From eye doctor to dictator – the rise and fall of Assad’s presidency

Published

6 months ago

December 8, 2024

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Bashar al Assad’s downfall marks an end to more than half a century of family rule, as rebel forces turned the tide in a civil war he had embraced.

The authoritarian president ruled Syria for 24 years, five years short of his father’s time in power, but the plan was never for him to take over the dynasty.

Before his political career began to take shape, Assad was based in the UK, where he had an ophthalmology practice.

Damascus ‘freed’ of Assad – live updates

A family tragedy would soon thrust him into the political fray – and his early days in Damascus stood in stark contrast to his exit.

Eye doctor and computer geek

Before Damascus, Assad was an eye doctor in London and his only official position in his home country was as head of the Syrian Computer Society.

In the UK capital, he met his future wife, Asma Akhras, a former investment banker at JPMorgan who grew up in Acton, west London.

She ditched her career for Assad after a trip together to Libya as a guest of then leader Muammar Gaddafi.

In 1994, Assad’s older brother – and heir to the presidency – Bassel was killed in a car crash in Damascus.

Assad was promptly ordered back home, where he was put through military training and elevated his rank to colonel to establish his credentials for ruling.

But there was never any doubt he would take over. When his father Hafez al Assad died in 2000, parliament quickly lowered the presidential age from 40 to 34.

To top it off, his elevation was confirmed after a nationwide referendum pitted him as the only candidate.

Hopes for a young reformer

Assad began his presidency with promises to fight corruption and to open up the media. He inherited a dilapidated country and lacked support from his father’s loyalists.

Viewed as something of a geek, the lanky Assad constantly tried to prove himself despite his gentle demeanour, not least to his fearsome mother, whom the president’s wife also struggled to impress.

He had quickly freed political prisoners and allowed more open discourse. In the “Damascus Spring” – briefly sprung after his father’s death – salons for intellectuals emerged to discuss art, culture and politics.

But these were snuffed out after 1,000 intellectuals signed a public petition calling for multiparty democracy and greater freedoms in 2001.

He slowly lifted economic restrictions, let in foreign banks, made way for imports and empowered the private sector.

Syrian cities began to see shopping malls, new restaurants and consumer goods, while tourism rose.

Foreign policy blow

But abroad, he stuck to the line his father had set, based on an alliance with Iran and a policy of insisting on a full return of the Israel-annexed Golan Heights.

In 2004 the UN Security Council ordered Syria to end its long occupation of neighbouring Lebanon, leaving Assad with a choice: comply and ruin some of his father’s legacy, or ignore it.

He chose the former – this angered his family.

Gradually, Assad started to believe the West was weak and believed the more he demonstrated strength, the more he would achieve.

In 2005, former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated, killed by a bomb while driving in Beirut. The Syrian government was blamed.

Syria was forced to withdraw its troops from Lebanon and a pro-American government came to power instead.

Syrian civil war

A few years after going against his father’s legacy, Assad would draw on his brutal tactics when protests erupted against his rule in March 2011, during the Arab Spring.

He had until that point denied the wave of Arab uprising would spread to Syria, and even emailed a joke mocking the Egyptian leader’s refusal to step down two days after his fall.

But reality soon bit, after protesters in the southern city of Daraa were shot dead by government forces, sparking nationwide unrest.

Full-blown civil war would break out, which would become the world’s largest refugee crisis, according to the UN.

More than 14 million Syrians have been forced to flee their homes in search of safety, the body reports.

Atrocities

Since then, Assad’s rule has been dogged by widespread accusations of atrocities, including the use of chemical weapons such as sarin, chlorine, and mustard gas.

In 2013, a gas attack on rebel-held eastern Ghouta near Damascus killed scores of civilians.

There have also been widespread reports of rape, beheadings and torture.

Assad was propped up largely thanks to Russia – who stepped in to carry out decisive airstrikes in 2015 – and Iran, who both backed Syria militarily.

In 2020, Moscow backed a government offensive, which ended with a ceasefire with Turkey and froze most front lines.

Assad held most territory and all main cities, appearing deeply entrenched, while rebels held the northwest and a Turkey-backed force stayed at a border strip.

Kurdish-led forces, meanwhile, controlled the northeast.

After government forces bombarded the northwest rebel-held region of Idlib in 2020 – killing civilians in the process – Assad had appeared to consolidate his iron-fist rule.

The downfall

Few saw an end to his presidency in the near future, but just as Assad’s fortunes relied on Moscow and Tehran, so too was his fate tied to their geopolitical priorities.

With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine lasting almost three years and Iran rocked by Israeli attacks on its proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon, Syrian government defences were exposed.

Rebel forces launched an attack on the northern city of Aleppo, which the government had held since 2016, and within days stormed through the country.

Assad had initially vowed to fight back, with the military claiming they were preparing a counter-offensive.

But the insurgents continued to sweep their way to Damascus, where Assad had insisted he remained as recently as Saturday evening.

He has not been seen in the capital since rebels claimed full control and Russia has said he has left the country – adding he gave “instructions to transfer power peacefully”.

While Syrians took to the streets to chant for freedom and celebrated his downfall, what comes next for the country – and who governs it – remains shrouded in uncertainty.

World

Who are some of the victims named following the Air India plane crash?

Published

8 mins ago

June 14, 2025

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Who are some of the victims named following the Air India plane crash?

Tributes have been paid to victims of the Air India plane crash, including a couple and their three children and a man returning home after scattering his wife’s ashes.

Flight 171 was carrying 242 people when it struck a medical college hostel less than a minute after taking off from Ahmedabad airport, in western India, bound for Gatwick on Thursday.

Among those on board were 169 Indian nationals, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese nationals and one Canadian, the airline said.

It has confirmed 241 of those on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner were killed in the crash, with just one survivor – a British man from Leicester. Twenty-nine people on the ground were also killed, taking the total number of victims to 270, officials have said.

Tributes to those who died in the worst aviation crash in a decade are now being shared.

Arjun Patoliya

The 37-year-old had been to India to fulfil his wife Bharti’s “final wish” to scatter her ashes in her hometown in Gujarat, after she died following a battle with cancer.

He was returning home to his young daughters in north London, according to a GoFundMe page set up for the girls.

It says: “In a span of just 18 days, two young sisters – only 4 and 8 years old – have lost both of their beloved parents.”

Dr Prateek Joshi and his family

Dr Joshi, a radiologist at the Royal Derby Hospital, was on the flight with his wife, Dr Komi Vyas, and their three children, Mirayal, Nakul and Pradyut.

In a post on Facebook, Derby Hindu Temple said: “We pray to Lord Shiva to grant eternal peace to the departed souls and to give strength to the bereaved family to bear this immense loss.”

Dr Joshi’s colleague Dr Rajeev Singh described him as “a wonderful man, friend, husband and father, and an exceptional radiologist who was highly respected in his field”.

“It is hard to accept that a man with such a passion for life, and his beautiful young family, have been taken in this way,” his statement continued.

“His passing has left a profound void, not only in his professional contributions but in the warmth and spirit that he gave to the world every day.”

Akeel Nanabawa, his wife Hannaa Vorajee and their four-year-old daughter

The family of three from Gloucester were “widely loved and deeply respected”, their family said in a statement issued through their imam.

Mr Nanabawa ran a recruitment firm and Ms Vorajee volunteered at a local Islamic school and was a director for an organisation promoting understanding of Islam, Imam Abdullah Samad said.

Their daughter, Sara Nanabawa, was four years old.

The imam, who is headteacher at the school Sara had just started attending, told Sky News: “She had a smile like the rays of the sun, she would light up the room.

“She was exactly what her parents would have wanted her to be. She took a lot of good qualities from her parents. Staff at the school are absolutely devastated.”

He said of her parents: “They were widely loved and deeply respected. His quiet generosity, her warmth and kindness, and their daughter’s bright, joyful spirit made a lasting impact on everyone who knew them.”

Mariam and Javed Ali Syed and their two children

The couple and their two children – five-year-old Zayn and four-year-old Amani – were returning from a holiday in India, Ms Ali Syed’s sister-in-law told the Telegraph.

The mother-of-two reportedly worked for Harrods for a decade while Mr Ali Syed is reported to have worked at a London hotel.

Speaking to the Telegraph, Yasmine Hassan said of the couple’s two children: “They are so small, they are five and four. And it’s just thinking how scared they must have been.”

Renjitha Gopakumaran Nair

The 40-year-old nurse and mother of two worked at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth.

A Facebook page for nurses from India said she was originally from Thiruvalla, Kerala, and touched “countless lives with her care and compassion”.

Ajay Kumar Ramesh

Mr Ramesh was seated in a different row to his brother, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, whose survival is being hailed as a miracle.

Speaking outside the family home in Leicester, Jay, a relative of the brothers, said Vishwash asked about Ajay when he contacted his father after the tragedy.

Jay said: “After the crash, he spoke to his dad worrying about his brother saying, ‘Where’s Ajay’?”

Raxa Modha, her daughter-in-law and infant grandson

A member of Raxa Modha’s family has told Sky News she was in India for a religious ceremony after the death of her husband two months ago.

She had travelled with her daughter-in-law Yasha and infant grandson Rudra.

All three of them were from Wellingborough, Northamptonshire.

Sisters Heer and Dhir Baxi

The siblings, both in their early twenties, were returning home to London after surprising their grandmother for her birthday.

Their cousin Ishan Baxi, who lives in Ahmedabad, said both women had an “amazing aura” and wanted to “roam the world”.

He said: “I am unable to control my tears even now also just because I was close to them, you just imagine what emotions parents are going through right now and think about guilt the grandma would feel right now.

“I just want God to bless those souls, all dreams, promises, aspirations vanished in seconds.”

Fiongal and Jamie Greenlaw-Meek

The couple, who ran a spiritual wellness centre in Ramsgate, Kent, filmed themselves laughing and joking at the airport just moments before boarding the plane.

The former editor of This Morning has paid tribute to Fiongal, who appeared on the show earlier this year, and his partner.

Martin Frizell said on Instagram: “I remember his visit to the studio in January, he was passionate about auras and although I’m a sceptical sort, his vibrancy and sheer enthusiasm won folk over.”

Adam and Hasina Taju, and Altafhusen Patel

Adam Taju, 72, and his wife Hasina, 70, were flying with their son-in-law Altafhusen, the couple’s granddaughter told the BBC.

World

Iran claims it has downed two Israeli jets – as it fires missiles in response to Friday’s attacks

Published

8 mins ago

June 14, 2025

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Iran claims it has downed two Israeli jets - as it fires missiles in response to Friday's attacks

Iran claims it has shot down two Israeli jets and that its response to Friday night’s attacks on nuclear and military infrastructure has begun.

The reports emerged as smoke was seen rising from Tel Aviv as Iran launched missiles at the Israeli city.

Air raid sirens had been heard across Tel Aviv and Jerusalem as the missiles neared Israel.

Footage has shown Israel’s Iron Dome air defence system – which uses radars to detect and intercept short-range rockets, missiles and drones – stopping Iranian missiles from striking the city.

However, video also suggests some missiles made it through. According to Israeli medics, a total of 34 people were taken to hospital in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area.

In a statement at around 1:50am on Saturday local time (11:50pm on Friday UK time), the Israel Defense Forces said: “In the past hour, dozens of missiles have been launched from Iran toward the State of Israel. Some of the missiles were intercepted.

“Search and Rescue forces are currently operating in a number of locations across the country in which reports of fallen projectiles were received.”

Meanwhile, the Iranian Army had earlier said in a statement that its “defence forces successfully hit and destroyed two F-35 fighter jets belonging to the zionist entity, in addition to a large number of small drones”.

“The fate of the two fighter pilots remains unknown and is being investigated,” the statement added.

Follow live: Israel-Iran conflict updates

The escalation in the region comes after Israel launched a huge attack on Iran on Friday, which it says was aimed at degrading the country’s nuclear ambitions and weakening its military.

Israel was able to target key facilities and kill top generals and scientists.

It said it airstrikes were necessary before its adversary got any closer to building an atomic weapon.

As Israel braced itself for a retaliation, the IRNA state news agency in Iran confirmed this evening that the country’s response had begun.

It came as a reporter with the Iranian Tasnim news agency said missiles had been fired from Shiraz and Isfahan in Iran towards Israel.

Sky News correspondent Mark Stone, who used to be based in Jerusalem, has said Iran is trying to “overwhelm the Iron Dome defence system, which has to be manually reloaded again and again”.

He added: “[The Iron Dome] can be overwhelmed. We saw a number of instances in the videos a moment ago where it was clearly overwhelmed and some of those ballistic missiles hit targets in Tel Aviv.”

Three American officials have told Sky’s US partner network NBC News that the US military helped Israel down some Iranian missiles this evening.

As the barrage of missiles was fired at Israel, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei wrote on X: “The Zionist regime (Israel) will not remain unscathed from the consequences of its crime.

“The Iranian nation must be guaranteed that our response will not be half-measured,” he said, adding Iran will “inflict heavy blows” on Israel.

Mr Khamenei also said that Israel has initiated a war and that Tehran will not allow it to conduct “hit and run” attacks without grave consequences.

It came before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on Iranians to stand up to the regime in Tehran and help Israel “clear the path for you to achieve your freedom”.

In a video released during Iran’s missile attack on Israel, Mr Netanyahu said Israel had taken out a “large portion” of Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal and its “most significant enrichment facility”.

“More is on the way,” he added. “The regime does not know what hit them, or what will hit them. It has never been weaker. This is your opportunity to stand up and let your voices be heard.”

The Israeli military has told people they can now leave air raid shelters but must stay near them in case of further attacks.

The Israel Defence Forces issued instructions earlier this evening telling residents to stay in shelters and minimise movement in open areas.

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and US President Donald Trump have agreed the mounting conflict between Iran and Israel should be resolved by “diplomacy and dialogue”.

The two leaders spoke on Friday evening, as western nations began a diplomatic flurry to calm the conflict between Israel and Iran.

Sir Keir earlier urged Mr Netanyahu to de-escalate and work towards a “diplomatic resolution”.

Meanwhile, Mr Trump urged Iran to quickly reach an agreement on curbing its nuclear program as Israel vowed to continue its bombardment of the country.

Mr Trump framed the volatile moment in the Middle East as a possible “second chance” for Iran’s leadership to avoid further destruction “before there is nothing left and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire.”

The US president had urged Mr Netanyahu not to attack Iran.

The two leaders had what was described as a heated 40-minute exchange by telephone last Monday.

Speaking just hours before the attack, Mr Trump said he feared such action would destroy US hopes of an agreement with Iran to curtail its nuclear programme.

World

What you need to know as Israel launches strikes against Iran

Published

8 mins ago

June 14, 2025

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What you need to know as Israel launches strikes against Iran

Israel has launched a major attack on Iran and declared a state of emergency over retaliation fears.

The operation, called “Rising Lion”, killed a number of Iranian commanders, scientists and the head of the country’s powerful Revolutionary Guard, according to Iranian state media.

Iran launched more than 100 drones towards Israel after the country vowed retaliation, an Israeli military spokesperson said.

Israel-Iran live: Follow the latest updates

Here is what we know so far.

What has happened?

Shortly after 1am UK time on Friday, Israel launched what it called “pre-emptive strikes” against targets in Iran.

Explosions were heard in Iran’s capital, Tehran, while Iranian state TV broadcast footage of blown-out walls, burning roofs and shattered windows in residential buildings across the city.

It reported that blasts had set the Revolutionary Guard’s headquarters on fire.

Iranian local media site, Nournews, reported 78 people were killed and 329 were injured in the strikes in Tehran.

Bracing for retaliation, Israel closed its airspace and said it was calling up tens of thousands of soldiers to protect the country’s borders.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the operation “will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat”.

The Israeli military said all of its pilots involved in the strike on Iran returned home unharmed, as the country’s armed forces continued assessing the results of the operation.

Flights around the Middle East were cancelled as a result of the strikes, with passengers in Iraq, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Iran and Dubai facing delays.

Where and who was targeted?

In a video announcing the military operation, Mr Netanyahu said the strikes hit Iran’s main nuclear enrichment site, the Natanz atomic facility.

An IDF spokesperson said the site has been “significantly harmed” adding the strikes hit an underground facility and other crucial infrastructure.

The international atomic watchdog (IAEA) said it was in contact with Iranian authorities regarding radiation levels at the Natanz facility – which is in the central Isfahan province – adding later that there had been no increase in levels.

The IDF said the strikes eliminated several senior military commanders of the Iranian regime.

Six nuclear scientists were also killed, according to Iranian state media.

Scroll through the slider below to see who was killed and what we know about them. For more information, read our full explainer here.

Why has Israel launched strikes now?

The attack comes amid rising international fears over Iran’s nuclear programme, with the UN watchdog warning earlier this week that the country is breaking its obligations for the first time in 20 years.

Israel and the US have long feared that Iran is plotting to develop a nuclear weapon. Tehran has repeatedly denied this and insists its programme is for civilian purposes – to generate energy.

Mr Netanyahu claimed on Friday that if Iran wasn’t stopped, “it could produce a nuclear weapon within a very short time”.

He went further to claim Iran had in recent years developed enough highly-enriched uranium for “nine atom bombs”.

US and Iranian officials were scheduled to hold a sixth round of talks on Tehran’s escalating uranium enrichment programme in Oman on Sunday.

Israel previously launched strikes on Iran in October 2024.

Sky News’ Middle East correspondent Alistair Bunkall said last year’s strikes eliminated much of Iran’s air defences, giving the Israeli air force some freedom of movement in Iran’s skies.

But Iran has been rebuilding those defences, Bunkall adds, so Israel’s window to operate was closing.

Has Iran responded?

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, warned of “severe punishment”, claiming Israel targeted “residential areas”.

“In the enemy’s attacks, a number of commanders and scientists were martyred. Their successors and colleagues will immediately continue their duties,” he said in a statement reported by the Tasnim news agency.

Hours after Israeli strikes, Iran launched more than 100 drones in retaliation, an Israel Defence Force (IDF) spokesperson said.

The IDF confirmed Israel had begun intercepting unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVS) which it said had been fired from Iran.

A second volley of more than 100 drones were then launched towards Israel, which will take several hours to make the journey.

Strikes over the past year

Tensions between Iran and Israel have boiled over in the past year.

Iran has backed, funded and trained several proxy groups across the Middle East region to varying degrees, including Hamas in Gaza, the Houthis in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon and a number of other factions based in Syria and Iraq.

Israel accuses Iran of backing militant attacks against it, while Iran says Israel has carried out a number of killings of Iranian officials and scientists – which Israel has not commented on. 

Below are some of the attacks that have happened since April 2024:

How has the world reacted?

US President Donald Trump wrote on the Truth Social platform that he gave Iran “chance after chance” to make a deal, but they “couldn’t get it done”.

He wrote: “I told them [Iran] it would be much worse than anything they know, anticipated, or were told, that the United States makes the best and most lethal military equipment anywhere in the World, BY FAR, and that Israel has a lot of it, with much more to come – And they know how to use it.

“Certain Iranian hardliner’s spoke bravely, but they didn’t know what was about to happen. They are all DEAD now, and it will only get worse!”

Marco Rubio, US secretary of state, said earlier that America was not involved in the attack and warned Iran not to retaliate against American interests in the region.

Mr Rubio added that America believes the strikes are necessary for Israel’s self defence.

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer urged “all parties to step back and reduce tensions urgently”.

Read analysis from Sky correspondents:
The consequences for the region could be massive
Israel defied Trump and chose to act now

The UK is not currently helping to defend Israel from Iranian drone attacks, Sky News’ security and defence editor, Deborah Haynes, said. The government will, however, hold an emergency COBRA meeting on Friday, Sky News understands.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said it is paying close attention to the attacks and called on the relevant parties to act in ways that will lead to regional peace and stability.

Russia called the Israeli strikes “unprovoked” and in “breach of the United Nations charter”.

In the Middle East, the UAE condemned Israel’s strikes against Iran “in the strongest terms” and expressed “deep concern” over the repercussions on regional security. Saudi Arabia also condemned the Israeli attack.

Neighbouring Qatar called Israel’s attack a “flagrant violation” of Iran’s sovereignty and security.