This has been one of those weeks when decades happened.
In the space of about a week, Syrian rebels took over much of the north, and then moved south, taking over Homs and, last night, Damascus. Bashar al-Assad, the brutal dictator who ruled the country for the past 24 years, fled the country, and is thought to be in Russia. The rebel factions, led by Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, the leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (an ex–al-Qaeda affiliate), celebrated the fall of Assad and released political dissidents from prison.
Many people are celebrating, understandably, the fall of a truly evil dictator. During his rule, Assad presided over the slaughter of nearly 3 percent of the country’s population—his own forces have killed, by some estimates, more than 600,000 civilians during the country’s civil war, which has displaced more than 13 million people since 2011. He and his regime have waged war against his own people, disappearing dissenters and persecuting religious minorities. And yet, is his departure all good news? Could those about to take power be worse? What are we to make of the rebel factions, who were formerly affiliated with al-Qaeda? And what are the implications of Russia and Iran’s retreat from Syria?
These are just some of the questions raised by the sudden collapse of the Assad regime. There’s no one better to answer them than The New Yorker’s Dexter Filkins. Filkins has reported from Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, and pretty much everywhere else on the map. He is the author of The Forever War.
Adam Rubenstein: Could you describe the fall of Assad?
Dexter Filkins: The collapse of the regime of Bashar al-Assad has been breathtaking, decisive, and fast. First, the rebels took Aleppo, then Homs, now Damascus. On the ground, in many places, there is chaos: The Iranian and Russian advisers, and the fighters from Hezbollah, who rescued Assad’s regime in 2016, are fleeing. The Afghan and Pakistani mercenaries, imported by the Iranians to help, are trapped. The pivotal moment came Friday and Saturday, when the regime—one of the world’s most murderous—pulled back from the suburbs of Damascus. It seemed for a moment that Assad’s army was falling back for a last stand, but in fact, it was just disintegrating. Assad has fled the palace and reportedly, even Syria itself. The rebels and their commander, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, have taken the capital. No one could have predicted that events would move so fast.
AR: What’s the significance of Assad’s fall?