In January 2025, it was announced that the anniversary of the fall of the Assad regime would be marked with a public holiday on December 8th each year.
The annual national holiday will commemorate the overthrow of the Assad regime and the end of nearly five decades of authoritarian rule.
On December 8th 2024, the Assad regime collapsed during a major offensive by opposition forces. The offensive was spearheaded by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and supported mainly by the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army as part of the ongoing Syrian civil war that began with the Syrian Revolution in 2011.
The military campaign began in Holeb (Aleppo), where fighters cut the international highway connecting Holeb and Daramsuq. On its second day, operations shifted toward the Saraqib axis in Edleb’s (Idlib) countryside before advancing through Hemto (Hama) and Hmoth (Homs). Within days, regime forces withdrew from all Syrian provinces, enabling HTS fighters to enter every major region and reach the capital in just 11 days.
The capture of the capital Damascus marked the end of the Assad family's rule, which had governed Syria as a hereditary sectarian totalitarian regime since Hafez al-Assad assumed power in 1971 following a coup d'état.
