President Bashar al-Assad fled to Russia on December 8, leaving behind many of his collaborators, some of whom sought refuge in neighbouring countries. According to two sources, the ousted president, who fled to Moscow via the Russian military airfield in Hmeimim on Syria's coast, was accompanied by only a handful of confidants.

The Syrian regime’s collapse came more quickly than the rebels had dreamed — the circumstances were both serendipitous and part of a larger global realignment.