In Syria, a ruthless dictator is under siege. Will anyone step up to save him?

Across northern and central Syria this week, families who've been torn apart by more than a decade of civil war have been holding joyous reunions.

"I didn't believe it, it was very emotional," said Ismail Alabullah, a volunteer with the Syrian NGO the White Helmets, as he described returning to the city of Aleppo for the first time since 2013 and reuniting with his sister.

"I couldn't believe I was seeing her again," he told CBC News from northern Syria. "I lost my brother, my mother and father over the past two years — I couldn't say goodbye to any of them. Now, it's just me and my sister."

The White Helmets, a first responders' group best-known for rescuing and evacuating civilians from active war zones,  are considered arch enemies of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

Since 2016, Assad's forces have controlled Aleppo. But with his army now retreating from territory where just days ago it seemed to be firmly in charge, families stranded on opposite sides of the front lines are able to be together again.

After years of stalemate, Syria's map of control is being redrawn almost by the hour.

First, Aleppo — a city of more than 2.3 million people and the second-largest in the country — fell to opposition forces on Nov. 27. In the days that followed, so did many towns to the south.

On Thursday, Assad's forces abandoned the strategic centre of Hama when rebel forces pushed in.

Most observers expect an assault on a key Assad power base — the city of Homs, 40 kilometres to the south of Hama — is only hours away.

If opposition forces are successful, the move would cut off Assad's strongholds along the Syrian coast from the capital, Damascus.

"It's clear that the regime itself cannot defend these territories," said Haid Haid, a Syria analyst with Chatham House, a London-based think-tank.

This conclusion leads to inevitable speculation over whether Assad's government may be hurtling faster than almost anyone expected toward its demise, after surviving years of intense fighting in a civil war. 

"No one can give any absolute answers," Haid told CBC News from Istanbul. "I think it's safe to say that Assad is not 100 per cent secure, but no one knows when and if the regime will collapse completely."

Assad and his family have ruled Syria with an iron fist for more than 50 years. Since he took over as president in 2000 after his father's death, the UN says Assad's forces have killed more than 350,000 opponents, jailed and tortured countless thousands more and used banned nerve gas on opposition towns to deter any challengers to his rule.