With the fall of the Assad regime, Syrians ascend

FOR 54 YEARS, THE ASSAD FAMily ruled Syria, relying on the ruthlessness of internal security forces that imprisoned and killed more than 100,000 people, and turned peaceful 2011 protests of the Arab Spring into a bloody civil war.

- CHANTELLE LEE

That war ended on Dec. 8, when a militia once allied with al-Qaeda swept into a capital President Bashar Assad had fled for Russia.