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| - Here are key dates of the Syrian regime of Syrian Bashar al-Assad, who became president 20 years ago. Aged 34, Bashar al-Assad is sworn in as head of state in July 2000, a month after his ailing father Hafez al-Assad dies following 30 years of iron-fisted rule. He is the sole candidate for the presidency, receiving 97.29 percent of votes in a national referendum. A London-trained ophthalmologist, he had been groomed for the leadership, being appointed commander-in-chief of the armed forces and leader of the ruling Baath party straight after his father's death. In September 2000, around 100 intellectuals call for reforms including the lifting of a state of emergency and martial law, public freedoms and political pluralism. It becomes known as the "Damascus Spring". But, after a period of apparent freedom of expression, Assad's government in July 2001 cracks down on dissent and arrests 10 opponents. In February 2005, former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri is assassinated in a massive Beirut bombing. Major Western powers and Lebanese opposition blame Syria, which has a strong military presence in Lebanon, and call for the withdrawal of its troops. Damascus denies responsibility. In April, the last of tens of thousands of Syrian troops leave Lebanon, ending 29 years of military and political domination. In October 2005, opposition parties launch a joint "Damascus Declaration" calling for radical and democratic change, and criticising "a totalitarian-style and sectarian regime". The authorities clamp down on opposition activists and intellectuals. In December 2007, there is a new wave of arrests from among the pro-democracy opposition. In March 2011, in the turmoil of the Arab Spring that sees people rise up against autocratic rulers, protests break out in Syria calling for civil liberties and the release of political prisoners. The regime launches a bloody crackdown on what it brands "terrorists". Rallies spread and an armed rebellion ensues. In 2012, the regime uses heavy weapons against the rebels, including bombs dropped from planes. It will be accused on numerous occasions of using chemical weapons, charges it denies. In 2013, Iran-backed Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah says it is fighting alongside Syrian government forces and against rebels and jihadists. It will send in thousands of fighters. Shiite Iran becomes the main regional ally of Assad, who is from the Alawite community that is a branch of Shiite Islam and accounts for around 10 percent of Syria's Sunni-majority population. In September 2015, Russia, a staunch ally of Assad's regime, launches air strikes in support of Syrian troops who are on the back foot against the rebellion. Russian firepower helps turn the tables and the regime claws back rebel- and jihadist-held territory. In December 2019, the regime launches a deadly offensive in northwestern Syria to retake the country's last major jihadist bastion of Idlib. The war has caused massive destruction and claimed more than 380,000 lives. In April and May 2020, in a series of videos on Facebook revealing a power struggle within the ruling family, top tycoon Rami Makhlouf, Assad's cousin and long a pillar of the regime, lays bare his struggle with Damascus, signalling a rift. Authorities in 2019 had seized one of his charities and dissolved militias affiliated to Makhlouf, and the government has since made further moves against the businessman. acm/jmy/eab/hc
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