For yearscolorplay, Syrian soldiers have been complaining on Facebook about their bosses. Commanders who took bribes in exchange for leave. Leaders who ordered soldiers to loot. Officers who stole their troops’ food or got drunk on the job.
After 13 years of a grueling civil war that devastated Syria, that corrosion came back to haunt the regime.
Rebels on Sunday swept into the capital, Damascus, as President Bashar al-Assad fled the country his family had ruled for decades.
Multiple factors, including preparation by the main rebel coalition and Mr. al-Assad’s sudden abandonment by his closest allies, contributed to his fall. But the internal deterioration of Mr. al-Assad’s own military meant that when he needed his troops most, many chose to strip off their uniforms and get out of the rebels’ way.
Last month, after the rebels burst out of the country’s northwest and began a lightning march south, a soldier from one embattled unit posted an anonymous plea to his commander in chief.
“The battalion leaders fled and left the troops and officers to their fate,” the soldier wrote, as documented by Gregory Waters, a Syria researcher, in a recent newsletter. The soldier said that he had lost dozens of comrades.
Where rebels swept across Syria over two weeksHere’s how the main rebel coalition advanced through the northwest.
As of Nov. 26 (before offensive)
Turkish-backed
opposition
Joint control
with Syrian
gov’t
TURKEY
Aleppo
Kurds
Kurds
Main rebel
coalition
Hama
Syrian government
Homs
Area of
detail
SYRIA
Damascus
40 miles
Lebanon
Dec. 3
Turkish-backed
opposition
TURKEY
Aleppo
Kurds
Main rebel
coalition
Hama
Syrian government
Homs
Damascus
40 miles
Lebanon
25 MILES
Dec. 5
Turkish-backed
opposition
TURKEY
Aleppo
Kurds
Main rebel
coalition
Hama
Syrian government
Homs
Damascus
40 miles
Lebanon
Dec. 7
Turkish-backed
opposition
TURKEY
Aleppo
Kurdish advances
after government
withdrawal
Main rebel
coalition
Hama
Syrian government
Homs
Damascus
40 miles
Lebanon
As of Nov. 26 (before offensive)
Dec. 3
Turkish-backed
opposition
Turkish-backed
opposition
Joint control
with Syrian
gov’t
TURKEY
TURKEY
Aleppo
Aleppo
Kurds
Kurds
Main rebel
coalition
Main rebel
coalition
Hama
Hama
Syrian government
Syrian government
Homs
Homs
Area of
detail
SYRIA
Damascus
40 miles
Damascus
40 miles
Lebanon
Lebanon
25 MILES
Dec. 5
Dec. 7
Turkish-backed
opposition
Turkish-backed
opposition
TURKEY
TURKEY
Aleppo
Aleppo
Kurds
Kurdish advances after
goverment withdrawal
Main rebel
coalition
Main rebel
coalition
Hama
Hama
Syrian government
Syrian government
Homs
Homs
Damascus
40 miles
Damascus
40 miles
Lebanon
Lebanon
Note: Areas of control are approximate.
Sources: Institute for the Study of War and AEI's Critical Threats Project (areas of control); Janes (rebel control as of November)
By Martín González Gómez and Lauren Leatherby
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