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.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced his resignation.
The 53-year-old said he will step down as leader of the country’s ruling Liberal Party, which he has led since 2013.
He says it will allow his party to choose a new leader as he suspends parliament until March due to political deadlock.
Chrystia Freeland, seen on the day she quit as finance minister and deputy prime minister in December. Pic: Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press via AP
Follow live: Justin Trudeau announces resignation
Speaking to reporters in front of his residence at Rideau Cottage, in the country’s capital, Ottawa, he said “internal battles” mean that he “cannot be the best option” in the next election.
“I don’t easily back down faced with a fight, especially a very important one for our party and the country. But I do this job because the interests of Canadians and the well-being of democracy is something that I hold dear.
“A new prime minister and leader of the Liberal Party will carry its values and ideals into that next election. I am excited to see that process unfold in the months ahead.”
Mr Trudeau, who has been prime minister since 2015, faced calls to quit from a chorus of his MPs amid poor showings in opinion polls.
He came under further pressure after his finance minister, Chrystia Freeland, resigned in December over clashes on policy.
The disagreements included how to handle possible US tariffs imposed by Donald Trump‘s incoming administration.
Justin Trudeau and Donald Trump in Italy in 2017. Pic: AP
Mr Trudeau’s resignation comes as the polls show his party is likely to suffer a heavy defeat to the official opposition Conservatives in an election that must be held by late October.
The Liberals must now name an interim leader to take over as prime minister ahead of a special leadership convention.
Mr Trudeau came to power 10 years ago following a decade of Conservative Party rule and was initially praised for returning the country to its liberal past.
But he has become deeply unpopular with voters in recent years over a range of issues, including the soaring cost of food and housing and surging immigration.
He is the eldest son of Pierre Trudeau, one of Canada’s most famous prime ministers, who led the country from 1968 to 1979 and from 1980 to 1984.
The political upheaval comes at a difficult moment for Canada internationally.
Read more:
Former golden boy’s popularity in shreds
Zimbabwean migrants heading to South Africa
60m Americans under weather warnings
US President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to impose 25% tariffs on all Canadian goods if Ottawa does not stem what Mr Trump calls a flow of migrants and drugs into the US.
Many fewer of each cross into the US from Canada than from Mexico, which Mr Trump has also threatened.
In a social media post on Christmas Day, Mr Trump even suggested the US could take control of Canada, as well as Greenland and the Panama Canal.
Canada is a major exporter of oil and natural gas to the US, which also relies on its northern neighbour for steel, aluminium and autos.
Few one-time golden boys manage to retain their lustre long into political office.
Barack Obama just about held on to his, leaving the US presidency with his approval rating high despite his party’s 2016 loss to Donald Trump.
But Emmanuel Macron is faltering in France and Justin Trudeau steps down as head of Canada’s liberal party with his popularity in shreds. So much for Western liberal values.
In the high tides of inflation and immigration, those who were their supposed flag-bearers are no longer what electorates want.
Follow live: Justin Trudeau announces resignation
For Mr Trudeau, it is a dramatic reckoning. His approval ratings have dropped from 65% at their highest in September 2016 to 22% now, according to the “Trudeau Tracker” from Canada’s non-profit Angus Reid Institute.
The sudden departure of his finance minister and key political ally Chrystia Freeland last month dealt his leadership a body blow, just as Canada readies itself for a potential trade war with the US which, she argued in a bracing resignation letter, his government was not taking seriously enough.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
“Parliament has been paralysed for months,” Trudeau says
The man Mr Trump recently trolled as “Governor of the ‘Great State of Canada’ or ’51st (US) state'”, Mr Trudeau was as close to Canadian political royalty as it gets.
The son of the country’s 15th prime minister, Pierre Trudeau, he was famously toasted by US president Richard Nixon as “the future prime minister of Canada” when he joined his father on a state visit as a toddler.
Aged five, he met the late Queen for the first time. “Thank you for making me feel so old”, she remarked drily at a re-meet in Malta almost 40 years later.
He has led Canada’s liberal party since 2013 and served as the country’s 23rd prime minister for almost a decade.
Mr Trudeau won a resounding electoral victory in 2015 and secured the premiership through two subsequent elections, though as head of a minority government.
Mr Trudeau, his wife and children celebrate after he won the Federal Liberal leadership in 2013 in Ottawa. Pic: AP/The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld
Read more from Sky News:
Mindy Kaling spills the beans on Meghan’s cooking skills
Calls for more research into flat head syndrome in babies
He made significant inroads against poverty in Canada, worked hard on nation to nation reconciliation with Canada’s indigenous communities, secured an effective trade deal with the US and Mexico in 2016 and managed to keep the public mostly on-side through the COVID-19 pandemic.
But he was a polarising figure. Holidays in exotic climes like a trip to the Bahamas in 2016 to an island belonging to the Aga Khan made him seem elitist and out of touch.
There was embarrassment when blackface images surfaced from his early years as a teacher, for which he apologised profusely.
His supposed liberal credentials smacked of double standards when he invoked emergency powers to crush truckers’ protests in 2022.
But it was the economic aftermath of the pandemic, with Canada suffering an acute housing shortage, immigration leaping under his premiership and the cost of living hitting households across the board which really piled on the pressure.
In those, Canada is not unique. But the opposition conservatives and the public at large clearly want change, and Mr Trudeau has responded.
He has announced his intention to resign as party leader and prime minister after the Liberals selects their next leader.
Mr Trudeau’s legacy may shine brighter with a little hindsight. But now is not that moment.
The question is whether his conservative opposition will fare any better in an increasingly combative geopolitical environment if, as seems likely, a candidate of their choosing wins a federal election due at some point this year.
Donkey karts loaded with wrapped parcels of unknown goods weave around the large puddles of water left in the dried riverbed.
Young men quickly hop over laid bricks to bridge the puddles followed by women treading carefully with babies on their backs.
The Limpopo River’s seasonal dryness is a natural pathway for those moving into South Africa from Zimbabwe illegally.
A sandy narrow beach undisturbed by border patrols with crossers chatting peacefully under trees on both banks as men furiously load and unload smuggled goods on the roadside.
Against the anti-immigration rage and xenophobia boiling over in South Africa’s urban centres, the tranquillity and ease of the border jumping is astonishingly calm.
People crossing the dried Limpopo River to get from Zimbabwe to South Africa
“You can’t stop someone who is suffering. They have to find any means to come find food,” one man tells us anonymously as he crosses illegally.
At 55 years old, he remembers the 3,500-volt electric fence called the “snake of fire” installed here by the Apartheid regime.
Hundreds of women and children escaping conflict in the late 1980s and early 1990s were electrocuted.
A woman near the border
Read more
Olive branch for illegal miners in police stand-off
South Africa beauty queen citizenship row
Today, people fleeing drought and economic strife are smuggled across or walking through border blindspots like this one.
“Now, it’s easy,” he says. “There is no border authority here.”
He crosses regularly and always illegally. While he laughs at the lack of border agents, he says he has been stopped by soldiers in the past.
“They send us back but then the next day you try to come back and it is fine.”
Part of the dilapidated border fence that separates South Africa with Zimbabwe
We find a few soldiers on our way back to the main road. They look confused by our presence but unphased. It is hard to believe they are unaware of the streams of people and goods moving across the dried riverbed just a few hundred metres away.
Border ‘fence’ trampled and full of holes
We drive along the border fence to get to the official border post into Zimbabwe, Beitbridge.
“Fence” is a generous term for the knee-height barbed wire laid across 25 miles of South Africa’s northern edges in 2020. Some sections are completely trampled, and others are gaping with holes.
The concrete fortress is a drastic change to the soft, sandy riverbed. Queues dismantle and reassemble as eager crowds rush from one building to another as instructions change.
Zimbabweans can live, work and study in South Africa on a Zimbabwean exemption permit, but many like Precious, a mother-of-three, cannot even afford a passport.
Precious, a mother-of-three, staying at a shelter in Musina, South Africa
Shelters for women and trafficked children in Musina
When we meet her at a women’s shelter in the border town of Musina, she says she only has $30 (£23.90) to find work in South Africa and that a passport costs $50 (£39.80).
“My husband is disabled and can’t work or do anything. I’m the only one doing everything – school, food, everything. I’m the one who has to take care of the kids and that situation makes me come here to find something,” she says tearfully before breaking down.
The shelter next door is home to trafficked children that were rescued. Other shelters are full of men looking for work.
Musina is a stagnant sanctuary for Zimbabweans searching for a better life who become paralysed here – a sign of the declining state of Zimbabwe and the growing hostility deeper in South Africa.
In Johannesburg, South Africa’s economic centre, illegal immigrants are facing raids and deportations organised by the Ministry of Home Affairs at the behest of popular discontent.
The heavy-handed escalation in the interior sits in stark contrast to the lax border control.
Derelict buildings in Johannesburg where migrants are living
“I wonder how serious our government is about dealing with immigration,” says Nomzamo Zondo, human rights attorney and executive director of the Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa (SERI), as we walk through Johannesburg’s derelict inner city.
“I think part of it is that the South Africa we want to build is one that wants to welcome its neighbours and doesn’t forget the people that welcomed us when we didn’t have a home – and that is why I think they are so poor at maintaining the borders.”
She adds: “But then the call has to be one that says once you are here, how do we make sure you are regularised here, that you know who you are, and contribute to the economy at this point in time.”
More makeshift migrant accommodation in Johannesburg
Climate of anti-migrant hate
In 1994 as South Africa’s first democratically elected president, Nelson Mandela ordered that all electric fences be taken down.
His dream for South Africa to become a pan-African haven for civilians of neighbouring countries that provided sanctuary for fighters in the anti-Apartheid movement was criticised by local constituents back then.
Sky correspondent Yousra Elbagir speaks to migrants inside a government van
Now in a climate of increasing anti-migrant hate, that vision is rejected outright.
“I think that is the highest level of sell-out. When South Africans were in exile, they were in camps and they were restricted to go to other parts of those countries,” says Bungani Thusi, a member of anti-immigrant movement Operation Dudula, at a protest in Soweto.
Anti-immigrant protesters from the group Operation Dudula at a demonstration in Soweto
He is wearing faux military fatigues and has the upright position of an officer heading into battle.
“Why do you allow foreigners to go all over South Africa and run businesses and make girlfriends?” he adds, with all the seriousness of protest.
“South Africans can’t even have their own girlfriends because the foreigners have taken over the girlfriend space.”
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports9 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway