And just outside Damascus, celebrating crowds tossed a noose around the towering statue of Assad's father, Hafez al-Assad, the dictator who first imposed his iron grip on Syria a half-century ago, and toppled it to the ground. Then they chained it to the back of a truck and dragged it through the streets past cheering crowds.

CNN’s Fred Pleitgen reports on Russian influence possibly waning in the Middle East following the fall of the Assad regime, as Assad was granted asylum in Russia after leaving Syria.