President Bashar Al-Assad and his father, Hafez Al-Assad, ruled Syria together for more than half a century, always with an iron fist that suppressed dissent and relying heavily on the country’s feared security forces.

In the end, these security forces disbanded as rebel groups swept across the Middle Eastern country. As opposition forces entered the capital Damascus, Assad flew out of the city early Sunday morning, although there was no information on his exact whereabouts, according to Reuters.

The Syrian Emergency Task Force, an opposition group, said on X that “the Assad regime, Russia and Iran in Syria have been officially defeated by the Syrian people.”

Bashar al-Assad, in power since 2000, is the legacy of an autocrat who sought to suppress any challenges to his rule and make Syria a country of relative stability in the turbulent region. However, the 2011 Arab Spring sparked uprisings across the Middle East, including a devastating civil war in Syria.

Hundreds of thousands of Syrians were killed, many of them civilians, and most of them were killed by the Syrian military. The United States and the United Nations blamed Assad for a chemical weapons attack that killed hundreds, perhaps more than 1,000 people in 2013. Millions of Syrians fled abroad and millions more were displaced within the country. In total, about half of the country’s 23 million people have been displaced from their homes in one of the worst humanitarian crises of this century.

With significant help from Russia and Iran, Assad clung to power and held major cities in a war in which fighting had largely subsided in recent years. But he never regained control of all of Syria, and the remaining areas under his rule quickly disintegrated when rebels launched a surprise offensive on November 27.

The capital Damascus is likely to be led by the rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) for the time being. The group was previously linked to al-Qaeda, but distanced itself from those ties in 2016 and sought to present itself as a more moderate organization willing to work with all Syrians. However, the US still considers HTS a terrorist group, and it is far from clear whether the various opposition factions in Syria will be able to work together or descend into a chaotic fight against everyone.

Family rule in Syria

Several Middle Eastern countries are ruled by monarchies that have existed for generations. In Syria there was rarely extensive rule by a family that did not claim royal status.

Hafez Assad was an air force officer who seized power in a coup in 1970. There have been several coups d’etat in Syria, most of which were short-lived. But Hafez Assad ruthlessly suppressed any potential challengers, building a large military and a fearsome secret police that kept a close eye on everyone from potential rivals to ordinary citizens.

In a crucial moment in his rule, Hafez Assad’s security forces killed an estimated 20,000 people in the city of Hama in 1982 as they crushed an uprising by the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group. The brutal crackdown extinguished the rebellion and also served as a warning to anyone else who dared to question his authority.

Hafez Assad planned for his eldest son Basil to eventually take over the leadership of Syria. But Basil died in 1994 when he was involved in a high-speed car accident in Damascus. Hafez Assad then turned to Bashar, who was training to be an ophthalmologist in London.

When Hafez Assad died of chronic heart problems in 2000, Bashar Assad was the heir to the throne. There was just one problem. The Syrian constitution set the minimum age for the president at 40 years old, Bashar al-Assad was just 34 years old. The Syrian parliament immediately changed the constitution and lowered the minimum age to 34.

Given Assad’s youth, medical training and time in Britain, there was speculation that the younger Assad would pursue more moderate policies than his father.

Assad introduced limited economic reforms. Syrians were given better access to the internet. Further cosmetic changes followed.

But many of the same senior officials remained in office under Bashar al-Assad, as did tight control over all aspects of public life.

Under Bashar al-Assad, Syria maintained its dominance over Lebanon, its smaller, weaker neighbor. As Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri began resisting Syrian control, he was killed in a massive truck bomb in 2005.

The attack was ultimately attributed to the Syrian leadership. And the operation ultimately backfired – outrage over the attack led to Lebanon largely freeing itself from Syria’s rule.

More than a decade of civil war

Despite missteps, Assad’s rule appeared secure until the 2011 Arab Spring, which sparked uprisings in several Middle Eastern countries.

In Syria, resistance against Assad began with peaceful street protests. The government responded with violent raids and soon several factions were engaged in battle with the Syrian security forces. Rebels captured a number of cities and rural areas, particularly in the northwest, including Aleppo, the country’s second-largest city.

As Assad’s security forces struggled to crush the uprising, his allies provided significant assistance. Russia, which has a naval base on Syria’s Mediterranean coast, provided air power. Iran sent advisers and weapons. The Lebanese group Hezbollah provided numerous fighters.

Assad even received indirect help from the USA. When the Islamic State rose up and claimed large parts of eastern Syria and northern Iraq, the United States feared that the extremist group would gain a foothold in the region.

U.S. forces struggled for several years to dismantle the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, eliminating one of the threats to Assad’s rule, even if that was not the U.S. goal.

To date, the US has around 900 soldiers stationed in Syria. Most are located in the far northeast, where they help protect the Kurdish population. The Americans have not been directly involved in the recent fighting but are regularly attacked by militia groups in the region.