• President Bashar al-Assad was toppled after rebel troops captured the capital Damascus, putting an end to a repressive regime which came to power in 2000 with promises of reform.
• Assad fled the city and has now been granted political asylum in Russia. President Vladimir Putin has been a longtime backer of Assad.
• Assad’s downfall comes as his biggest foreign supporters — Iran as well as Russia — are preoccupied with other conflicts. Those distractions gave Syrian rebels the chance to rapidly advance through the country and reach the capital.
• The rebel forces are led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a breakaway faction of al-Qaeda which today casts itself as more moderate. The Sunni group is classified as a terrorist organization by the US and other countries.
• The departure of Assad will likely leave a power vacuum Syria with wider implications for the Middle East. That includes neighboring Turkey, which has long backed Syrian rebels and is home to a large population of refugees. In a pointed statement, Iran said that a combination of domestic mismanagement and military failure were at the heart of the regime’s collapse.
Thank you for joining us through the latest developments in Syria. Here are the key takeaways from a dramatic day: