Fifteen years have passed since Mohamed Bouazizi, a 26-year-old Tunisian street vendor whose cart was confiscated by the police, set himself on fire to protest against police harassment and the authorities’ neglect.
His act of desperation triggered nationwide protests by millions facing a crushing reality of increased unemployment, corruption, and a decades-old political system with little room for expression or change.
In 28 days, demonstrators brought down President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who had been in power for 23 years.
Inspired by Tunisia’s uprising, millions of people from Egypt, Libya, Yemen, and Syria took to the streets in 2011.
This movement, which became known as the Arab Spring, led to the toppling of five longtime leaders. Al Jazeera looks back at what happened to those leaders.
Tunisia’s Zine El Abidine Ben Ali
- 1936-2019
- In power: 1987-2011 (23 years)
- Status: Died in exile
Zine El Abidine Ben Ali came to power in 1987 when, as prime minister, he declared President-for-life Habib Bourguiba medically unfit to rule.
In office, the former security chief worked to repress any challenges to his rule and installed a rigid system anchored in security services and a loyal governing party.
He opened up the economy, leading to economic growth, but the country was mired in deepening corruption, inequality, and media censorship, sparking public outrage and anger.
Grievances, including over police abuse, youth joblessness, and entrenched corruption, erupted after the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi on December 17, 2010.
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After nearly a month of nonstop demonstrations, on January 14, Ben Ali dissolved the government, declared a state of emergency and fled to Saudi Arabia.
A Tunisian court later sentenced him in absentia to life imprisonment, which he did not serve. Eight years later, on September 19, 2019, Ben Ali died in exile in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, at the age of 83.
Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak
- 1928-2020
- In power: 1981-2011 (30 years)
- Status: Died in Egypt (after release)
Hosni Mubarak became Egypt’s president in 1981 after Anwar Sadat’s assassination.
The former air force commander consolidated power through a mix of military dominance and emergency laws, maintaining tight-fisted rule marked by crackdowns on dissent, limited political freedoms, and widespread corruption.
On January 25, 2011, set to coincide with the annual celebration of the Egyptian police, protesters from across the Arab world’s most populous country, driven by high unemployment, poverty, and political repression, marched through the streets, demanding Mubarak’s departure.
On February 11, 2011, after 18 days of protests, Mubarak was forced to resign, ending a three-decade presidency.
Mubarak was ordered to stand trial and was later sentenced to life imprisonment for complicity in killing peaceful protesters during the revolution.
However, this sentence was overturned by the country’s high court, and a retrial was ordered. While that retrial was pending, he was convicted on corruption charges and spent six years in detention, though due to his health and the shifting political landscape, very little of that time in a prison cell.
In 2017, he was acquitted and released. On February 25, 2020, Mubarak died in Cairo at the age of 91.
Yemen’s Ali Abdullah Saleh
- 1947-2017
- In power: 1978-2012 (33 years)
- Status: Killed by Houthis
Ali Abdullah Saleh was Yemen’s longtime strongman who ruled for 33 years, first as president of North Yemen from 1978, then of a unified Yemen from 1990.
Saleh was known to be a mastermind of tribal and military politics, once describing governing Yemen as “dancing on the heads of snakes”, where he leveraged shifting alliances in the region.
Following the Arab Spring protests in 2011, Saleh was forced to step down under a power-transfer agreement in 2012.
However, he soon forged a surprising alliance with his former enemies, the Houthis, helping them seize the capital, Sanaa, in 2014.
The pact collapsed in 2017, when he broke with the Houthis to seek a deal with the Saudi-led coalition fighting them. He was killed at the age of 75 by Houthi forces.
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Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi
- 1942-2011
- In power: 1969-2011 (42 years)
- Status: Killed by rebels
Muammar Gaddafi was an army officer who seized power in a 1969 coup, dismantling Libya’s monarchy and later promoting himself to the rank of colonel, which he held for the rest of his life.
Gaddafi built a highly personalised, restrictive system, governing through revolutionary committees rather than formal institutions, and maintaining control via the strategic use of Libya’s vast oil wealth.
Though he was internationally isolated for decades, he later re-engaged with Western states in the early 2000s after renouncing his nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programme.
On February 15, 2011, protests erupted in Benghazi after a human rights lawyer was arrested. Like other Arab Spring countries, the incident was a catalyst; however, Gaddafi’s violent crackdown escalated the peaceful demonstrations into a full-scale armed uprising and civil war.
By August 2011, armed opposition forces captured Tripoli, marking the beginning of the end for the regime. A NATO air campaign and high-level internal defections proved decisive, tipping the balance against Gaddafi.
After retreating to his hometown of Sirte, Gaddafi was captured and killed by rebel forces on October 20, 2011, ending his 42 years in power.
Syria’s Bashar Al-Assad
- 1965-present
- In power: 2000-2024 (24 years)
- Status: Ousted, in exile
Bashar al-Assad came to power in 2000 at age 34, following a special constitutional amendment that lowered the presidential minimum age just hours after his father’s death.
His father, Hafez al-Assad, was a military officer who seized power in a 1970 coup and ruled Syria for 29 years, establishing a centralised, tightly controlled government that Bashar would go on to lead for 24 years.
The Syrian revolution was sparked by a few teens who wrote anti-government graffiti on the walls of their school in Deraa. This act of dissent led to protests that spread across the nation, which drew a brutal crackdown from government forces and ultimately ignited a civil war.
The war drew in global powers including Russia, Iran, Turkiye, and the United States, and lasted for nearly 14 years, making it one of the longest in the region. It displaced more than half of the country’s population and created a significant refugee crisis.
On December 8, 2024, the Assad family’s 53-year rule came to an end.
Following a lightning offensive spearheaded by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and supported by several other rebel factions, the Syrian military collapsed in a matter of days.
As rebel forces entered Damascus, Bashar al-Assad and his family fled the country by plane to Moscow, where they were granted asylum and currently live in exile.
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