In Pictures
Decorations expressing joy for the opposition’s victory fill Dignity Square in the centre of Sweida, which had witnessed anti-regime demonstrations for months, on December 28. [Ali Haj Suleiman/Al Jazeera]By Ali Haj SuleimanPublished On 2 Jan 20252 Jan 2025
Damascus, Syria – The fall of the longstanding Assad regime that ruled Syria for more than 50 years became a global turning point in 2024.
Syria’s war had faded from the headlines but it resurfaced as a lightning offensive overthrew Bashar al-Assad and restored hope to many in the last month of the year.
At the start of 2024, the World Health Organization estimated that more than 65 percent of the population required humanitarian assistance.
An earthquake in February 2023 that devastated northern Syria had further exacerbated the crisis without spurring additional international support.
Food prices had doubled in 2024 compared with 2023, and the local currency had devalued to one-15th of its 2020 value.
Israel attacked Syria in 2024, destroying entire buildings in Damascus and other provinces, targeting high-ranking Iranian and Hezbollah officials, and causing repeated shutdowns of Aleppo and Damascus airports.
Peaceful protests continued in the south and northwest of the country, with activists in Sweida protesting against poor living conditions and calling for the fall of the Assad regime.
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Al-Assad’s regime and its allies continued to bombard opposition-held areas, killing and injuring civilians.
The continuing threat from the regime in the northwest prompted Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and a coalition of armed opposition groups to launch “Operation Deterring Aggression” on November 27, making rapid advances in western Aleppo and capturing the city within two days.
The advance continued through southern Idlib, Hama, Deraa, and Homs until, on December 8, it reached Damascus as Bashar al-Assad fled to Russia.
Celebrations erupted across Syria, despite Israel taking advantage of the situation to strike security sites and weapon depots and launch an incursion into Syria by creeping across the boundary line in the Golan Heights.
As the HTS fighters advanced, they threw open the doors to al-Assad’s prisons, setting thousands free and underlining the sheer number of people who have disappeared in his “human slaughterhouses”.
Efforts began to locate some 130,000 prisoners and forcibly disappeared persons, but as thousands of families found out, the search will be long and gruelling.
Thousands more internally displaced people who had to flee the country hoped to return to their homes, but the destruction al-Assad wrought was so extensive that some people could not even identify where their homes had stood.
Uncertainty and fear of the future remain prevalent among Syrians, but there is a consensus that the future holds promise compared with the past.
As the world transitions from one year to the next, Syrians transition from 1970 to 2025 as they put the al-Assad years behind them.
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