Blog

Sir Keir Starmer has welcomed the "departure" of Bashar al Assad as leader of Syria.Mr Assad has left office and the country after giving orders for there to be a peaceful transfer of power, the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement on Sunday. It followed a lightning offensive by anti-regime forces, with rebels entering Damascus last night.In a statement, the UK's prime minister said: "The developments in Syria in recent hours and days are unprecedented, and we are speaking to our partners in the region and monitoring the situation closely."The Syrian people have suffered under Assad's barbaric regime for too long and we welcome his departure. "Our focus is now on ensuring a political solution prevails, and peace and stability is restored."We call on all sides to protect civilians a...

Bashar al Assad started out as a doctor and ended up a mass murdering tyrant now on the run.The man who trained to save lives in Damascus and London would go on to take them in their hundreds of thousands, bombing hospitals and gassing his own people. He was a strangely unimpressive man to meet. Tall, slightly gauche, with a lisp and thin tufty moustache.Christopher Hitchens called him the human toothbrush. The writer recalled Hannah Arendt's phrase the "banality of evil" when he remembered meeting another dictator, Argentina's General Videla. But it applied equally well to Mr Assad.He was ordinary, more oddball than evil, with a high-pitched awkward laugh. Image: Bashar al Assad and his wife Asma Read more: Syria latest u...

Bashar al Assad's downfall marks an end to more than half a century of family rule, as rebel forces turned the tide in a civil war he had embraced.The authoritarian president ruled Syria for 24 years, five years short of his father's time in power, but the plan was never for him to take over the dynasty. Before his political career began to take shape, Assad was based in the UK, where he had an ophthalmology practice.Damascus 'freed' of Assad - live updatesA family tragedy would soon thrust him into the political fray - and his early days in Damascus stood in stark contrast to his exit. Eye doctor and computer geek Before Damascus, Assad was an eye doctor in London and his only official position in his home country was as head of the Syrian Computer Society.In the UK capital, he met his fu...

The Syrian government has fallen after a lightning offensive by anti-regime forces across the country - ending President Bashar al Assad's 24-year rule.Mr Assad has left office and the country after giving orders for there to be a peaceful transfer of power, the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement on Sunday. It did not say where he was, but said Russia had not been involved in the talks surrounding his departure.Moscow was in touch with all Syrian opposition groups, it said, and urged all sides to refrain from violence.Russia's military bases in Syria had been put on a state of high alert, but that there was no serious threat to them at the current time, the ministry added. Mr Assad's whereabouts now - and those of his wife Asma and their two children - remain unknown. ...

The lightning collapse of Bashar al Assad's regime in Syria exposes the brittleness of even the most brutal dictatorship when under pressure, but it also creates a security vacuum that carries great risk.Once the scenes of rebel euphoria subside on the streets, much will rest on the powerful group, Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS), which led the charge into Damascus overnight. Previously linked to al Qaeda, this Sunni Islamist militant faction is viewed as a terrorist organisation by many Western powers, including the UK.But the movement has sought to distance itself from its extremist roots and instead emphasise a commitment to tolerance of minorities.Read more: Latest updates from Syria Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video playe...