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A New Era in Syria
It has been quite a year for the Middle East.
Not only has Israel been engaged in a 14-month war with Hamas, Iran, and its proxies, but Syria’s 13-year-long civil war appears to have come to an end, and with it the Assad family’s iron-fisted rule of more than 50 years.
The bloody civil war has left about 500,000 dead and 13 million displaced persons. Assad’s capitulation has been celebrated by Western leaders, who hope the country will now experience an era of peace and rehabilitation.
Background
Bashar al-Assad became president of Syria in the year 2000 after the death of his father, also president of Syria. Though called “president,” Bashar al-Assad was essentially a dictator who fiercely crushed criticism and opposition.
In 2011, as Arab Spring revolutions swept the region, Assad’s critics took to the streets to protest corruption and call for greater freedom. Those who spoke out were dealt with violently, including the imprisonment and torture of teens, firing on groups of unarmed protestors, and perpetrating war crimes on entire cities.
After the initial protests of 2011, several different factions formed small militias with the goal of toppling Assad’s authoritarian regime.
International Involvement
Over the next 13 years, Syria’s civil war attracted international involvement. On one side, there was Assad’s official government army, brutally crushing any and all opposition, and supported by Iran, Russia, and Hezbollah from neighboring Lebanon. On the other side were rebel groups fighting against Assad, with the US supporting Kurdish rebel groups and Turkey and Arab states supporting Sunni Arab rebel factions.
During this time, Islamic extremist groups like al Qaeda and ISIS exploited the chaos in the country, taking over areas for their own purposes. The US and other opponents of Islamic extremism actively got involved to weaken the Islamic State, in particular, and to limit its ability to threaten terrorism abroad.
In 2020, the fighting mostly subsided following a ceasefire in Idlib, but no real resolution was reached. It was relatively quiet for about four years.
Assad’s Sudden Fall
In November 2024, the Islamist rebel group Ha’yat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) launched a lightning offensive, capturing Aleppo and setting its sights on Damascus. Just two weeks later, on December 8, Assad fled to Russia, where he was granted asylum.
US President Joe Biden has hailed the Syrian government’s downfall as a “fundamental act of justice.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Assad’s flight “a historic day for the Middle East,” and sent Israeli army planes to bomb Syria’s stockpiles of weapons to prevent Assad supporters from any potential regrouping. Israel has since continued to strike other military assets in Syria, particularly those it is concerned could fall into the hands of militant groups that might intend to threaten Israel.
Syria of the Future
Assad was responsible for the murder of hundreds of thousands of people and committed countless crimes against humanity. While the Western world can certainly rejoice in his government’s downfall, the situation is far from rosy. First, the victorious rebel group must correct the injustices that have been perpetrated and find a long-term solution to the problem of millions of refugees.
Second, it is important to remember that the US, Turkey, and other countries still classify HTS as a terrorist group. Global leaders who oppose Islamist extremism must work together to achieve a new, balanced Syrian government that protects the country’s religious and ethnic minorities and does not revert to the authoritarian rule of its predecessor.