Assad, our nation’s “father,” wasn’t born of loyalty; it was a survival tactic, rooted in generational terror that he was passing on to me. As I learned more about my country’s history, the imposed paternal connection between me and “Baba Hafez” began to fuel my already budding daddy issues.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad arrived in Russia on Sunday after rebels seized control of Damascus, Russian state media said—a pivotal moment in the years-long civil war against the regime that has controlled Syria since the 1970s.

Syria’s iron-fisted leader Bashar al-Assad is the second generation of an autocratic family dynasty that held power for more than five decades and his disappearance amid a lighting rebel advance cap an astonishing reordering of power in a strategically vital Middle Eastern nation.