The end of Syria’s forever war

The end came fast. The opposition offensive, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, began on November 27. Aleppo fell first, then Hama, and in a blink of an eye, Damascus.. And just like that, after more than 13 years of war, and more than 600,000 killed, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was gone. 

he war had begun in 2011. With the Arab Spring as a backdrop, children in Deraa were accused of scrawling graffiti that demanded al-Assad step down. Their arrest and torture led to protests, peaceful at first.

Then, President Bashar al-Assad’s men began shooting people dead. Protests spread. Al-Assad vaguely promised change while blaming “saboteurs” for the violence.