Syria is in chaos. The danger to Israel and the West is that the next Syrian regime will be no friendlier than Assad was. After all, the enemy of your enemy isn’t always your friend.

Rome announced the return of a resident ambassador to Damascus, becoming the first European Union and G7 country to re-establish contact with the overthrown Syrian regime.

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 liberation of Syria from the clutches of President Bashar al-Assad, after his family ruled the country for 50 years, is an unqualified good.

Assad, an ophthalmologist who graduated from Damascus University (Syria) and specialised at the Western Eye Hospital in London (UK), had a sudden career shift to politics and became Syria's President in 2000 following the death of his father,

In his first public comments since fleeing Syria and being evacuated to Russia, former leader Bashar al-Assad says his departure was unplanned.View on euronews

The luxurious compound, made up of three six-story buildings surrounded by manicured gardens, was a symbol of Assad’s power.

The Syrian rebels who forced President Bashar al-Assad to flee the country for asylum in Russia say they are forming a new government to replace the tyrannical rule of the Assad family, who ruled the country for more than 50 years.

Ten days after the Bashar al-Assad regime collapsed, what is happening in Syria? What role is the HTS, which controls the regime in Damascus, playing in the transition, and what challenges does it face going forward?

After Hafez’s passing in the summer of 2000, we clung to the hope that the torch he left behind would fall into more compassionate hands. After all, his heir, Bashar al-Assad, was a doctor trained in ophthalmology in London — the birthplace of the Spice Girls! How bad could he be?

The demise of the Syrian regime was marked by internal confusion, last-minute diplomatic wrangling, and the exposure of its profound dislocation from Syrian society.