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Syria is on the brink of civil war as rebels raced to fill a power vacuum left by ousted despot Bashar al-Assad.
His brutal 24-year reign of terror was ended by an Islamist anti-government offensive forcing him and his family to flee.
The lightning-fast coup toppled his military regime in hours, but what comes next has the world nervously watching as players in the powder-keg Middle East jostle for position.
Thousands poured onto the streets after the army withdrew, dancing and chanting: "Assad is gone, Homs is free".
Colonel Richard Kemp, the decorated former British Army commander, said: “No one has any real idea how this situation will develop and could see Syria becoming an Afghanistan-style base for global jihad, threatening us all. Rebels will have access to massive weapons stockpiles, including chemical weapons, tanks, and planes.
The whereabouts of Assad, 59, who trained as a surgeon at Western Eye Hospital in London in the early nineties, and his wife Asma and two children remain unknown.
Amid the chaos, the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham has emerged as a successor to the regime.
Its leader, Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani, stated on Syrian state TV that there is "no room" for turning back and that "the future is ours".
It was set up in 2011 as a direct affiliate of al-Qaeda under the name of Jabhat al-Nusra and remains a proscribed terrorist group by the UN and the US.
The extraordinary events were described as a new birth for "great Syria”, moving from a “struggle to overthrow the Assad regime to the struggle to build a Syria together that befits the sacrifices of its people”.
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer welcomed the fall of Bashar al-Assad's "barbaric regime" but urged for "peace and stability" in the country.
He said: “The developments in Syria are unprecedented, and we are speaking to our regional partners and monitoring the situation closely.
"The Syrian people have suffered under Assad's barbaric regime for too long, and we welcome his departure."
The toppling of Assad is a huge embarrassment to Russia, a key ally which provided the military firepower to help him remain in power.
Russia confirmed the ousted Kremlin-backed dictator had left the country following negotiations with "other participants in the armed conflict”.
Members of the Syrian community wave Syrian flags on December 8, 2024 in Copenhagen, Denmark
Moscow said it was not involved in the negotiations, and its military bases in Syria remained on high alert but were not under threat. Rumours that Assad had fled to Moscow were unconfirmed.
The Assad family had ruled Syria for 53 years, running the country as a personal fiefdom, with Assad seizing power in 2000 after the death of his father, who had ruled for almost three decades.
What made the past 48 hours remarkable was the ease at which his iron rule was overthrown.
Just 13 years ago, with weapons and hardware supplied by Russia, Assad was able to crush a peaceful, pro-democracy uprising which spiralled into civil war. More than 500,000 people were killed and 12 million displaced.
Until recently, Assad’s military, along with Russian air support, battled Hayat Tahrir al-Sham [HTS], a coalition of Islamist militant groups in northwest Syria. Meanwhile, the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Defence Forces, which controlled most of northeastern Syria, regularly clashed with Arab tribes that accused the group of discrimination.
Turkey and its proxies also control areas along the northern border, while factionalised fighting allowed space for the self-proclaimed Islamic State to launch attacks.
America has at least 900 military personnel in Syria on counter-terrorism operations, while Israel has regularly targeted Iranian and Syrian military positions in Syria. In the wake of last year’s October 7 massacre, it hit Damascus and Aleppo airports.
Last week, HTS successfully led a major offensive in the northwest, which was aided by rebel factions.
They seized Aleppo, Syria's second-largest city, before sweeping south to capture the capital, Damascus, as the Syrian military folded.
The end of President Assad's iron rule has failed to end bitter divisions within Syria but marks a seismic shift in the region.
Syria is a key strategic location in the Middle East, and there are now heightened fears as to what follows, with experts pointing to the aftermath of Iraq following the capture of Saddam Hussein in 2003 and Libya after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, which both sparked years of bloodshed and civil war.
His brutal 24-year reign of terror was ended by an Islamist anti-government offensive forcing him and his family to flee.
The lightning-fast coup toppled his military regime in hours, but what comes next has the world nervously watching as players in the powder-keg Middle East jostle for position.
Thousands poured onto the streets after the army withdrew, dancing and chanting: "Assad is gone, Homs is free".
Colonel Richard Kemp, the decorated former British Army commander, said: “No one has any real idea how this situation will develop and could see Syria becoming an Afghanistan-style base for global jihad, threatening us all. Rebels will have access to massive weapons stockpiles, including chemical weapons, tanks, and planes.
The whereabouts of Assad, 59, who trained as a surgeon at Western Eye Hospital in London in the early nineties, and his wife Asma and two children remain unknown.
Amid the chaos, the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham has emerged as a successor to the regime.
Its leader, Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani, stated on Syrian state TV that there is "no room" for turning back and that "the future is ours".
It was set up in 2011 as a direct affiliate of al-Qaeda under the name of Jabhat al-Nusra and remains a proscribed terrorist group by the UN and the US.
The extraordinary events were described as a new birth for "great Syria”, moving from a “struggle to overthrow the Assad regime to the struggle to build a Syria together that befits the sacrifices of its people”.
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer welcomed the fall of Bashar al-Assad's "barbaric regime" but urged for "peace and stability" in the country.
He said: “The developments in Syria are unprecedented, and we are speaking to our regional partners and monitoring the situation closely.
"The Syrian people have suffered under Assad's barbaric regime for too long, and we welcome his departure."
The toppling of Assad is a huge embarrassment to Russia, a key ally which provided the military firepower to help him remain in power.
Russia confirmed the ousted Kremlin-backed dictator had left the country following negotiations with "other participants in the armed conflict”.
Members of the Syrian community wave Syrian flags on December 8, 2024 in Copenhagen, Denmark
Moscow said it was not involved in the negotiations, and its military bases in Syria remained on high alert but were not under threat. Rumours that Assad had fled to Moscow were unconfirmed.
The Assad family had ruled Syria for 53 years, running the country as a personal fiefdom, with Assad seizing power in 2000 after the death of his father, who had ruled for almost three decades.
What made the past 48 hours remarkable was the ease at which his iron rule was overthrown.
Just 13 years ago, with weapons and hardware supplied by Russia, Assad was able to crush a peaceful, pro-democracy uprising which spiralled into civil war. More than 500,000 people were killed and 12 million displaced.
Until recently, Assad’s military, along with Russian air support, battled Hayat Tahrir al-Sham [HTS], a coalition of Islamist militant groups in northwest Syria. Meanwhile, the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Defence Forces, which controlled most of northeastern Syria, regularly clashed with Arab tribes that accused the group of discrimination.
Turkey and its proxies also control areas along the northern border, while factionalised fighting allowed space for the self-proclaimed Islamic State to launch attacks.
America has at least 900 military personnel in Syria on counter-terrorism operations, while Israel has regularly targeted Iranian and Syrian military positions in Syria. In the wake of last year’s October 7 massacre, it hit Damascus and Aleppo airports.
Last week, HTS successfully led a major offensive in the northwest, which was aided by rebel factions.
They seized Aleppo, Syria's second-largest city, before sweeping south to capture the capital, Damascus, as the Syrian military folded.
The end of President Assad's iron rule has failed to end bitter divisions within Syria but marks a seismic shift in the region.
Syria is a key strategic location in the Middle East, and there are now heightened fears as to what follows, with experts pointing to the aftermath of Iraq following the capture of Saddam Hussein in 2003 and Libya after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, which both sparked years of bloodshed and civil war.
