The Key Players to Know to Understand What’s Happening in Syria

Chad de Guzman

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Few saw it coming. The sudden and dramatic fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria came on Sunday after over a decade of brutal conflict.

“It took 12 days for the Syrian regime to collapse after 13 years of war,” Timour Azhari, the Iraq bureau chief at Reuters, wrote on X.

The Assad family had ruled Syria for over half a century that was marked by atrocities, mass incarceration against regime critics, and other grave human rights violations.

Rebel fighters declared Damascus liberated on Sunday and Assad fled to Russia. Many Syrians are jubilant about the news and hopeful about the country’s future. But there are deep concerns about what lies ahead after years of conflict that has left at least 500,000 dead and displaced almost 7 million within the country and sent millions more seeking refuge abroad.

It’s a complex situation, with numerous factions on the ground and several foreign actors involved. To better understand what’s happening, here’s a brief background on the key players.

The Assad regime

Assad, the longtime President of Syria and commander of the Syrian Armed Forces, is a trained ophthalmologist who succeeded his father Hafez in an unopposed election after the elder’s death in 2000.