During the Arab Spring protests of 2011, citizens across the Middle East and Northern Africa hit the streets demanding freedom. Today we take a look at Syria. During the 2011 Syrian protests, dictator Bashar al-Assad ordered his troops to open fire on protesters, sparking one of the worst wars in modern history. How did we get here? Let’s talk about it.

Syria has had an immense amount of military coups throughout its long history. Tribal warfare and brutal dictatorships have ravaged this Islamic nation. In 1946, Syria gained its independence from France. Hafez al-Assad, the father of Bashar al-Assad, took control of Syria in 1971 via a military coup and declared himself Syria’s leader. Under the Ba’ath Party, Hafez and Bashar used their Alawite identity to galvanize support for nearly half a century. Hafez al-Assad instituted socialism rigorously to industrialize the nation. This would turn fatal as most of Syria’s population lives in urban cities, weakening its agricultural production and supply chain. Additionally, Syria’s workforce started declining in the 1950s due to workers leaving for Western economies. In 1974, the country’s main exported resource became Petroleum. Petroleum wouldn’t be enough to hold this economy together. In 1994, Bassel al-Assad, the eldest son of Hafez al-Assad, died in a car crash. Bashar was due to inherit the throne of Syria following the death of his brother. Hafez al-Assad died of a heart attack on June 10th, 2000. On July 17th, 2000, his son Bashar took over as leader.

From 2000-2011, Bashar al-Assad ruled Syria with an iron fist by continuing his father’s style of governance. In May 2011, Bashar ordered his troops to fire upon peaceful protesters during the Arab Spring demonstrations. Syrian soldiers then defected and joined local rebel militias. Here is where the proxy war starts. Naturally, Iran and Russia supported their allies in the Syrian government and the US/NATO supported the rebels. At the same time, Kurdish fighters took control of parts of Northern Syria and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria(ISIS) dug their boots in the dirt as well.

The breakdown of homogeneity sealed Syria’s fate. When you combine a tyrannical dictator with a refugee crisis from the Iraq war, violence will ensue. Humans who have no cultural similarities look at one another as competition. During the war, the world witnessed Sarin and Chlorine chemical attacks and rumors of torture in prisons by the Assad regime. Due to the war, Syria’s economy and GDP plummeted. Bashar al-Assad controlled important sectors of Syria’s economy and regulated the private market. The state operates oil refineries, electrical plants, railways, and many manufacturing plants.

Abu Mohammad al-Jolani is the former leader of the Al-Nusra Front. The Al-Nusra Front is a former terrorist group that fought against the Assad Regime from 2012-2017. In 2017, Jolani dissolved the group and united multiple rebel groups into what is now known as Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS for short. These rebel groups struggled to defeat Assad's forces separately, but together, they took control of Aleppo, Homs, and then Damascus, the capital of Syria. On December 8th, 2024, Bashar al-Assad left Damascus and boarded a plane to Russia. Syria is now free to determine its fate.

In conclusion, we have one question to ask. After 50 years of tyranny, will Syria finally be free? The simple answer is, we don’t know. HTS and Abu Mohammad al-Jolani have claimed to have de-radicalized, but only time will tell. The basic principles of freedom of speech, the right to vote, religious freedom, and freedom for women and homosexuals will be a measurable task for the new government to achieve. Pray for Syria, hold them tight, and never give up on hope for a better world.

Image Credit

AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed 

Sources

“Bashar Al-Assad: The Rise and Fall of a Tyrant.”YouTube, Uploaded by Warfronts, 1st January 2025, https://youtu.be/pS3ynxqcih8?si=vVxVWT3ixN8z5h1x.

Salibi, Kamal Suleiman , Gadd, Cyril John , Scullard, Howard Hayes , Ochsenwald, William L. , Commins, David Dean , Irvine, Verity Elizabeth , Hourani, Albert Habib , Polk, William Roe , Hamidé, Abdul-Rahman and Smith, Charles Gordon. "Syria". Encyclopedia Britannica, 30 Dec. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/place/Syria. Accessed 30 December 2024.

“Who is Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, leader of Syrian insurgents HTS?”. The Guardian, 6 Dec.2024, https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/06/who-is-abu-mohammed-al-jolani-leader-of-syrian-insurgents-hts.