Hello and welcome to the GZero World podcast. This is where you can find extended versions of my

conversations on public television. I'm Ian Bremmer, and today we are asking a simple question.

How did Syria's government rule with an iron fist for five decades only to collapse in two weeks. And after 14 years of bloody civil

war, why was now the moment that a frozen war exploded into the global spotlight? Since 2011,

more than 500,000 Syrians have died, including 200,000 civilians. Nearly six million Syrian refugees flooded neighboring Arab states

and some European nations, most notably Germany. The cost Syrians have already paid is greater

than any nation could reasonably be expected to bear, but there's no guarantee that the suffering

will end just because the Assad regime has.

And here, to help make sense of these shocking past few weeks and the potential power vacuum

to come, Middle East expert and Beirut-based journalists, Kim Goddus.

Let's get to it. Kim Goddess, welcome back to G0 World.

Great to be with you, Ian. Thanks for having me.

50 years we had an Assad dictatorship.

And now two weeks after HTS begins rebel opposition, we don't.

How surprised were you by the implosion?

I was surprised by how quickly it all ended.

First of all, of course, we were surprised by the sudden takeover of Aleppo last week.

But there was a confluence of events in the region, which led to a decision by HTS,

Hayat the Hadir Sharm,

to seize this moment of weakness of various supporters

of Bashal Ashad in the region

and try to push for the takeover of Aleppo.

...