From Eye Doctor to Dictator: The Rise and Fall of Bashar al-Assad's Presidency

The fall of Bashar al Assad marks the end of more than half a century of family rule.

The authoritarian president ruled Syria for 24 years, five years less than his father's time in power, but the plan was never for him to take over the presidency.

Before his political career began to take shape, Assad had settled in Great Britain, where he practiced as an eye doctor.

A family tragedy would soon thrust him into the political fray – and his early days in Damascus were in stark contrast to his departure.

Ophthalmologist and computer expert

Before Damascus, Assad was an eye doctor in London and his only official position in his country was as head of the Syrian Informatics Society.

In the UK, he met his future wife, Asma Akhras, a former JPMorgan investment banker who grew up in Acton, west London.

She left her career for Assad after a trip together to Libya as a guest of then-leader Muammar Gaddafi.

In 1994, Assad's older brother – and heir to the presidency – Bassel was killed in a car accident in Damascus.

Assad was immediately ordered home, where he underwent military training and raised his rank to colonel to establish his credentials to rule.

But there was no doubt that he would take over Syria.

When his father Hafez al Assad died in 2000, parliament quickly lowered the presidential age from 40 to 34.

In conclusion, his elevation was confirmed after a nationwide referendum produced him as the only candidate.

Hope for a new reformer

Assad reportedly began his presidency with promises to fight corruption and free media.

He inherited a ruined country and lacked support from his father's loyalists, he writes sky news, the Telegraph reports.

Seen as somewhat eccentric, Assad constantly tried to prove himself despite his soft-spoken demeanor.

He had quickly released political prisoners and allowed a more open discussion on art, culture and politics.

But these discussions soon died down after 1000 intellectuals signed a public petition calling for multiparty democracy and greater freedoms in 2001.

He slowly lifted economic restrictions, brought in foreign banks, opened the way for imports and empowered the private sector.

Syrian cities began to see shopping malls, new restaurants and consumer goods, as tourism increased.

Foreign policy blow

Abroad, however, he stuck to the line his father had set, based on an alliance with Iran and a policy of insisting on a full return of the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.

In 2004, the UN Security Council ordered Syria to end its long occupation of neighboring Lebanon, leaving Assad with a choice: reconcile and destroy part of his father's legacy, or ignore it.

He chose the first.

Gradually, Assad came to believe that the West was weak and believed that the more he demonstrated strength, the more he would achieve.

In 2005, former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was killed by a bomb while driving in Beirut.

This was blamed on the Syrian government, which was forced to withdraw its troops from Lebanon.

The Syrian Civil War

Assad would begin using his brutal tactics when protests against his rule erupted in March 2011, during the Arab Spring.

He had until that moment denied that the wave of the Arab uprising would spread to Syria.

But reality soon set in, as protesters in the southern city of Daraa were shot dead by government forces, sparking nationwide unrest.

A full-scale civil war would break out, which would become the world's biggest refugee crisis, according to the UN.

More than 14 million Syrians have been forced to leave their homes in search of safety, the body reports.

cruelty

Since then, Assad's rule has been dogged by widespread allegations of atrocities, including the use of chemical weapons.

In 2013, a gas attack in rebel-held eastern Ghouta near Damascus killed many civilians.

There were also widespread reports of rape, beheadings and torture.

Assad was reportedly supported militarily by Russia – which intervened to carry out decisive airstrikes in 2015 – and Iran.

In 2020, Moscow supported a government offensive that ended with a ceasefire with Turkey and froze most of the front lines.

Assad held most of the territory and all major cities, while rebels held the northwest and a Turkish-backed force held a border strip.

Meanwhile, Kurdish-led forces controlled the northeast.

After government forces bombed the rebel-held northwestern region of Idlib in 2020 – killing civilians – Assad had appeared to have consolidated his iron-fisted rule.

decline

Few saw the end of his presidency in the near future, but just as Assad relied on Moscow and Tehran, so his fate was tied to their geopolitical priorities.

With Russian aggression in Ukraine lasting almost three years and Iran reeling from Israeli attacks on its proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Syrian government's defenses were exposed.

Rebel forces launched an assault on the northern city of Aleppo, which the government had held since 2016, and within days stormed the country.

Assad had initially vowed to fight back, with the army claiming they were preparing a counter-offensive.

But the rebels continued to advance towards Damascus.

He has not been seen in the capital since rebels claimed full control and Russia has said he has left the country - adding that he gave "instructions to transfer power peacefully".

As Syrians took to the streets to cheer for freedom and celebrate his fall, what comes next for the country – and who governs it – remains shrouded in uncertainty. /Telegraph/