Syrian president Bashar al-Assad (r. 2000-2024) is overthrown and, along with him, the dynasty that has ruled Syria for almost three-quarters of its history. Under the similarly autocratic rule of his father, Hafez al-Assad (r. 1970-2000), Syria was among Israel’s most implacable regional enemies, its military having clashed with the IDF more than any other Arab army except Egypt’s. The Assad family considered Israel illegitimate. Consequently he it supported a network of Palestinian terrorist groups, Hamas, and allied with Hezbollah to fight Israel through Israel’s Lebanon border. Ending the Assad family rule in Syria greatly diminishes Iranian influence in the country but does not guarantee that rulers and regimes that follow will seek the kind of peace with Israel achieved by six Arab countries. How and who pieces Syria together in the months and years ahead will determine if and to what degree a half century of autocratic rule will be supplanted by tolerance for societal diversity.
December 8, 2024
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