What Happened in Syria?

Syria has been all over the news lately. Surrounded by Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, and with Jordan, Israel, and Lebanon, to the south and southwest, Syria has been one of the most fought over and conquered nations since Biblical times.

Syria Is One of the Most Conquered Regions

As History.com explains:

“Throughout ancient times, Syria was occupied and ruled by several empires, including the Egyptians, Hittites, Sumerians, Mitanni, Assyrians, Babylonians, Canaanites, Phoenicians, Arameans, Amorites, Persians, Greeks and Romans. When the Roman Empire fell, Syria became part of the Eastern or Byzantine Empire. In 637 AD, Muslim armies defeated the Byzantine Empire and took control of Syria. The Islamic religion spread quickly throughout the region, and its different factions rose to power.”

In 1516 AD, the Ottoman Empire defeated and occupied Syria. From then until World War I, Syria was relatively peaceful, as Islam ruled the region. Unfortunately for the Ottoman Empire, it sided with Germany and suffered the impact of the defeat. While World War I was ongoing in Europe, two diplomats, one French (Francois Georges-Picot) and one British (Sir Mark Sykes), agreed to divide the Ottoman Empire into two regions of influence, French and British. Their agreement was memorialized in what would become known as the Sykes-Picot Agreement. This division of most of the region was finalized without input or counsel from any other nation. Following the defeat of the Ottomans by the British and Arab troops and the capture of the capital Damascus and major city Aleppo in 1918, France took possession of what is now called Syria.

With the end of World War I, there was no peace in Syria. Syrians revolted against the French with nearly constant fighting between 1925 and 1927. It wasn’t until after World War II in 1946 that Syria became an independent nation, free from foreign influence. But the country was not free from internal strife. From the first days of independence, it has been unstable and suffered one coup after another. In 1970, the Syrian Minister of Defense, Hafez al-Assad, took over the government. Hafez al-Assad was ruthless in his treatment of his citizens who disagreed with his policies. Few were sad when he died in 2000. However, the power in Syria stayed with the Assad family.

Bashar al-Assad Takes Over, But Is No Better

Hafez’s son, Bashar al-Assad, took over as president at age 34. Initially, Bashar showed signs of being a more benevolent ruler. That was not to be. Within a year, Bashar demonstrated that he was not a reformer. Within two years of his ascension to power, the US in 2002 declared Syria to be a member of the “Axis of Evil” (along with Iran, North Korea, and Iraq) and as a nation that supported terrorism. In 2011, the Assad government arrested and tortured a group of teens and children for painting anti-government graffiti on buildings. The result was peaceful protests. But Assad had the protesters and their family members arrested.

Independent armed factions formed, and in 2012, an open civil war against the Assad government began. Multiple armed groups gathered throughout Syria and attacked government troops and outposts. During the 13-year civil war, other countries took sides. The US sent troops to fight the terrorist group ISIS, one of the independent armed factions rebelling in Syria, and Russia joined forces with the Assad government to fight all the rebels. That was the status of hostilities in Syria until December 8, 2024, when, after just ten days of fighting, the rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) attacked and captured Damascus. Led by Abu Mohammad al-Golani, a nom de guerre (French for “war name”), HTS marched from the group’s cantonment in the northwestern corner of Syria South through Aleppo to Damascus, meeting little or no resistance. Bashar al-Assad escaped with his family to Moscow, Russia shortly before HTS entered Damascus. But while few in Syria will be sad to see the Assad family gone, it’s unclear whether the new leader – who has ties to terrorist organizations – will be any better. What the future holds for Syrians and the region remains unclear.

Takeaways:

1. Syria is one of the most fought over and conquered areas in the world.
2. The Assad family controlled Syrai since 1970, but that ended this year as rebels took over.
3. The new leaders of Syria have ties to terrorist groups, and it remains unclear what the future holds for the nation or the region.