https://www.spiked-online.com/2024/12/03/the-syrian-tragedy-continues/
The terrible 13-years-long conflict in Syria has been mainly framed as a civil war between the government of Bashar al-Assad and domestic opponents. The sight of jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) capturing villages and towns in north-west Syria, before advancing on and taking the city of Aleppo on Friday, has largely been interpreted through this civil-war lens – as the reignition of a conflict between ‘rebel’ groups and ‘regime’ or ‘government’ forces.
This, though, is to tell only part of the story. Not just of the latest direct challenge to Assad’s hollow rule, but also of Syria’s long-standing descent into violent instability. (For one thing, ‘rebels’ seems like an oddly anodyne way to describe the vicious Islamists of HTS.)
Throughout this long conflict, there have certainly been domestic factors involved, chief among which is the illegitimacy and chronic lack of authority of Assad’s de facto, tin-pot dictatorship. This weakness gave rise to the initial popular uprisings against him in 2011. But since that initial eruption of anti-Assad protest during the Arab Spring, this has ceased to be a conflict determined by social, political forces internal to Syria itself.
In truth, the conflict in Syria has long since been shaped and fuelled by its internationalisation. Shortly after the moment in 2011 when the Arab Spring called the very viability of Assad’s government into question, global and regional hegemons crowded into the ensuing struggle, vying for influence and power. By 2012, NATO allies Turkey and America, with then secretary of state Hillary Clinton leading the charge, were simultaneously demanding Assad step down while backing various anti-government militias – some of which would turn out to be violent jihadists. On the other side, Russia and Iran attempted to shore up Assad’s crumbling regime, providing various forms of military support.
By the mid-2010s, Syria had been torn apart. To all intents and purposes, it had ceased to be a nation. It had become a patchwork of territories, each partially controlled by competing factions, which in turn were backed by competing international forces. There were the US-backed Kurdish fighters in the east, who were defending themselves against the insurgent jihadists while pursuing their own national ambitions. There were the Turkey-sponsored militias in the north. And there was the Russia-bolstered, Iran-aided government of Assad himself in the west. In the lawless chaos, Islamist militias, with backing from all around the region, flourished.
