How Syrian rebels overthrew the Assad regime in just over a week
Seizing military bases, toppling regime statues, freeing prisoners and capturing major cities – this is just a fraction of what Syrian rebel forces have achieved in just over a week.
Sky News has tracked the shock offensive that has ousted President Bashar al Assad, using over 60 geolocated videos that show how they advanced through major cities and captured the capital Damascus.
While Assad, who has now left the country, had earlier vowed to “crush” the offensive, visual evidence shows how quickly his regime has fallen.
This is how the offensive unfolded.
Until just over a week ago, Assad’s Russian-backed forces controlled much of Syria.
Now the opposition groups – led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS) – a former al Qaeda affiliate previously known as the Nusra Front – have captured three of Syria’s major cities including its capital and ousted the regime.
The fall of Aleppo
Rebels began the surprise offensive from the northern province of Idlib before attacking areas to the north and northwest of Aleppo, Syria’s second largest city which has been under Assad’s control since 2016.
In the space of just three days, rebels pushed out government forces. Footage from 29 November shows lines of students evacuating from the University of Aleppo as opposition forces closed in.
Later that day, just two kilometres south of the university, HTS members filmed themselves at a statue of Assad’s deceased brother, taking down the regime flag.
The next day, Syria’s military announced a withdrawal from the city – Aleppo fell to the rebels.
Assad forces attempted defence
After defeat in Aleppo, Assad’s forces attempted to defend other cities and towns. They headed to Hama, a city 120km south of Aleppo – where geolocated videos posted on 30 November show a line of tanks as Assad’s forces awaited the rebels.
These are among the few videos which show efforts by regime forces during the offensive.
On 2 December, Russian and Syrian jets struck the rebel-held city of Idlib in the north, which for years had been the last anti-regime stronghold in Syria.
Videos show the aftermath of a deadly attack near Idlib University Hospital; the strikes that day killed at least 25 people.
Rebels move to Hama
Next, the rebels moved towards Hama city, 120km south of Aleppo. We verified footage taken on 3 December showing opposition forces in Al Amqiyah and Halfaya, a village and a town in the Hama governorate.
On 4 December, the rebels posted videos of a military base they’d seized in the Hama province signalling that they were not only able to take large cities, but also to seize key military sites. Taken from inside a vehicle, the footage shows the empty base – with regime forces nowhere to be seen.
The next day, on 5 December, rebels captured Hama city – the provincial capital – as the military withdrew its troops marking the seizure of a second major city and a significant setback for the regime.
Footage posted by rebels on 5 December shows prisoners being freed from the notorious Hama prison, as family members and friends hugged each other as they were reunited.
Rebels capture Homs
With Aleppo and Hama now under rebel-control, opposition forces made their way to Homs a city in western Syria – under 50km south of Hama and around 150km south of Aleppo.
Homs sits on a major crossroad, linking Damascus to the north and Syria’s Mediterranean coast provinces of Latakia and Tartus, where the majority back Mr Assad and home to a Russian naval base and air base.
On the evening of 5 December, videos emerged of hundreds of people attempting to flee Homs as the rebels drew closer. Footage shows long queues of cars stuck in traffic as people tried to leave the city and head west.
The next day, the rebels are seen in a number of villages within a 10km radius of Homs. We geolocated footage of anti-Assad convoys advancing through the towns of Talbiseh and Ter Maela and greeted by civilians – showing just how close they were to the major city.
While the world’s attention was mostly focused on rebel advances heading south from Aleppo and Hama, the regime’s hold over territory in the east and south of the country was also deteriorating.
By 6 December, we geolocated footage that showed the rebels had taken Deir el-Zor, a major city on the eastern fringes of the regime’s territory. The same day, several locations were captured in Daraa Governate, putting new pressure on Damascus from the south.
Then, the next day, on 7 December, the rebels declared they’d captured Homs.
Regime’s last stand
Finally, the opposition forces moved around 130km south to Damascus – home to the presidential palace.
From here little resistance against the rebels was seen. Videos from 8 December show Syrians walking inside the Muhajireen Presidential Palace while other videos show posters of Assad being ripped from a hospital.
Celebrations have continued on the streets of the city as other videos show people leaving Damascus’s ministry of finance with bags.
Russia, one of Assad’s key allies, said the Syrian president has left office and Syria after giving orders for there to be a peaceful transfer of power.
Mr Assad has since arrived in Moscow with his family, a Kremlin source told Russia’s state-run TASS news agency.
While many did not anticipate the scale and speed of the rebel offensive in Syria and many questions remain over the political future of the country, this offensive marks the end of a 54-year Assad rule in Syria.
We rarely think about how essential and reliable electricity grids are until they fail.
Now, millions of people across Spain, Portugal and parts of France are likely thinking of little else.
While local power cuts are fairly common, what’s happened across the Iberian peninsula is something far more extreme.
Much of Spain and Portugal’s electricity transmission system collapsed in seconds including in major cities Lisbon, Madrid, Barcelona and Seville.
Blackouts latest: ‘Rare atmospheric phenomenon’ behind outages
It’s likely the outage will surpass Europe’s largest blackout to date when 56 million people in Italy and Switzerland lost power for up to 12 hours in 2023.
The cause of the outage is unclear. Portugal’s grid operator has blamed a “rare atmospheric phenomenon” that caused “anomalous oscillations” in high voltage power lines in Spain.
Spain’s grid operator has yet to respond to that or provide an update on the cause. But it’s unlikely whatever caused the outage was a single, localised event.
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Mayhem in Spain after major power outage
A major power line going down can cause a large outage – as it did in 2021, when an interconnector between France and Spain failed leaving a million people without power for a few hours.
But it’s unlikely to cause a system-wide failure of the kind we’re seeing now.
However, when things do start to fail on a power grid, they can cascade uncontrollably.
Keeping a grid running is a constant and highly complex balancing act.
People outside a terminal at Lisbon Airport during the blackout. Pic: Reuters
Spain’s mains AC electricity supply grid, like ours in the UK, runs at 50Hz. That frequency is based on the speed at which generating hardware such as gas and nuclear turbines spin.
If there are sudden fluctuations in power supply or demand – a power station failing or a high voltage power line going down, for example – the frequency of AC power in the transmission lines changes and circuit breakers trip to protect either the transmission network, or power plant hardware from burning out.
To prevent such failures, grid engineers constantly measure and forecast supply and demand to keep the grid balanced.
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To protect the system in emergencies, they occasionally have to “shed load” by cutting power to parts of the grid – the reason we’ve all experienced the occasional short-lived power cut.
But if balance is lost, a grid can fail in a domino effect with sections of the grid tripping, then power plants shutting down to protect themselves from the drop in demand, one after another.
The challenge now, and it’s a nightmare for Spain and Portugal’s power engineers, is to gradually restore the grid section by section while maintaining the balance of supply and demand.
Act too fast, and the grid can trip again. Take too long and some power plants or substations might struggle to restart – especially if they rely on battery power to do so.
While some regions of Spain have already had power restored, and Portugal says its power will be back to normal within hours, it could take much longer for the system to be fully restored.
A Palestinian diplomat has told the United Nations’ top court that Israel is “starving, killing and displacing” civilians and targeting aid workers in Gaza.
Israel denies deliberately targeting civilians and aid staff and did not attend the hearing at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Monday.
At The Hague, Palestinian ambassador to the Netherlands, Ammar Hijazi, accused Israel of breaching international law in the occupied territories.
He said: “Israel is starving, killing and displacing Palestinians while also targeting and blocking humanitarian organisations trying to save their lives.”
Ammar Hijazi, right. Pic: AP
A protester outside the International Court of Justice on Monday. Pic: AP
The hearings are focused on a request last year from the UN General Assembly, which asked the court to weigh in on Israel’s legal responsibilities after the country blocked the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestine refugees from operating on its territory.
In a resolution sponsored by Norway, the General Assembly requested an advisory opinion, a non-binding but legally important decision from the court, on Israel’s obligations in the occupied territories to “ensure and facilitate the unhindered provision of urgently needed supplies essential to the survival of the Palestinian civilian population”.
Pic: AP
While Israel was not in court, foreign minister Gideon Saar told a news conference in Jerusalem: “I accuse UNRWA, I accuse the UN, I accuse the secretary-general and I accuse all those that weaponised international law and its institutions in order to deprive the most attacked country in the world, Israel, of its most basic right to defend itself.”
Forty states and four international organisations are scheduled to participate in the ICJ hearings, with it likely taking months for the court to rule.
Pic: AP
The hearings come amid the near collapse of the humanitarian aid system in Gaza.
Israel has blocked the entry of food, fuel, medicine and other humanitarian supplies since 2 March.
The World Food Programme said last week its food stocks in the Gaza Strip had run out.
Palestinians wait to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen, in Beit Lahiya. Pic: Reuters
Israel also renewed its bombardment on 18 March, breaking a ceasefire, and seized large parts of the territory, claiming it aims to push Hamas to release more hostages.
Overnight into Monday, at least 27 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes, according to local health officials.
An air strike hit a home in Beit Lahia, killing 10 people, including a Palestinian prisoner, Abdel-Fattah Abu Mahadi, who had been released as part of the ceasefire.
His wife, two of their children and a grandchild were also killed, according to Indonesia Hospital which received the bodies.
An Israeli air strike hit a home in Beit Lahia, killing 10 people. Pic: AP
Pic: AP
Another strike hit a home in Gaza City, killing seven people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry’s emergency service.
And late on Sunday, a strike hit a home in the southern city of Khan Younis, killing at least 10 people, including five siblings as young as four-years-old, according to the health ministry.
Two other children were killed along with their parents, according to Nasser Hospital which received the bodies.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
Israel claims it makes every effort to avoid harming civilians and blames Hamas for their deaths because the militants operate in densely populated areas.
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World Food Programme stocks in Gaza have run out
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Israel’s ban on UNRWA came into effect in January.
The organisation has faced increased criticism from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right allies, who claim the group is deeply infiltrated by Hamas, which UNRWA refutes.
Amir Weissbrod, a foreign ministry official, presented Israel’s case against UNRWA on Monday.
He accused it of failing to act before the war against evidence that Hamas had used its facilities, including by digging tunnels underneath them.
The official said UNRWA employed 1,400 Palestinians with militant ties.
Israel claims some of those employees also took part in Hamas’ attacks on 7 October 2023, with at least three of those employees still allegedly working for the UN.
The presentation included videos, documents and pictures of the alleged employees.
The 7 October 2023 attack in southern Israel killed around 1,200 people and prompted the ongoing Israeli offensive in Gaza – which the territory’s health ministry says has killed more than 52,000 people.
UNRWA said it fired nine staffers after an internal UN investigation concluded that they could have been involved, although the evidence was not authenticated and corroborated.
The ban does not apply directly to Gaza, but UNRWA is prohibited from operating inside Israel which affects the agency’s ability to function.
Israeli officials claim they are looking for alternative ways to deliver aid to Gaza that would cut out the UN.
The conclave to elect Pope Francis’s successor will begin on 7 May, the Vatican has announced.
Some 135 cardinal electors – those under the age of 80 – will take part and vote for the new pontiff.
The rituals of the event, held in the Sistine Chapel, are elaborate and date back centuries. So how does the process work?
When Pope Francis died, the Catholic Church entered a period known as “sede vacante”, meaning “empty seat”.
His ring and seal – used to dispatch papal documents – were broken to prevent anyone else from using them.
Cardinal Kevin Farrell – the Camerlengo, or chamberlain, who announced Francis’s death – became the interim chief of the Catholic Church.
Pic: Reuters
The conclave
Cardinals travel to Rome from all over the world and stay until a new pope is chosen.
Of the 252 current ones, there are 135 cardinal electors: 53 from Europe; 23 from Asia; 20 from North America; 18 from Africa; 17 from South America; and four from Oceania.
Italy has the most cardinals who can vote, with 17, while the US has 10 and Brazil has seven. The UK has three.
A papal crest dedicated to Pope Pius XII. Pic: Reuters
Once the conclave begins, the cardinals will not emerge from the Vatican until a new pope has been chosen. The word “conclave” comes from Latin, meaning “with key” – a reference to the isolation in which the cardinals are kept.
While holding voting sessions in the Sistine Chapel, they sleep in the Casa Santa Marta – a guesthouse inside the Vatican’s grounds.
The longest conclave lasted almost three years, between 1268 and 1271. Several have lasted only one day. The one which elected Pope John Paul in 1978 lasted less than three days. Cardinals chose Pope Francis in around two days.
While the conclave is ongoing, cardinals are unable to communicate with the outside world. No telephones, internet use or newspapers are allowed.
Except for the first day, when only one ballot is held, the cardinals hold two daily votes until one candidate has a majority of two-thirds plus one. They are sworn to secrecy about the voting.
White smoke?
So how do we know if a decision has been reached? Yes, this is the black smoke, white smoke part.
If the cardinals have not reached a majority, the cards and the tally sheets are placed in a stove and burned with an additive to produce black smoke, showing the outside world that a pope has not yet been chosen.
No pope yet… black smoke rising from the Sistine Chapel. Pic: Reuters
Watching for the tell-tale smoke arising from the top of the Sistine Chapel is a tradition, with Catholics crowding into St Peter’s Square for the spectacle.
If no result has been reached after three days, the sessions are suspended for a day to allow for prayer and discussion. More ballots are held until a two-thirds majority is reached.
When enough cardinals have agreed on a candidate, he is asked if he accepts the papacy and by which name he wishes to be known.
The ballots are burned as before, but with an additive to produce white smoke.
A Papal white skull cap. Pic: Reuters
New pope proclaimed
The new pope then dons his new papal vestments – tailors keep large, medium and small sizes ready – and sits on a throne in the Sistine Chapel to receive the other cardinals who file up to pay homage and swear obedience to the church’s new leader.
The senior cardinal deacon then steps out on to the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica overlooking the square and announces in Latin: “Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum. Habemus Papam” (I announce to you a great joy. We have a pope) and reveals the cardinal’s name and the name he has chosen.
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The new pope then appears on the balcony to deliver his first public pontifical greeting and bless the crowds in St Peter’s Square.
A few days later, he celebrates a mass that marks the beginning of his papal ministry.
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