Syrian President Bashar Assad was ousted from power early on Sunday in a stunning bloodless coup by Islamist rebels who took control of Damascus, the Syrian capital after a 13-year civil war that has caused more than 500,000 deaths and forced millions of Syrians to leave their homeland.
The rebels, who are called the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham fighters, moved swiftly, entering Damascus and taking over the city as government military fled, hours after Assad had absconded.
The rebels’ fast-paced offensive was facilitated by a changing geopolitical scenario in which Assad was no longer able to rely on
→ Continue reading at Variety
