| The last days of Assad unfolded at a dizzying pace. The rebel group leading the assault, HTS, moved quickly from their stronghold in the north-west of Syria to Aleppo, the country’s second biggest city. Then they swept south down the strategic M5 highway through Hama, meeting little resistance as they went. Meanwhile, local armed groups on the other side of Damascus seized the moment to force government forces out of Daraa. The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish-led alliance in the east of the country, took control of the city of Deir al-Zour. And the Syrian Free Army, another group with US support, took control of the ancient city of Palmyra, to the east of the capital. Rebels reached the suburbs of the capital by Saturday evening – the first time they had done so since 2018. In this piece on the scarcely believable pace of the advance, LSE professor of international relations Fawaz Gerges tells Ruth Michaelson that it had revealed a collapse in the strength of pro-Assad forces: “I don’t think we appreciate just how much the Syrian state capacity has been degraded. The army is demoralised, and starving.” The fall of Damascus | Wild celebrations and a tour of Assad’s luxury cars Even on Saturday evening, US and western officials were briefing Reuters that the government could fall “within the next week”. The Syrian army claimed to be pressing ahead with military operations around Homs, Hama and Daraa. But by the early hours of Sunday morning, Assad was reported to have fled, and rebels were advancing with no sign of serious opposition. The police headquarters was abandoned with its doors left open, while there were many reports and videos of government soldiers hurriedly changing into civilian clothes and dispersing. Rebels declared victory on state TV, and HTS chief Abu Mohammed al-Jolani wrote on WhatsApp: “We declare the city of Damascus free from the tyrant Bashar al-Assad. To the displaced people around the world, Free Syria awaits you.” (In this moving piece, Ruth Michaelson spoke to some of those now contemplating a return to their homes.) As day broke on Sunday, large crowds gathered in Damascus’ central squares, chanting anti-Assad slogans and honking car horns as celebratory gunfire rang out. Here’s one video that gives a sense of the scale. William Christou’s dispatch from the city is a vivid summary of the moment: rebels struggling to navigate unfamiliar territory using Google maps, and civilians overwhelmed by the change to their lives. “The tears were falling by themselves, my father, my brothers, so many people were killed,” one woman tells him. Her daughter chimes in: “Now we know our father did not die for nothing.” Among the most indelible images of the day are those from the 510,000 square metre presidential palace. As fires burned in some of the state rooms, opposition fighters and civilians alike wandered through opulent bathrooms and a hangar filled with luxury cars – this video is astonishing. They took selfies behind Assad’s desk and in his bedroom, and stripped away everything from pictures and bedding to a Louis Vuitton bag. Some of the remarkable images are collected here. Some took pictures of their children even as armed rebels walked by. “I came for revenge; they oppressed us in incredible ways,” Abu Omar, 44, told AFP. “I am taking pictures because I am so happy to be here in the middle of his house.” The transition | A promising start – but fears for the future However jubilant Syrians are today about the end of a dark chapter of their history, they know that the next is yet to be written. Because of HTS’s past relationship with al-Qaida and the human rights abuses carried out in the areas that it has ruled, many are sceptical that it will act as the guarantor of a transition to a pluralist and democratic state. And Jolani himself is viewed as a terrorist by the US and others. But some say there are reasons to be hopeful. Dareen Khalifa, a Syria expert at Crisis Group, wrote on X last week that HTS leadership had told her they were considering dissolving the group “to enable full consolidation of civilian and military structures in new institutions reflecting the breadth of Syrian society”. Fears of reprisals came through clearly in coverage from the historically pro-government al-Watan newspaper, which hailed “a new page for Syria” and said the media should not be blamed because it “only carried out instructions”. But on Sunday, in what appeared to be coordinated statements, Syria’s prime minister Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali said that he was at his home and promised to cooperate with “any leadership chosen by the Syrian people”, while rebel leaders said that public institutions remained under the supervision of the “former prime minister”. Jolani, meanwhile, said that his fighters should not harm “those who drop their weapons” and assured women and Christians that he does not intend to impose strict Islamic law. Whether HTS maintains that approach or is able to prevail on other factions to do the same “remains to be seen,” Khalifa wrote. “Given their history and jihadist roots, they will face a huge challenge in addressing the understandable concerns of many Syrians.” In this analysis piece, the Economist reflects on some of the challenges that lie ahead. It notes that control of Syria is now partitioned between different rebel groups, and that “because Mr Assad’s regime collapsed far faster than they expected, they have not had time to plan for the day after.” While Jolani appears to be a likely candidate to lead Syria in the future, the piece adds, “Getting other rebels to accept his leadership will be the hardest task. For years he fought them more than he did Mr Assad.” The Assad dynasty | Five decades of torture and mass killing Whatever their worries about the future, even the most severe critics of HTS were overjoyed at Assad’s defeat yesterday – and reflecting on the devastating toll his family’s dynasty has taken for five decades. Assad’s father Hafez took power in a military coup in 1970, and used a repressive police state and indiscriminate violence to crush any sign of dissent; in 1982, an estimated 20,000 people were slaughtered as government forces razed the city of Hama in response to a Sunni rebellion. Bashar al-Assad briefly appeared to intend a liberalisation of the Syrian system when he succeeded his father in 2000. But about a year later, he imprisoned the leaders of Syria’s pro-democracy movement, and returned to the path set out by his father. (Peter Beaumont has a superb anatomisation of his rule.) After the uprising in 2011 that ultimately turned into a civil war, the Assad regime tortured and killed untold numbers of civilians. An estimated 307,000 civilians were killed between by the war between 2011 and 2021 – about 83 people each day – and another 100,000 disappeared. About 12 million were forced from their homes. At just one Damascus prison, Sednaya, groups of 50 at a time were hanged in secret, once or twice a week for five years. Rebels freed hundreds from Sednaya including women and children yesterday, as this powerful video shows. There were meanwhile claims that more were trapped in hidden underground cells, and Syria’s civil defence force, the White Helmets, deployed search and rescue units to the scene. In this report, Bethan McKernan describes inmates who “emerged frail and emancipated into the bright December sunlight, greeted by weeping family members who had no idea they were still alive”. That history is why so many Syrians were in a mood of complicated euphoria yesterday. “The feelings, they’re indescribable,” said Mohammed Ahmad, a resident of Kafr Halab, in northern Syria. “I am angry, I am happy and I am sad. But now that the regime has fallen, I can rest.” | 