Reporter's Notebook: Chronicling the Assad regime from death of the father to defeat of the son

The dramatic and historic scenes coming out of Syria this week are a reminder of the horrors that country has been through in the last several decades. We were there for some key moments in recent history:

The funeral of Bashar al-Assad’s father, Hafez al-Assad. His "departure" was much more stately and calm than his son’s retreat this past week. For some 30 years, he had ruled Syria with an iron grip. Stabilizing a politically raucous country but in a brutal way. Stamping out Islamist rebels...