Bashar al-Assad dead in plane crash? All you want to know about man who pushed Syria towards civil war that killed 500,000 people

Bashar Al-Assad maintained a strong relationship with Russia, Iran, and Lebanon’s Hezbollah for years to remain in power.

Syria Crisis: In a major turn of events, Syrian rebels on Sunday said that they have ended Bashar al-Assad’s 24-year authoritarian rule. The announcement was made on state television following a lightning offensive that took the world by surprise. Earlier today, Syria’s army command notified officers that Assad’s regime had ended, a Syrian officer who was informed of the move told Reuters.

But the Syrian army later said it was continuing operations against “terrorist groups” in the key cities of Hama and Homs and in Deraa countryside.

Assad had a history of crushing all forms of dissent which led to his downfall. On Sunday, he flew out of Damascus for an unknown destination, two senior army officers told Reuters, as rebels said they had entered the capital with no sign of army deployments.

“We celebrate with the Syrian people the news of freeing our prisoners and releasing their chains and announcing the end of the era of injustice in Sednaya prison,” the rebels said, referring to a large military prison on the outskirts of Damascus where the Syrian government detained thousands.

Thousands in cars and on foot congregated at a main square in Damascus waving and chanting “Freedom” from a half century of Assad family rule, witnesses said. The dramatic collapse marks a seismic moment for the Middle East, ending the family’s iron-fisted rule over Syria and dealing a massive blow to Russia and Iran, which have lost a key ally at the heart of the region.

Who Is Bashar Al-Assad?

• Bashar Al-Assad maintained a strong relationship with Russia, Iran, and Lebanon’s Hezbollah for years to remain in power.
• Assad, during his tenure as the president, faced nationwide protests and armed rebellion demanding his removal from power.
• In 2011, Civil war broke in Syria, when Assad tried to crush all of it with an iron fist to take control back
• He led a merciless war of survival for his rule and presented himself in front of the people in the country and the outside world as though he was Syria’s only option to counter the Islamist threat.
• An Islamist-led rebel offensive began on November 27 and continued until taking control over the capital city.
• Assad portrayed himself as the protector of Syria’s minorities
• He is the son of Hafez al-Assad who ruled Syria for nearly three decades
• Hafez was the head of the Syrian Baath Party and brought upon the people of the country a regime where the slightest suspicion of dissent was sufficient to land one in jail or even worse.
• Bashar dropped his studies in ophthalmology in London and left the city
• He had met his wife Asma, a British-Syrian and Sunni Muslim, in London
• Upon his return to Syria, he undertook a military studies course and was tutored in politics by his father.

Following his father’s death, Bashar assumed the presidency through a referendum in which he ran unopposed. He secured a second term in 2007. Taking office at the age of 34, he was initially viewed by Syrians as a potential reformer who might end repression and usher in economic liberalization.

Assad, as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, ordered a brutal crackdown on the protestors which led to a civil war in the country that killed over 5,00,000 people and left half the population displaced. His stance on the crackdown on the protestors did not change as he justified the bombings and military actions as a war on “terrorists”.