CNN mapped how rebel groups captured several key cities, cutting off pro-regime forces and successfully toppling Assad’s regime after 11 days of fighting.

Bel Trew spent days travelling across Syria – from Aleppo in the north, to the capital Damascus and Deraa in the south – charting a nation coming to terms with the ends of decades of brutal rule by the Assads.

Millions of Syrians fled their home country under the Assad regime. As they are contemplating whether to return to Syria, the fall of the regime has led to a new flow of refugees - Assad loyalists from the country's Shiite minority.