LOS ANGELES.–Euphoria and jubilation began to fade after the Dec. 7 toppling of 59-year-old Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, in power since 2000 after his father and founder of the Syrian Baathist regime died June 10, 2000. Bashar followed in his father’s footsteps, closely aligning with the Russian Federation and ruling Syria with an iron fist. Bashar never dreamed that the Arab Spring would happen 11 years later, watching dictatorships in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya follow suit. Resisting rebel group backed by the U.S. and Turkey, Bashar al-Assad, who ran a tighter ship, resisted various rebel group supported by the U.S. and Turkey. When former President Barack Obama won his second term, he poured billions into toppling al-Assad, in a civil war that killed 500,000 Syrians, drove 10 million more into exile in Turkey and Europe and created the biggest humanitarian crisis since WW II.
When 72-year-old President Vladimir Putin go wind that his two bases in Syria were threatened, he mobilized the Russia navy and army in 2015 to help al-Assad stay in power. Things eventually stabilized with Obama and Biden thwarted in their proxy war to topple the Damascus government. Once Putin was mired in Ukraine in 2022 and Iran and Hezbollah embroiled in a conflict with Israel, al-Assad lost his safety net. “Today we held a cabinet meeting that include a team from the Salvation government that was working in Idlib and its vicinity, and the government of the ousted regime,” said Mohammed al-Bashir, appointed interim Prime Minister. Head of the Salvation government Abu Mohammed al-Golani becomes the power broker who’s taken over all of Syria’s northern territories, beating back ISIS and al-Qaeda to seize power in Aleppo.
Streets in Damacus were patrolled by al-Golani’s forces, keeping law-and-order, returning to a semblance of normalcy with banks reopening along with street vendors, coffee houses and shawarma stands. “The meeting was under the headline of transferring the files and institutions to a caretaker government,” said al-Bashir. Al-Golani’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham becomes the government authority in Damascus, Aleppo, Idlib, Homs and other Syrian cities. Al-Golani’s forces removed Syrian flags, replacing them with green, black and white flags flowing by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. Former Syrian civil servants returned to jobs, resuming street cleaning, suggesting that the new transition government was funded enough to pay civil servants. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the U.S. is taking a wait-and-see approach since the U.S. has no diplomatic relations with Syria.
Miller showed his skepticism claiming there’s been many militant groups that invaded Syria since the Arab Spring and the U.S. doesn’t know whom to trust. Well, if that’s true why did Obama and Binden give billions to Syrian Democrat Forces run by the PKK Kurdish Protection Forces? “We have seen over the year any number of militant groups who have seized power, who have promised that they would respect minorities, who have promised that they would respect religious freedom, promised that they would govern in an inclusive way and then see them fail to meet those promises,” Miller said. Miller said the U.S. asked HTS, Al-Golani’s group, to find missing U.S. journalist Austin Tice, kidnapped in Syria in 2012. Syrians were rushing to the notorious Sednaya prison north of Damascus to see whether they could find any of their imprisoned relatives.
U.S. announced for the moment that it would keep its forward operation base in Syria with 900 troops, continuing to coordinate patrols with Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces [SDF]. SDF announced they had reached a ceasefire agreement in Manbij with Turkey’s rebels currently in the same area. Making peace with Turkey is a major accomplishment for SDF, since Turks and Kurds typically don’t get along. Kremlin Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Rybakov confirmed that Russia escorted the al-Assad family from Damascus to Moscow where they were granted asylum by Putin. Al-Asad did not think living anywhere in the Middle East afforded his family enough security. Rabakov confirmed that Russia is not a signatory to The Hague’s International Criminal Court where al-Assad has been charged with war crimes. Assad planned his escape for months.
Much talk has circulated about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launching scores of bombing missions at al-Assad’s stockpiles of chemical weapons. Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel moved to create a better buffer zone around the Golan Heights territory seized during the 1973 war and neutralize weapon stockpiles around Syria. Turkey, Egypt, Qatar and Saudi Arabia condemned Israeli attacks, despite hearing nothing from Syria’s new government. “The reality is so far that HTS and other armed group have been sending good messages to the Syrian people . . . of unity, of inclusiveness,” said Geir Pederson U.N. envoy to Syria. Judging by reports on the streets there’s a return to normalcy with Syrians filling the streets, patronizing local vendors and watching a new society created with the goodwill of the Syrian people.
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.
