Syria’s dynastic dictatorship, which was established in 1971, collapsed at the weekend, Bashar al-Assad’s regime toppled by militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) which encountered little resistance from Assad’s army as it advanced into Damascus. Assad fled, leaving behind a country ravaged by 13 years of civil war, with half its population (some 12 million people) displaced and different parts controlled by an array of military groups.
The civil war
