Iran is still grappling with the fallout from the fall of the Assad regime. It invested heavily in Assad’s rule in Damascus and likely expected that it would continue for many years. However, Assad fell from power on December 8.

Israel is celebrating the fall of Assad because it breaks the noose that Iran had been patiently tightening around Israel’s borders in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria. Tehran’s pincer is now broken and rendered useless. From the point of view of Israel’s wider conflict with the Islamic Republic, the collapse of Assad’s regime is a strategic victory.

The ascendance of Sunni Islamist rebels in Syria should be viewed with great caution by Western powers, but the Assad regime’s collapse disables a critical node in Iran’s regional proxy network, a counterterrorism expert explains.

Rebel forces in Syria are building a transitional government after toppling the regime of President Bashar Assad in a lightning-quick advance across the country.

Syria's former leader Bashar al-Assad has apparently issued his first statement since being ousted from power. He says he never intended to leave Syria as rebel forces were closing in but Russia decided to evacuate him.