In 2011, when the Arab Spring shook the Middle East, leading to the fall of autocrats in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya and mass protests in Yemen, Bahrain and Syria, the epitaphs for the Assad dynasty began to be written. But Iran, Hezbollah of Lebanon and Russia came to the rescue of the family that occupied Syria for decades. Now that the allies have “let their guard down”, the idea of the victory of the Syrian regime in the bloody civil war has disappeared. “Nothing – not regimes, not leaders – last forever,” writes CNN.
As this network emphasizes, in the last few years, the war between the corrupt and brutal regime in Damascus and the isolated and often radical opposition has reached a stalemate.
“Having been rejected by other Arab autocrats, Bashar al-Assad has gradually regained the dubious respect that Arab regimes hold in him,” CNN writes.
Many thought that the bloody civil war in Syria was finally over and that Bashar al-Assad had won. This illusion was widespread, even though large parts of the country were still controlled by Kurdish (US-backed) and Sunni (Turkish-backed) militias, Hezbollah, Iran and Russia continued to support the Damascus regime, US-controlled areas of the country. were giving In eastern Syria, Israel carried out airstrikes “wherever and wherever it suits”, and the “Islamic State”, although defeated, continued to carry out terrorist attacks, writes the TV station.
“It was an achievement that the government did not fall in Damascus,” writes CNN. As he adds, it was just an illusion of victory.
Bashar al-Assad SANA HANDOUT/PAP/EPA
Rebel attack
The illusion that on Wednesday the rebels against the regime, led by the jihadist militia Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, unexpectedly attacked from the Idlib region was shattered. They reached the center of Aleppo in just 72 hours. Then, with a force consisting of “thousands of fighters”, they occupied the cities and villages of Hama province, almost without encountering any resistance from the government forces.
READ MORE: Rebels capture Aleppo. Thousands of people had to flee
On Saturday evening, as the rebels approached the city of Hama, Syrian social networks were flooded with reports of the fall of government forces in the north of the country. It was in Hama in early 1982 that Bashar's father – Hafiz al-Assad brutally crushed the uprising of the Muslim Brotherhood. The province was under the rule of rebel forces until 2016, but then the Syrian army drove them out.
In his first public statement since the offensive began, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad declared that Syria would continue to “defend its stability and territorial integrity against terrorists and their supporters” and declared that the rebels would soon be defeated.
The civil war flared up again.
Allies lowered their guard
Why were the rebels able to break the resistance of the government forces in a few days? According to CNN, the key allies of Syria – Russia, Iran and Hizbullah have stopped their guard under pressure.
This network emphasizes that Hezbollah, which played a key role in strengthening the Syrian regime in the darkest days of the civil war, after October 7, 2023, transferred most of its forces to Lebanon to fight Israel. Soon after, Israel retaliated by removing most of the organization's old leadership and greatly weakening it.
Meeting of Bashar Assad and Vladimir Putin in Moscow PAP/EPA/VLADIMIR GERDO/SPUTNIK/KREMLIN POOL
CNN points out that Russia, which also significantly supported the Damascus government during the war by sending troops and aircraft to Syria, is now preoccupied with the war in Ukraine, which is now Moscow's “top priority.”
Iran is also in a more difficult situation. Iranian advisers and bases in Syria have been repeatedly attacked by Israeli forces over the past year.
Nothing lasts forever
CNN also highlights the unbearable fate of long-lived regimes. He writes: “The Assad dynasty has been in power for 53 years, that is, since 1971. Although its survival is already an achievement, it has nothing more to be proud of.” .
Widespread corruption and mismanagement were crippling the Syrian economy even before the civil war broke out in 2011. Since then, the life of the average Syrian has gotten worse. The war killed hundreds of thousands of people, and millions of people were forced to leave their homes, the station notes.
Over the course of five decades, the Assad dynasty endured many internal and external shocks. “But nothing – neither regimes nor leaders – last forever. Everything comes to an end,” says CNN.
Main photo source: SANA HANDOUT/PAP/EPA
