Iron-fisted Assad under threat as Syrian rebels draw closer

Assad's rule, backed by Iran and Russia, faces threats from rebels despite battlefield successes and regional alliances.

President Bashar al-Assad used Russian and Iranian firepower to beat back rebel forces during years of civil war but never defeated them, leaving him vulnerable when his allies were distracted by wars elsewhere and his enemies went on the march.

The rebels' lightning advance through western Syria marks one of the most serious threats to half a century of Assad family rule in Damascus, and a seismic moment for the Middle East.

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Statues of Assad's father and brother were toppled in cities taken by the rebels, while pictures of him on billboards and government offices have been torn down, stamped on, burned or riddled with bullets.

The Syrian presidency issued a statement on Saturday denying Mr. Assad had left the country and saying he was carrying out his duties in Damascus.

Mr. Assad became President in 2000 after his father Hafez died, preserving the dominance of their Alawite sect in the Sunni Muslim-majority country and Syria's status as an Iranian ally hostile to Israel and the U.S.

Shaped in its early years by the Iraq war and crisis in Lebanon, his rule has been defined by the civil war which spiralled out of the 2011 Arab Spring, when Syrians demanding democracy took to the streets, to be met with deadly force.