Fall of Damascus (2024)

On 7 December 2024, the Syrian opposition group known as the Southern Operations Room, in co-ordination with the Military Operations Command, led forces that entered the Rif Dimashq region of Syria from the south, and those forces then came within 20 kilometres (12 mi) of the capital Damascus. The Syrian Army withdrew from multiple points in the outskirts. Concurrently with the advance towards Damascus, opposition militia Tahrir al-Sham and the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army in the north launched an offensive into Homs, while the Syrian Free Army advanced into the capital from the southeast.^{[better source needed]} By 8 December 2024, rebel forces entered the city's Barzeh neighborhood. According to official state reports in Russian mass media and media footage, President Bashar al-Assad left Damascus by air to Moscow, where he was granted asylum, sealing the fall of his regime.

By late 2018, Syrian opposition rebel groups were forced into Idlib Governorate, the last rebel-held governorate of Syria after seven years of fighting against the Assad regime and Syrian Army during the Syrian civil war, after the SAA captured the city of Aleppo and conducted peace deals with rebel groups in the southern Daraa Governorate. Several rebel groups were present in Idlib, including the Islamist rebel group Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (which broke away from the Al-Nusra Front), the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army, and dozens of smaller nationalist and Islamist opposition groups which largely operate in a shared command with larger groups. In Southern Syria, the opposition consisted mostly of demobilised fighters who had undergone reconciliation through previous cease-fire agreements and subsequently conducted local insurrections as Government forces withdrew in early December. An additional American-backed Syrian Free Army opposition force controlled a section of desert around the post of al-Tanf.^{[citation needed]}

Between the end of the ceasefire and the start of the 2024 Syrian opposition offensives HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa sought peace deals with the other rebel coalitions, and hunted down Hurras al-Din and Islamic State fighters in rebel-held areas. Jolani also built institutions to digitize the rebel-held area, such as improving tax collecting, street cleaning, and food distribution, while preaching a message of unity to Syrian Christians and Shias.

In contrast, the Assad regime put more money into funding the captagon industry, transforming the country into a narcostate dependent on drug exports for revenue. Corruption ran rife after 2018, and conscripts within the SAA grew demoralized as key allies in the early years of the war such as Iran, Russia, and Hezbollah were involved in wars elsewhere.

In November 2024, a coalition of rebel groups spearheaded by HTS attacked Aleppo, quickly overrunning the demotivated and disorganized defenders. In response, Assad travelled to Russia to ask for military aid on 28 November; his request was denied. Upon returning home, however, he lied to his senior commanders and advisors, claiming that Russia would soon send aid. His wife Asma had already been in Moscow for cancer treatment for months, accompanied by their children. A few days later, the rebels captured Aleppo. Afterward, reports emerged of a coup led by Syrian State Security Director General Hossam Louka against the Assad government. The Syrian Army General Command as well as the Iranian ambassador to Syria, Hossein Akbari, both denied these reports. On 2 December, Assad met with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to discuss the situation. He confided that the Syrian Armed Forces were too weak to offer effective resistance to the continuing rebel advance. Regardless, he did not request increased Iranian aid, probably due to concerns about an Israeli intervention. At this point, the Syrian President had possibly concluded that the war was already lost. Despite this, he continued to tell his inner circle that Russian support would be coming, imploring them to continue their work.

After the fall of Hama on 5 December, the government began redeploying its troops from Eastern Ghouta, including Douma and Harasta, to the entrances and exits of Damascus. However, witnesses stated that efforts to organize a proper defense quickly derailed as most officers and soldiers refused to continue resistance or outright fled. There were contradictory orders to soldiers and policemen, with commanders initially ordering them to stay at their positions or to retreat or vice versa. Only Alawite officers reportedly expressed any willingness to defend the capital. Iran began withdrawing its personnel from Syria in the early hours of 6 December 2024, pulling out top commanders of the IRGC's Quds Force and ordering evacuations at the Iranian Embassy in Damascus and at IRGC bases across Syria. Evacuating Iranians headed towards Lebanon and Iraq. China also actively assisted its citizens in leaving the country. On the same day, rebels south of Damascus announced the "Southern Operations Room" (SOR), exploiting the widespread retreat and collapse of loyalist troops in the region. SOR swiftly started to take control of southern towns and rural areas in cooperation with other opposition forces.

By the beginning of 7 December 2024, rebels had captured most of Daraa Governorate and Suwayda Governorate and granted safe passage to some pro-government forces towards Damascus. Maher al-Assad, Bashar's brother and head of the 4th Armoured Division, was tasked with defending the capital. Despite the chaos among the Syrian Armed Forces, he actually intended to do so; Maher had reportedly been told that the military's withdrawal from other regions was intended to gather all forces for a last stand at Damascus. Eventually, the 4th Division commander discovered that the chief of the general staff had ordered a general retreat from the capital, whereupon he attempted to countermand the order to little success.

On 7 December 2024, Syrian rebels announced that they had started surrounding Damascus after capturing nearby towns, with rebel commander Hassan Abdul Ghani stating: "Our forces have begun implementing the final phase of encircling the capital Damascus." The rebels started encircling the capital after capturing Al-Sanamayn, a town 20 kilometres (12 mi) from the southern entrance of Damascus. In the Rif Dimashq region, pro-government forces withdrew from the towns of Assal al-Ward, Yabroud, Flitah, Al-Naseriyah and Artouz, while rebels came within 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) of Damascus. The Syrian government denied claims that its army had withdrawn from positions near the city. By the evening, pro-government forces had left the towns on the outskirts of Damascus, including Jaramana, Qatana, Muadamiyat al-Sham, Darayya, Al-Kiswah, Al-Dumayr, Daraa and sites near the Mezzeh Air Base. Maher al-Assad and his 4th Division were reportedly among the few loyalists who still tried to defend the city; his second-in-command was later found dead in his office, possibly indicating violent disputes over the orders and escapes of many military officers.