After more than 13 years of war, hundreds of thousands of deaths and millions of displaced people, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s 24-year rule is over.

Large crowds gathered in the streets of Damascus on Sunday to celebrate after opposition forces seized control of the capital in a stunning push and captured several key cities within days.

Al-Assad reportedly fled the country on a plane, ending his family’s more than 53-year authoritarian rule over Syria.

His departure leaves a country in ruins and millions of Syrians wondering what comes next.

A man who was not meant to lead

When al-Assad took power in 2000 after the death of his father Hafez, there was cautious optimism about political change in Syria.

Al-Assad was originally an ophthalmologist who studied in London, but was never intended to become president. After the death of his older brother Basil, he was recalled to Syria. In order for Bashar to take over the presidency, parliament had to lower the minimum age for candidates from 40 to 34 years. He won a referendum with more than 97 percent of the vote in which he was the only candidate.

The quiet, reserved man initially raised hopes for reform, but aside from some limited economic changes, his rule closely resembled his father’s 30-year authoritarian rule.

The Syrian uprising

A decade later, in March 2011, al-Assad faced his first major challenge when Syrians took to the streets demanding democracy, civil liberties and the release of political prisoners.

Al-Assad dismissed the uprising as a foreign conspiracy and described his opponents as “terrorists.”

As leader of the country’s only legal political power, the Baath Party, and commander-in-chief of the armed forces, he responded with brutal crackdowns.

This only intensified the protests, which quickly escalated.

In 2012, the government used heavy weapons against rebel groups, including airstrikes. The unrest spread and sparked an armed uprising involving regional and international powers.

Hold on to power

In the years that followed, the Assad government held on to power with the political and military support of Russia and Iran, as well as the Tehran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah.

Al-Assad gradually managed to regain most of the territory initially lost by his forces. But he ruled a fractured nation with only partial control and a narrow support base, particularly from the Alawite minority to which his family belongs.

A ceasefire was declared in March 2020 following an agreement between Russia and neighboring Turkey, which has historically supported some opposition groups in Syria.

But Syria continued to suffer from frequent bombings and fighting as al-Assad ignored a United Nations-led political process to bring about a democratic transition.

For years, al-Assad presented himself as the protector of Syria’s minorities, positioning himself as a bulwark against “extremism” and the only force capable of restoring stability to the war-torn country.

In several elections held over the years, including during wartime in government-controlled areas, official results showed al-Assad winning the overwhelming majority of votes. In May 2021, he was re-elected for a fourth term with 95.1 percent of the votes cast.

But his government has failed to regain legitimacy in the eyes of much of the international community, with a number of countries and human rights groups claiming the elections were neither free nor fair.

Meanwhile, his government has been accused of killing and imprisoning thousands during the war and starving entire communities in besieged rebel-held areas. He was also repeatedly accused of using chemical weapons against his own population, which al-Assad denied.

In 2023, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons concluded that there were “reasonable grounds to believe” that the Syrian government used chemical weapons in attacks on April 7, 2018 in Douma, near Damascus.

In November 2023, France issued an international arrest warrant for al-Assad, accusing him of complicity in crimes against humanity related to chemical attacks accused of his government in 2013. The following day, the International Court of Justice, the United Nations’ top court, ordered the Syrian government to end torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

“For Syrians, (al-Assad) will always be remembered as the president who showed poor leadership, destroyed his country and displaced his own people,” said Syrian political analyst Marwan Kabalan.

“He not only lost his rule, but an entire homeland.”

In 2023, after more than twelve years of war, al-Assad was readmitted to the Arab League by the same Arab states that had once shunned him. The decision to reinstate Syria’s membership marked a dramatic diplomatic shift as several Arab nations sought to cooperate with al-Assad again.

But the situation on site remained the same. Syrians hoping for a new beginning were still living in economic collapse and a humanitarian crisis.

And in the past 10 days, the long-stagnant war regained momentum with the rapid advance of opposition fighters, who quickly took control of several major cities while al-Assad’s allies were preoccupied with their own conflicts elsewhere.

“For decades, this regime has been a source of oppression, instability and devastation,” Fadel Abdulghani, executive director of the Syrian Network for Human Rights, told Al Jazeera.

He said that while the task of rebuilding Syria was huge, he remained hopeful.

“I am optimistic and think that we can continue to build on this to create a democratic state.”