The smell of freedom was in the air around Damascus on Sunday as rebel forces stormed the world’s oldest city, forcing Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad to flee to Moscow with his family, where they have been granted asylum.
Assad, who ruled Syria with an iron fist for 24 years, had no other option as rebel forces led by the charismatic Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani of the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), stormed into the city amidst the cheers of residents. The rebellion against the Assad regime has been simmering for around 13 years without much progress, which is why the speed of the rebel advance took even the foreign intelligence community by surprise. World leaders were however quick to welcome it, with United States (US) President Joe Biden describing Assad’s ouster as an “act of justice”. Nevertheless, they have been cautious not to overtly praise the rebels either.
The rebels’ swift victory marks a revolutionary milestone for Syria, which has been mired in a Civil War since 2011, which itself turned into an international proxy war involving Tehran, Washington, Moscow, Ankara and Tel Aviv. Syria also turned into a breeding ground for the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group, which was later vanquished through an international effort.
Jawlani, who has increasingly been using his real name Ahmed al-Sharaa in official communiqués and openly appearing in public without any disguise for the past few years despite a US$ 10 million bounty offered by the US on his head (HTS has been designated by the United Nations (UN), US, United Kingdom and many other countries as a terrorist organisation) may or may not be the leader that Syria needs at this critical juncture when there is a war raging in neighbouring Lebanon and Gaza. In fact, Israel exploited the chaos in Syria to attack what it called military targets in some parts of the country.
Jawlani has taken pains to cultivate a more moderate image, cutting off ties with the extremist terror groups such as al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS). He has also shed the traditional garb worn by Jihadist militants and opted for Western attire and battlefield fatigues, apparently inspired by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has been seen in similar attire since the Ukraine War began in February 2022. Jawlani, though still a firm believer of Sharia Law, has also recognised the rights of believers of other faiths.
While the world watches the meteoric rise of Jawlani with concern, what is certain is that no tears will be shed for the deposed Syrian dictator Assad, who has been accused of ordering brutal physical and chemical attacks on his own people to consolidate power. In fact, members of the Assad family have been ruling Syria for almost 50 years. Assad was actually studying to become an eye surgeon in London when his brother Bassel, being groomed to succeed their father Hafez, was killed in a car crash.
This, coupled with his father’s death in 2000 after three decades in power, propelled the younger Assad to the political limelight, with Parliament taking just four hours to lower the Presidential eligibility age to 34 to accommodate him at the Presidential Election in 2000. Naturally, this was a sham election with no real opposition and Assad has been in power since then. He was returned to power every seven years through similar “elections”, despite several attempts by various external forces to end his regime.
According to a report by the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, over 100,000 people have been executed or have died in prisons of the Assad regime. An Amnesty International (AI) investigation also found that “murder, torture, enforced disappearances and extermination carried out at Syrian prisons since 2011 have been perpetrated as part of an attack against the civilian population that has been widespread, as well as systematic, and carried out in furtherance of state policy”.
Incidentally, 2011 was the year that the “Arab Spring” came to the streets of Damascus with calls to overthrow Assad, who put down the protests violently. In May 2011, then US President Barack Obama said Assad’s regime had “chosen the path of murder and the mass arrests of its citizens” and called on him to lead a democratic transition “or get out of the way”.
The conflict is now a cornerstone of Assad’s brutal legacy, leaving hundreds of thousands of dead, and what the UN earlier this year said was more than seven million Internally Displaced People (IDPs) and over six million international refugees.
But now, Syria has an opportunity to turn a new page, leaving that dark era behind. For the moment, Jawlani has promised a peaceful transition to democracy and Assad’s own Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi al-Jalali has been tasked with supervising this process.
It is not yet clear whether Jawlani has Presidential or Prime Ministerial ambitions, which is complicated by his international pariah status and the US$ 10 million bounty. But what is clear is that a new generation of Syrians (Jawlani himself is just 42) has a golden opportunity to take Syria out of its present quagmire and rejoin the community of nations.
