From eye doctor to dictator – the rise and fall of Assad’s presidency
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.
Bashar al Assad and his wife Asma in 2010. Pic: AP
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.
Bashar al Assad at military training games in 2000. Pic: AP
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.
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Bashar al Assad and his wife Asma greeted by Tony Blair outside 10 Downing Street in 2002. Pic: AP
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.
Syria soldiers pulling out of Lebanon in 2005. Pic: AP
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.
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The Syrian War explained – did it ever end?
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.
Read more:
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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.
President Bashar al Assad and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow in July 2024. Pic: AP
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.
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Toppled Assad statue dragged through streets
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
Trump criticises Putin after potentially ‘historic’ meeting with Zelenskyy before Pope’s funeral
Donald Trump has criticised Vladimir Putin and suggested a shift in his stance towards the Russian president after a meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy before the Pope’s funeral.
The Ukrainian president said the one-on-one talks could prove to be “historic” after pictures showed him sitting opposite Mr Trump, around two feet apart, in the large marble hall inside St Peter’s Basilica.
The US president said he doubted his Russian counterpart’s willingness to end the war after leaving Rome after the funeral of Pope Francis at the Vatican.
Follow live updates: 200,000 mourn at Vatican
In a post on his Truth Social platform, he said “there was no reason” for the Russian president “to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days”.
The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
He added: “It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’ Too many people are dying!!!”
The meeting between the US and Ukrainian leaders was their first face-to-face encounter since a very public row in the Oval Office in February.
Mr Zelenskyy said he had a good meeting with Mr Trump in which they talked about the defence of the Ukrainian people, a full and unconditional ceasefire, and a durable and lasting peace that would prevent the war restarting.
Other images released by the Ukrainian president’s office show Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron were present for part of the talks, which were described as “positive” by the French presidency.
Mr Zelenskyy‘s spokesman said the meeting lasted for around 15 minutes and he and Mr Trump had agreed to hold further discussions later on Saturday.
The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet in the Basilica
But the US president left Rome for Washington on Air Force One soon after the funeral without any other talks having taken place.
The Ukrainian president’s office said there was no second meeting in Rome because of the tight schedule of both leaders, although he had separate discussions with Mr Starmer and Mr Macron.
The French president said in a post on X “Ukraine is ready for an unconditional ceasefire” and that a so-called coalition of the willing, led by the UK and France, would continue working to achieve a lasting peace.
There was applause from some of the other world leaders in attendance at the Vatican when Mr Zelenskyy walked out of St Peter’s Basilica after stopping in front of the pontiff’s coffin to pay his respects.
Donald Trump and the Ukrainian president met for the first time since their Oval Office row. Pic: Reuters
Sir Tony Brenton, the former British ambassador to Russia, said the event presents diplomatic opportunities, including the “biggest possible meeting” between Mr Trump and the Ukrainian leader.
He told Sky News it could mark “an important step” in starting the peace process between Russia and Ukraine.
Professor Father Francesco Giordano told Sky News the meeting is being called “Pope Francis’s miracle” by members of the clergy, adding: “There’s so many things that happened today – it was just overwhelming.”
The bilateral meeting comes after Mr Trump’s peace negotiator Steve Witkoff held talks with Mr Putin at the Kremlin.
They discussed “the possibility of resuming direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine”, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.
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Russia and Ukraine have not held direct talks since the early weeks of the war, which began in February 2022.
Mr Trump has claimed a deal to end the war is “very close” and has urged Mr Zelenskyy to “get it done” in a post on his Truth Social platform.
He has previously warned both sides his administration would walk away from its efforts to achieve a peace if the two sides do not agree a deal soon.
Meanwhile, the Polish armed forces said a Russian military helicopter violated its airspace over the Baltic Sea on Friday evening.
“The nature of the incident indicates that Russia is testing the readiness of our air defence systems,” they said in a post on X.
On an extraordinary day, remarkable pictures on the margins that capture what may be a turning point for the world.
In a corner of St Peter’s Basilica before the funeral of Pope Francis, the leaders of America and Ukraine sit facing each other in two solitary chairs.
They look like confessor and sinner except we cannot tell which one is which.
Leaning forward hands together in their laps, Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy stare at each other in one photo.
In another, the Ukrainian president seems to be remonstrating with the US president. This is their first encounter since their infamous bust-up in the Oval Office.
The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
Other pictures show the moment their French and British counterparts introduced the two men. There is a palpable sense of nervousness in the way the leaders engage.
We do not know what the two presidents said in their brief meeting.
But in the mind of the Ukrainian leader will be the knowledge President Trump has this week said America will reward Russia for its unprovoked brutal invasion of his country, under any peace deal.
Mr Trump has presented Ukraine and Russia with a proposal and ultimatum so one-sided it could have been written in the Kremlin.
Kyiv must surrender the land Russia has taken by force, Crimea forever, the rest at least for now. And it must submit to an act of extortion, a proposed deal that would hand over half its mineral wealth effectively to America.
The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Afterwards, Zelenskyy said it had been a good meeting that could turn out to be historic “if we reach results together”.
They had talked, he said, about the defence of Ukraine, a full and unconditional ceasefire and a durable and lasting peace that will prevent a war restarting.
The Trump peace proposal includes only unspecified security guarantees for Ukraine from countries that do not include the US. It rules out any membership of Ukraine.
Ukraine’s allies are watching closely to see if Mr Trump will apply any pressure on Vladimir Putin, let alone punish him for recent bloody attacks on Ukraine.
Or will he simply walk away if the proposal fails, blaming Ukrainian intransigence, however outrageously, before moving onto a rapprochement with Moscow.
If he does, America’s role as guarantor of international security will be seen effectively as over.
This could be the week we see the world order as we have known it since the end of the Second World War buried, as well as a pope.
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