Fall of Damascus (2024) in the context of "Tahrir al-Sham"

The Syrian caretaker government (Arabic: حكومة تصريف الأعمال السورية, romanized: Ḥukūmat Taṣrīf al-Aʿmāl as-Sūriyyah) was the provisional government of Syria. It was established in December 2024 by the Syrian opposition after the Syrian General Command appointed Mohammed al-Bashir as prime minister, replacing Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali on 10 December. This came after the fall of the Assad regime and the exile of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. On 8 December 2024, hours after the fall of Damascus, Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali, the outgoing prime minister and last head of government of the Ba'athist regime, agreed to lead the transitional government in a caretaking capacity. He then transferred power to Mohammed al-Bashir, prime minister of the Syrian Salvation Government (SSG), two days later.

On 29 January 2025, Ahmed al-Sharaa was appointed President of Syria by the Syrian General Command for the transitional period during the Syrian Revolution Victory Conference in Damascus, after serving as the de facto leader following the fall of the Assad regime. As president, al-Sharaa announced plans to issue a "constitutional declaration" as a legal reference following the repeal of the 2012 constitution of Ba'athist Syria.

On 8 December 2024, the Assad regime collapsed during a major offensive by opposition forces. The offensive was spearheaded by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and the Southern Operations Room (SOR), and supported mainly by the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army as part of the Syrian civil war that began with the Syrian revolution in 2011. The capture of Syria's capital, Damascus, marked the end of the Assad family's rule, which had governed Syria as a hereditary totalitarian dictatorship since Hafez al-Assad assumed power in 1971 after a successful coup d'état.

As the SOR advanced towards Damascus, reports emerged that Bashar al-Assad had fled the capital aboard a plane to Russia, where he joined his family, already in exile, and was granted asylum. Following his departure, opposition forces declared victory on state television. Concurrently, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed Assad's resignation and departure from Syria.

The mass media in Ba'athist Syria consisted primarily of television, radio, Internet, film and print. The national language of Ba'athist Syria was Arabic but some publications and broadcasts were also disseminated in English and French. While television was the most popular medium in Ba'athist Syria, the Internet became a widely utilized vehicle to disseminate content by 2013. In addition to its control of domestic media, the Ba'athist state also sought to control what Syrians saw by restricting coverage from outside sources. Publications and broadcasts were monitored by members of the government. All mass media outlets were under the supervision of the Ministry of Information. Third article of the 2013 Information Ministry guidelines stipulated that the purpose of all media outlets was "to enlighten public opinion" in line with the ideological doctrines "of the Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party and the policy of the state".

Following Ba'ath party's capture of power in 1963, the state immediately banned all news outlets except which advanced party propaganda. Syrians have had no exposure to free media or independent press since then, with there being no space for independent journalism, newspapers, publications, journalists or websites un-affiliated with party organizations. The situation worsened further after 1970, with the Ba'athist dictatorship imposing additional censorship policies that furthered its totalitarian control of the society until the Syrian Revolution erupts across Syria which began on 15 March 2011 until the dictator Bashar al-Assad and his family are overthrown on 8 December 2024 with the Fall of Damascus to the government rebels which led the Assad family left Syria at midnight for Russia which landed in Moscow for a political asylum as refuge. State propaganda machine was primarily used to monopolise information access and indoctrinate the Syrian population in Ba'athist ideology.

The Syrian Salvation Government (SSG) was a de facto unrecognized quasi-state in Syria formed on 2 November 2017 by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and other opposition groups during the Syrian civil war. It controlled much of northwest Syria and had an estimated population of over 4,000,000 in 2023. Its de facto capital was Idlib.

After the December 2024 fall of Damascus, the final prime minister of Ba'athist Syria, Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali, transferred power in Syria to SSG Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir, with all ministers from the Syrian Salvation Government transferring to the same posts in the new caretaker government of Syria.

The government of Syria takes place in a presidential system and is, as of 2025, in a provisional period led by a transitional government in most of the country. The seat of the central government is located in Damascus, while the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria governs the north and east region.

On 7 December 2024, after the successful Syrian rebel offensives resulted in the fall of Damascus and the ouster of former president Bashar al-Assad, many former government officials under Assad's government fled to neighboring countries for sanctuary. Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, the dominant opposition faction, requested Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir of the Syrian Salvation Government to head the Syrian caretaker government. On 29 January 2025, Ahmed al-Sharaa was appointed President of Syria by the Syrian General Command for the transitional period during the Syrian Revolution Victory Conference in Damascus, after serving as the de facto leader following the fall of the Assad regime.

On 27 November 2024, a coalition of Syrian opposition groups called the Military Operations Command led by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and supported by allied Turkish-backed groups in the Syrian National Army (SNA) launched an offensive against the Ba'athist government's armed forces in Aleppo and Hama Governorates in Syria. Codenamed Deterrence of Aggression by HTS, this was the first military offensive campaign launched by opposition forces in the Syrian civil war since the March 2020 Idlib ceasefire. On 29 November 2024, HTS entered Aleppo and captured most of the city, as the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) collapsed. The next day, opposition forces made rapid advances, capturing dozens of towns and villages as government forces disintegrated, and advanced toward Hama and subsequently capturing it on 5 December. This offensive begun a series of offensives that led to fall of Damascus.

Beginning on 29 November 2024, southern Syrian opposition groups began assaults on Daraa Governorate and As-Suwayda Governorate in Southern Syria, along the nation's border with Jordan. The offensive was publicly announced as an effort by the Southern Operations Room coordinated with the Northwestern Syria offensive to implement a multi-front advance toward Damascus. The Syrian Armed Forces withdrew from their positions around the city of Daraa to reinforce Damascus but offered no resistance there, and southern opposition groups took Damascus in the early hours of 8 December, shortly before the arrival of northern opposition groups later that day.