Transcript of How Assad went from medical student to brutal leader that tore a country apart

Bashar al Assad inherited his father's totalitarian regime and left it and his country in ruins. A thuggish police state in a brutal repression turned war, where 100 of 1000 of civilians were killed and more than half the population fled their homes.

He'll be remembered, as 1 of the most violent, rulers in response to the uprisings that started in late 2010 in the Arab world. He'll also be remembered as the, failing endpoint of the Essid dynasty that his father had started that lasted for over 42 years, but it collapsed under him.

Bashar al Assad never expected to take over from his father. His older brother Basil was the heir apparent. Instead, Bashar trained as an ophthalmologist in London. Former Assad family insiders say he didn't have the right stuff to run Syria. His brother, Basel, bullied him as a child.

His father never gave him as much attention as Basel. But a high speed car crash killed Basel, and Bashar was brought back home to learn the family business. When president Hafez al Assad died in 2000, Syria's elite pushed Bashar into the presidency, keeping 30 years of their own wealth, power, position, and influence intact.

Hafez was a leader, the head of the entire regime, while Bashar never came close to that.

At first, the new president agreed to modest reforms and released hundreds of political prisoners. But that brief moment of optimism dubbed the Damascus spring ended abruptly. A decade later, the regional upheaval known as the Arab spring wouldn't be addressed as easily. Protests demanding change spread across Syria in early 2,011. The regime cracked down, turning peaceful protest into slaughter.

The UN found what it called massive evidence of war crimes, crimes against humanity, responsibility

at

the highest level of government, including the head of state. Assad, the deceptively gentle face of an increasingly desperate regime, denied responsibility in 1 of his rare encounters with a Western journalist.

They are not my forces. They are military forces belong to the government.

Okay. But you're I

don't own them. I'm president.

The chaos spawned countless local militias and opposition forces. In the mayhem, the ultra violent Islamist group, ISIS, gained a temporary foothold, spewing its nihilistic terror over the border into Iraq. US and Iraqi forces confronted and ultimately crushed them, but didn't challenge Assad's brutal authority. Fearing the developing threat, the United States led a coalition to fight Assad's terrorist enemies for him, ISIS and Al Qaeda. Russia too joined the fight.

Assad and his allies, Hezbollah from Lebanon, an Iranian militia were losing ground, committing more forces than any other country. With barbaric, internationally condemned ground and air assaults, Russia turned the tide in Assad's favor. But when Russia's forces went to war in Ukraine in 2022, the clock on Assad's rule began ticking down. By late 2024, his other main allies, Iran and Hezbollah, were blooded by over a year long war with Israel. Assad's fortunes plummeted.

Former Al Qaeda turned nationalist Islamist Hayat Tarir al Sham surged out of their northern enclave, exploiting Assad's allies' weakness, overrunning the country. Within 2 weeks, Assad had fled to Russia, ending his family's half century ruthless repression of the Syrian people. His life in exile begins living in the shadow of fear. His heinous crimes will eventually catch up with him.

And I wanna bring in Nick Robertson now. Nick, my apologies. That was my mistake. That was your reporting that we just saw and listened to. And it really does just give us such a vast picture of of the Bashar al Assad and the Assad family, regime and the control that they exerted over Syria for so long.

Yeah. And the and the bloody aftermath of that control. I mean, they they were the ones in 2012, I remember, during the civil war there being in this small town where the tanks and the heavy machine guns were arraigned against a civilian population. We managed to get out before the before they started shooting, those heavy weapons, but that came and it lasted what we've seen over over 12 years. You know, the toll that Assad has left behind has been documented.

I mean, his forces documented it. There was the famous case of a, police military photographer from 1 of the jails. He he went by the pseudonym of Caesar. He left the country, got asylum, outside of Syria, and he took with him a catalog of photographs, about 10,000 photographs that literally catalog more than 6,000 deaths in Assad's jails. So the, accounts, if you will, the documents that could be used to put Assad in court 1 day to be held account for his crimes are there, and the use of chemical weapons, the use of chlorine gas back in 2,018 and numerous other times, That time killing 43 people or the use of the deadly nerve agent, Sarin, 2017.

Just a few years ago, Assad, the leader of a country, dropping a deadly nerve agent on on his citizens, killing more than 90 of them. These are all documented. The evidence is there, and that he could literally 1 day face that in court, and that's something he'll be thinking about all through, his remaining years in exile.

Yeah. No doubt about that. Nick Robertson in London, thank you very much for that reporting. I'd like to bring in a former NATO supreme allied commander, general Wesley Clark. General, thanks so much for joining us.

We left you last night. This was all really unfolding, and now here we are 24 hours later, and the Assad regime has officially fallen. What do you make of where we stand right now?

Well, I think, right now, the question is really what what's gonna happen there in Damascus and in the rest of Syria because there are contending factions. The Syrian Democratic Forces that we're supporting and US forces on the south as president Biden made a lot of strikes against ISIS. Those Syrian Democratic forces are gonna try to expand, their, their reach. The Kurds are gonna be very, very concerned about what happens because this, this HTS group has had backing from Turkey. And president Erdogan was the first, of the national leaders who said, when this was all unfolding a couple of days ago, he says, well, I hope they'll, that everyone will get out of the way and, and support them.

So he's behind this group, and that's not good news for the Kurds, but president Erdogan and Turkey have always had a larger ambitions to stabilize this region and and to do more. On the 1 hand, that could be helpful, and on the other hand, it will bring its own challenges and, rivalries from other regional powers. And, all that's gonna play out because, it it would be very surprising if HTS has a constitutional game plan to to call the UN and, supervise some elections, elected parliament, and so forth. I hope it happens, but it would be really remarkable if it does. Instead, what's likely to happen is, 1 party rule, behind the scenes, cutting deals of some people will be cut out.

The real question is, what about these terrorists that are being held in northeast Syria? For goodness sake, if they get released, that's a whole another level of challenge for the United States and and and for the region. So, there are many, many uncertainties in this. 1 thing though, Jessica, is president Biden did take credit for this and his support of Israel and the way that the United States has handled it. And there's no doubt that the weakening of Iran, the weakening of Hezbollah, and so forth, Israel's actions and have enabled, this to occur.

As far as Russia's concerned, I suspect that the president Erdogan, president Putin have got this worked out. The the naval base will stay there. The terrorists won't bother the Russians. This gives, actually, for president Erdogan, it's good. He's got a little hold card to play, with mister Putin if he has to because, if through his influence in this regime, if he has that influence.

And, again, we don't know that for sure. That but he can, you know, turn the screws on mister Putin on those naval base and and, and the airfield when he wants to. And so, in this region, everybody's talking to everybody all of the time at various levels. So, there's a lot more to to see as this unravels.