Aerial shots show Damascus celebrating end of 61-year Ba'ath regime

DAMASCUS, SYRIA - DEC. 08, 2024: Syrians in Damascus early Sunday (Dec. 8) celebrated the collapse of the Baath regime following the advance of anti-regime armed groups in recent weeks. Sixty-one years of Baath Party rule in Syria collapsed on Sunday when the capital Damascus fell out of the hands of regime control. The Arab Socialist Baath Party had come to power in Syria in 1963, in a coup. In 1970, Hafez al-Assad – the father of Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s newly deposed ruler – seized power in an internal party coup and became president in 1971. After the death of his father in 2000, Bashar al-Assad took over the Baath regime. The rule of Assad and the Baath regime ended when anti-regime groups entered the capital Damascus, capping off a series of rapid and dramatic developments since late last month. As popular movements demanding freedom broke out in Syria in 2011, the regime violently cracked down on activists for change. The regime’s interventions, in which thousands of people were killed, turned the process into a civil war. While armed opposition groups engaged in a long struggle, the regime refused to resolve the conflict through diplomacy and peaceful means, despite international pressure, including by regional actors. Following clashes that intensified on Nov. 27, the regime lost control of many regions in the country, starting with Aleppo, Idlib, and Hama. Finally, with the people taking to the streets in the capital Damascus, regime forces started to withdraw from public institutions and streets, while anti-regime groups increased their hold over the city center. With Assad’s forces conceding the capital, 61 years of the bloody Baath regime and 53 years of Assad family rule came to an end.(Footage by İzettin Kasim/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)