End of the Baath party rule in Syria, which lasted 61 years, as of Sunday after the fall of the capital city- Damascus from regime control. That was the seizure of power in Syria by the Arab Socialist Baath Party through the coup. In 1970, Hafez al-Assad, father of Bashar al-Assad, took control through an internal party coup and became president in 1971. Hafez died in 2000, and Bashar al-Assad took control of the Baath regime.
The Assad regime came to an end and the Baath Party by the incursion of the anti-regime groups into Damascus, as a result of some fast developments unleashed since late last month. In 2011, a series of popular movements emerged across Syria demanding freedom, leading to suppression and violence by the regime and finally civil war. The regime, however, did not listen to the voice of the international community about resolving the conflict through mediation.
This is how, after a series of escalated fights, the regime lost its grip most recently on the area from Aleppo, Idlib, and Hama, after Nov 27. Once people hit the streets in the capital, the regime’s men began the withdrawal from the buildings and streets, while anti-regime elements still tightened the hold on the central part of the city. The entry of Assad’s forces into the last capital territory saw the end of 61 years of Baath dominance and 53 years of the Assad family’s reign.
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Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali, on behalf of Bashar al-Assad’s government, in a video message, indicated readiness to work with a newly elected government of the people in Syria and provide all forms of backing. Thus, he called for the protection of public property from damage and an offer to opposers.
Weekly videos from the prime minister of the Bashar al-Assad government have expressed his openness to working with a new government of people’s election in Syria and that he would extend all its support. And he requested not to damage public property, And he extended his hand to the opposition.
Abu Mohammed al-Jolani is the leader of the anti-regime armed group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) with a warning against coming to public institutions located in Damascus. All these institutions will be under the former prime minister until formally transferred.
Violent clashes broke out on Nov. 27 between Assad regime forces and anti-regime armed groups in the rural areas west of Aleppo. By Nov. 30, anti-regime groups controlled much of the center of Aleppo and the whole province of Idlib. After heavy fighting, the groups captured the city center of Hama. Anti-regime groups managed to seize settlements in Homs, the gateway to Damascus and started advancing there.
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On Friday, armed opposition groups launched an operation in Daraa province on Syria’s border with Jordan and recaptured the city center. On Saturday, the entirety of Suwayda fell in the hands of the opposition, and local opposition groups from Quneitra gained control over the provincial center. Anti-regime forces entered the Homs provincial center on Saturday.
Groups moving against the Assad regime forces have also advanced into the southern suburbs of Damascus during the day on Saturday. In total, regime forces pulled out from the Defense and Interior ministries and from the international airport in Damascus. The next day, Sunday morning, any control of the Assad regime over Damascus was swiftly lost as the capital entered under anti-regime armed groups’ domination.
By the start of December, on the first day of Operation Dawn of Freedom, the opposition Syrian National Army had resorted to fighting the PKK/YPG in the rural parts of Aleppo. By then, the Tel Rifaat district center was liberated from terrorism.