in which he criticized the Egyptian leader’s stubborn refusal to step down.
