How Iran's Revolutionary Guards fled Syria: Chaos, abandoned bases, and moldy rations 

"Semi-stale food on bunk beds, discarded army uniforms and abandoned weapons – these are the remnants of a sudden retreat from this base that once belonged to Iran and its affiliated groups in Syria. The scene tells a story of panic. The forces stationed here escaped with little warning, leaving behind a decade-long presence that disintegrated in just a matter of weeks."

This is how the BBC paints a picture of the Iranian withdrawal from Syria after the fall of the Assad regime.

In one of the most dramatic moments in the Middle East in recent years, the Assad regime abandoned its last positions, and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) fled Syria in a hurry. A decade of military investment, militias and strategy disappeared in a matter of days, as Iranian forces left behind abandoned bases, classified documents and fresh food, indicating how unplanned the withdrawal was.

For more than a decade, Iran has been the Assad regime's main ally, providing it with military advisers, weapons, and foreign militias. It established networks of underground bases and strengthened its control through a "security belt" designed to prevent Israeli entrenchment and Western activity.

But when Assad lost control of the country, Iran was left without a safety net. Elements within his army began to lose faith in the Iranian presence, and a series of defeats, including Israeli airstrikes against Revolutionary Guard positions, led to a sudden collapse.

"The developments happened so quickly. The order was simply to take the backpack and leave," said a commander in a pro-Iranian Iraqi militia.

Into the vacuum came Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Islamist group that captured Damascus and declared its leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, as Syria's interim president.

An HTS fighter who arrived at an abandoned base near Khan Sheikhoun describes what was left behind: "The Iranians were here. They all fled. Everything you see here – from them. Even the onions and the leftover food."

Among the documents found in abandoned bases were lists of fighters, military codes, and personal details of Afghan, Pakistani and Iraqi fighters recruited by Iran to fight alongside Assad.

The events that led to the collapse of the Iranian presence in Syria began months earlier. Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7 provoked an intense Israeli backlash, with a wave of attacks against the positions of the Revolutionary Guards and its allies in Syria.

Kikar Hashabbat contributed to this article.