Thank Israel’s resolve for helping to topple Syria’s dictatorship.
Last weekend, rebel forces succeeded in running strongman Bashar Assad out of Damascus.
After his father ruled for 30 years, Assad took over in 2000 and ran Syria “with an iron fist that crushed all dissent and relied heavily on the country’s feared security forces,” NPR observed.
With help from Russia and Iran, he managed to stay in power despite a civil war that has lasted more than a decade.
Assad is infamous for using chemical weapons on his own people and for leaving thousands of bodies in his wake. He has now found safe haven in Vladimir Putin’s Russia.