Syrians have finally achieved what antigovernment protesters demanded 13 years ago when they first took to the streets to call for the “fall of the regime”.
President Bashar al-Assad’s brutal crackdown on the 2011 pro-democracy uprising spiralled into a devastating, multi-front war which killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions. His hold on power was brought to a swift end in the early hours of December 8 as opposition forces swept into the capital, Damascus.
