Now, Iran is scrambling to find a way to initiate ties with the new leadership in Damascus. Iran knows that it used Syria for years as a base for attacks on Israel and also to smuggle weapons to Hezbollah.

Israel is celebrating the fall of Assad because it breaks the noose that Iran had been patiently tightening around Israel’s borders in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria. Tehran’s pincer is now broken and rendered useless. From the point of view of Israel’s wider conflict with the Islamic Republic, the collapse of Assad’s regime is a strategic victory.

Tehran’s increasingly vulnerable position in the region has energized opposition activists and spurred hardliners to endorse the pursuit of nuclear weapons.

One of Israel's goals in its campaign in the Gaza Strip has been to also weaken Iran. The fall of the Syrian dictator suggests the strategy is paying off. This could open up new options for the U.S.

Rebel forces in Syria are building a transitional government after toppling the regime of President Bashar Assad in a lightning-quick advance across the country.

Not long ago, Tehran’s network of militias appeared ascendant. “The resistance front has had a really hard year,” Iran’s foreign minister acknowledged.

Syria's former leader Bashar al-Assad has apparently issued his first statement since being ousted from power. He says he never intended to leave Syria as rebel forces were closing in but Russia decided to evacuate him.