Here is a reminder of the key dates in the reign of Bashar al-Assad, who fled on Sunday in the face of the rebel offensive after 24 years in power in Syria.
• Also read: Syria: what we know about the flight of President Bashar al-Assad
• Also read: Bashar al-Assad toppled by rebel offensive in Syria
• Also read: Damascus wakes up without Assad
Succession
On July 17, 2000, Bashar al-Assad took the oath of office before Parliament. A sole candidate, he was designated president following a plebiscite (97.29%) organized a month after the death of his father, Hafez al-Assad, who had ruled Syria unchallenged for 30 years.
On June 10, the same day of his death, Parliament modified the Constitution to lower the minimum age required for the supreme office, an amendment tailor-made for the young successor, born in 1965 and then aged 34.
Bashar becomes commander-in-chief of the armed forces and number one in the ruling Baath Party.
“Damascus Spring”
On September 26, 2000, a hundred intellectuals and artists called on the authorities in Damascus to “amnest” political prisoners and to lift the state of emergency in force since 1963.
From September 2000 to February 2001, an opening began with a period of relative freedom of expression.
But the arrest during the summer of 2001 of ten opponents put an end to this brief “Damascus Spring”.
Departure from Lebanon
On February 14, 2005, former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri was assassinated in an attack in Beirut.
The anti-Syrian opposition accuses the Lebanese and Syrian authorities, and demands the withdrawal of Syrian troops, installed in Lebanon since 1976.
Damascus denies any involvement, but, under pressure from the street and the international community, the last Syrian soldiers left Lebanon on April 26 after 29 years of presence.
“Damascus Declaration”
On October 16, 2005, the opposition, until then divided, launched the “Damascus Declaration”, a call for “democratic and radical change” and which denounced “a totalitarian and sectarian regime”.
The authorities in Damascus will increase summons, travel bans and meetings. At the end of 2007, they launched a campaign of arrests against secular opponents demanding more democracy.
Revolt suppressed in blood
On March 15, 2011, a popular revolt began in Syria in the wake of the Arab Spring. She is brutally repressed by the regime. In April, the protest radicalized and widened.
The government is launching a war against rebels whom it equates to “terrorists manipulated” by foreigners. In 2012, heavy weapons, including bomber planes, came into action.
Iran and Russia to the regime’s aid
In 2013, the powerful Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah recognized the commitment of its troops to the side of Damascus.
Shiite Iran becomes the main regional ally. Assad belongs to the Alawite community (10% of the population), from Shiism, while the majority of the Syrian population is Sunni.
On September 30, 2015, Russia, a loyal ally of the regime, launched an intense military campaign to come to the aid of the Syrian army on the verge of collapse.
Moscow’s intervention will allow the regime to achieve strategic victories against the rebels and jihadists.
A truce was declared in March 2020 after a Russian-Turkish agreement, but the country remained prey to sporadic bombings and jihadist actions.
Fourth term
On May 26, 2021, Bashar al-Assad was unsurprisingly re-elected for a fourth term, with 95.1% of the vote.
Return to the Arab diplomatic scene
A few days after the reintegration of Syria into the Arab League, Bashar al-Assad participates on May 19, 2023 in his first summit of this body in more than a decade. He thus marks his return to the Arab diplomatic scene from which he was excluded in 2011 after the repression of the popular uprising.
International arrest warrant
On November 15, 2023, French justice issued an international arrest warrant against Bashar al-Assad, suspected of complicity in crimes against humanity for chemical attacks perpetrated in 2013 in Syria.
The next day, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the highest court of the UN, ordered Syria to put an end to torture and cruel and degrading treatment.
Fall of Damascus and flight
On the night of December 7 to 8, 2024, after eleven days of a lightning offensive, the rebels led by the radical Islamist group HTS claimed the capture of Damascus. The leader has time to fly at the last minute to an unknown destination, after 24 years in power.
