LOS ANGELES.–Syrian Dictator Bashar al-Assad, 59, fled Damascus Dec. 7 when his military no longer put up any resistance to Syrian rebels funded by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, led by 42-year-old former head of Jabhat Nusra Front Abu Mohammed al-Golani. Al-Golani’s rebels stormed al-Assad’s empty presidential palace, firing off rifles in celebration. Bashar al-Assad inherited his dictatorship July 17, 2000 from his father Haffez al-Assad who seized Syria in a coup March 14, 1971, ruling Syria ever since. Since the 2011 Arab Spring, various Syrian rebel groups worked feverishly with arms-and-cash from Turkey and the United States to topple al-Assad’s government. Former President Barack Obama joined the proxy war against al-Assad’s Damascus regime with Turkey, spending billions to support Syrian Democrat Forces and other rebel groups looking to topple al-Assad.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and its proxy Hezbollah became a de facto military for al-Assad, helping him stay in power, something that deserted the Damascus regime largely due to Israel battling the Hezbollah militia over the last few months. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the end of al-Assad’s dictatorship, who, during his 24-year reign, worked with Hamas, Hezbollah and various other radical groups to topple Israel. Al-Assad said nothing after the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas massacre that led to the destruction of the Gaza Strip and eventually to the Hezbollah militia that helped defend al-Assad’s regime. Obama and 82-year-old President Joe Biden, when he was Vice President, spent billions arming Syria rebel groups seeking to topple al-Assad’s Damascus regime. When things got desperate in 2015, 72-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin saved al-Assad.
Obama and Biden’s proxy war in Syria with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan killed 500,000 Syrians, drove 10 million into exile, flooded Turkey and Europe with over a million refugees. Proxy war against al-Assad caused the worst refugee crisis in Europe since WW II, forcing the Brussels-based European Union to pressure member states to take Mideast refugees. Various EU states like Hungary and the Czech Republic flat out refused to take Syrian refugees, while Germany, under 70-year-old Chancellor Angela Merkel, accepted a millions of refugees. When various terrorist acts started spreading in Europe and the U.K., it drove the Brexit movement that eventually led to the U.S. breaking off from the U.K. Russia, Iran and Hezbollah stabilized Syria, driving rebels to the hinterlands where they flourished without much resistance from the Syrian military.
Al-Golani succeed where other terrorist groups failed because of strong backing to Erdogan, eventually watching events unfold that prevented Russia, Iran, Hezbollah from saving al-Assad this time around. “How many people were displaced across the world? How many people lived in tents? How many drowned in the seas?” said al-Golan to a jubilant crowd at the medieval Umayyad Mosque in Central Damacus, referring to the suffering of the Syrian people over the last 14 years of civil war. “A new history, my brothers, is being written in the entire region after this great victory, telling the crowd it would take hard work to build a new Syria to become a “beacon for the Islamic nation.” Al-Golani talks like a true revolutionary, not his former terrorist self that once ran al-Qaeda’s Jabhat al-Nusra, seeking only to establish a radical, Sharia-based Islamic caliphate.
Al-Golan said he wants the revolution to morph into a new stable Syrian government, no longer the brutal, Baathist al-Assad style dictatorship. “The future is ours,” said Al-Golani, letting the public know he’s serious about a new beginning for Syria. “The great Syrian revolution has moved from the stage of struggle to overthrow the Assad regime to the struggle to build a Syria together that befits the sacrifices of its people,” al-Golani said, speaking like a statesman. Syria’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali says Syria should hold elections at the earliest possible time. Before that happens, an interim government would have to be installed with adequate resources to address the needs of Syrians. “The barbaric state has fallen,” said French President Emmanuel Macron. Syrians now look to a leader like al-Golani to lead the new Syrian government.
No one is shedding tears for Bashar al-Assad but Syria has a lot of work to do to stabilize a new interim government. Looting has been reported as anarchy begins to spread over Damascus as civil disorder begins to set in. With other terrorist groups lurking in the outskirts of Damascus, there’s a real possibility that Syria could turn into another Iraq and Saddam Hussein was toppled by the U.S. in 2003. It’s going to take all of al-Golani’s leadership but, more importantly, his complete 5,000 to 10,000-sized militia. Maintaining order won’t be easy as criminals are release from jails and other terror groups begin sending forces into Damascus to test whether they can take over the Syrian capital. What’s clear now is that al-Golani must work with friendly governments, like Turkey, and use every resource to maintain order while anarchy begins to spread over the days-and-week ahead.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
