After Syrian opposition forces captured the capital city of Damascus on Sunday and forced the country's president, Bashar al-Assad, to flee, Syrians in the country and around the world are celebrating the end of an oppressive father-son regime. This marks the first time in over half a century that a member of the Assad family will not rule Syria. 

Assad has served as president since 2000 after taking over from his father, who was in power for nearly three decades. Under their rule, Syria was widely characterized as an authoritarian dictatorship. While Syrian rebels have been attempting to topple Assad since 2011, they did not gain full control until a recent series of major offensives finally saw the Assad government crumble. 

How did Assad gain power?
Bashar's father, Hafez al-Assad, entered government following a coup in 1966 and worked his way up to become president. The elder Assad was characterized by dictatorial rule, an "autocrat with an icy, stiff style," whereas Bashar "cultivated the image of a benevolent despot, attentive to the needs of his fellow citizens," said Le Monde. 

Bashar's good image "evaporated" by 2011, when soldiers "fired on demonstrators as part of an official policy while heavily armed pro-regime militias" emerged to "operate as death squads," said The Guardian. Bashar signed off on "daily orders for the continuing violence." His reign was also marked by alleged human rights violations in the Saydnaya prison, known as a "human slaughterhouse."

How did the Syrian rebels topple Assad?
About 36,000 Syrian civilians died in the first 10 years of the civil war. But Assad's rule ended this week when an "armed rebel alliance charged across Syria over 11 days," said CNN. Led by the militant Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the coalition seized Aleppo and then Damascus.

The rebels "capitalized on Syria's backers being distracted elsewhere: Russia in Ukraine, and Iran and its Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah, fighting Israel," said NBC News. Russia, Syria's key military backer, was reportedly surprised by the pace at which the cities fell. Assad fled, and those who toppled him are "led by a group that the United States and others regard as a terrorist organization." Now, the new coalition is trying to pick up the pieces of Assad's fallen government.

Yesterday, President-elect Donald Trump opened a new chapter in Voice of America's history, naming failed Arizona Republican gubernatorial and Senate candidate Kari Lake as his pick to lead the storied state media network. Lake, a hardline immigration hawk who spent years denying both her own electoral loss as well as Trump's 2020 defeat, will "ensure that the American values of Freedom and Liberty are broadcast around the World FAIRLY and ACCURATELY, unlike the lies spread by the Fake News Media," Trump said on Truth Social. 

From local journalist to 'true believer'
Lake's evolution from donating to former President Barack Obama's campaign to being a MAGA stalwart was "gradual," said NBC News. She's a "true believer, fueled by the allure of a growing social media following, a kinship with Trump's brashness and her frustration with the 'political correctness' she had to abide by for years as a local news anchor." 

Lake's 2022 gubernatorial campaign "often leaned more on her vitriol toward news outlets and reporters" than attacks on her Democratic opponent, Katie Hobbs, said The New York Times. Lake had "habitually attacked reporters" during the race, at one point calling them the "right hand of the devil," said Media Matters for America.

'Hoping that the guardrails will hold'
Lake's nomination has reignited lingering concerns from Trump's first term over how his administration will treat a broadcast institution initially founded to counter foreign propaganda while maintaining the institution's vaulted firewall to protect against political influence. During Trump's first week in office in 2017, the relationship between him and VOA raised alarms among media critics after the network posted (and eventually deleted) tweets that "seemed to validate — or, at least, did not question — false statements White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer made about crowd size and media coverage," said The Washington Post.

"We are hoping that the guardrails will hold,” said one VOA employee about Trump's selection of Lake to CNN. "Many of us are very disturbed," said another employee to the network.