Civil war in Syria: Six striking photos of the rebels who overthrew…

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Bashar al-Assad left Syria on a private plane on Saturday evening. This image shows people searching his ransacked private residence in the Malkeh district of Damascus, Syria, Sunday, December 8, 2024.

A child climbs the unbolted statue of former Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, father of Bashar al-Assad, demolished in the Syrian city of Hama, following the advance of Syrian rebel groups led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. Many children posed near this statue. Across the country, other demonstrators tore down statues of Assad father and son, such as in Aleppo, in the North, or in Daraa, in the South.

Syrian opposition forces celebrate their full takeover of the town of Hamak on December 6, 2024 following the expulsion of Syrian regime forces. Scenes of joy broke out in the city.

An opposition fighter tramples the head of the unbolted statue of former Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, Sunday, December 8, 2024. Bashar al-Assad’s father ruled Syria from 1971 until upon his death in 2000.

A rebel fighter raises his weapon, celebrating the total takeover of the town of Hamak, Friday, December 6. In the Umayyad Square in Damascus, gunshots as a sign of joy mixed with cries of “Allah Akbar” (“God is greatest”).

Opposition fighters celebrate the burning of a military court in Damascus, Syria, Sunday, December 8, 2024. The almost instant collapse of the regime opens an era of uncertainty in Syria, fragmented by the civil war that has caused nearly half a million deaths since 2011 and delivered to groups supported by various foreign powers.