The Syrians have been waiting for this day for decades

The Syrians have been waiting for this day ever since the Baath Party took power in the 1960s, since when they have been oppressed and humiliated. When Hafez Al-Assad became president in 1971, he signalled the beginning of a very dark era indeed. He killed political life through his authoritarian regime, using a formal cover known as the National Progressive Front. This included paper entities designed to give a façade of legitimacy to “collective” rule.

The Baath Party still resembles the totalitarian Soviet Union and North Korea, under the pillars of the Syrian triangle of tyranny: the party, the army and the sect. Among Assad Senior’s brutal acts to silence and intimidate the Syrian people was the 1982 Hama Massacre, in which the regime’s security forces massacred tens of thousands of Syrians.

The tyranny was crowned by the passing of the reins of power to Assad Junior, Bashar, in 2000. He developed the state’s oppression and tyranny. In 2011, he responded with the full force of his army against initially peaceful demonstrations calling for democratic freedoms. The result was nothing short of mass murder, as conventional and non-conventional weapons were used against civilians.

Thirteen years later, the result of Assad’s tyranny is that a million people have been killed, millions have been displaced, lives have been ruined and more than half of Syria’s cities are practically uninhabitable.

In 2016, the Assad regime only survived due to the support of Russia and Iran. However, the revolutionaries — tens of thousands of battle-hardened fighters, organised and experienced —waited for the right moment to strike. The regime, weakened by corruption, fatigue and a lack of resources, was already on the brink. Iran and Russia, once its main backers, had themselves grown weaker and could no longer provide the necessary support.

The structure of the regime began to crumble from within, exposed as it was to a reorganised and more determined opposition. Many members of the opposition forces have had first-hand experience of the regime’s brutality, including torture, and were displaced from their homes around Syria. Their primary goal was to return home, but they also ignited uprisings in the southern provinces of Daraa and Suwayda, rallying others to join them on the road to Damascus. This marked the beginning of the final chapter of the Assad regime and its downfall.

Assad’s ultimately fatal crime was to reject a peaceful and organised transfer of power; opportunities for a political solution were ignored. The opposition has demonstrated greater awareness and foresight than many politicians, showing that they have plans for Syria’s future.

The hope is that Syria will now become a free country for all of its people. I am hopeful that this revolution will succeed, serving as a beacon for the Arab Spring and a symbol of resilience after thirteen long years. There is no doubt that many Arab dictatorships will attempt to thwart the nascent government now in Damascus, because they fear the spread of freedom and justice. It is the duty of all free people to support this revolution and ensure its success, with the ultimate goal of a free Syria.

READ: Israel army chief declares Syria a fourth ‘fighting front’

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