Syrian Civil War: What led to the fall of the regime

Published February 3, 2025 8:00am ET



On Dec. 8, Syrian rebels entered Damascus, ending the Assad family’s 54-year rule and ostensibly the first phase of the Syrian Civil War.

Beginning in the Spring of 2011 after a violent crackdown on anti-Assad protests, the Syrian Civil War has become either the second or third bloodiest war of the 21st century – depending on the casualties of the ongoing War in Ukraine. Estimates of the dead go as high as 620,000, most of them civilians. Another nearly seven million were internally displaced while 5.4 million fled the country altogether – all out of a prewar population of 22 million.

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