Changing geopolitical dynamics in Syria and concern for India

Though Basar Assad came to power after succeeding his father, Hafeez Assad, in early 2000, his brutal and despotic rule in actual sense mainly started right from the beginning of the pro-democracy protest in 2011 during the Arab Spring.

- SANJAY TURI

In the wake of the ongoing Gaza ceasefire, the precise bombing of southern Lebanon just hours before the funeral of Hezbollah Chief Hasan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike last September, sends a clear message from the Israeli Defence Forces to its enemies that this ceasefire is very much temporary. Israel is committed to eradicating all its enemies sooner or later.

CONTEXT

The fall of more than two decades-long dictatorships in Syria is marked by a major geopolitical shift in the war-driven Middle East. Although the journey of the Assad family-led autocracy in Syria started in 1963, its climax reached under Basar Assad, a second-generation dictator of the Assad family, in December 2024. Though Basar Assad came to power after succeeding his father, Hafeez Assad, in early 2000, his brutal and despotic rule in actual sense mainly started right from the beginning of the pro-democracy protest in 2011 during the Arab Spring.

His autocratic rule in Syria has not only devastated the whole country economically but also played a significant role in making the country a breeding ground for terrorism while pushing the country into the mouth of civil war, which further led to mass migration, displacement and refugee crisis in Syria.

GEOPOLITICAL SHIFT AND ITS MAJOR OUTCOMES:

After the collapse of the Syrian dictatorship, Israel continues to advance towards western Syria, intending to create 400km of buffer zone in the western Syrian region beyond the Golan Heights. The idea is probably to help Israel cut off the Syrian corridor connecting Lebanon with Iran and stop it from trafficking arms and ammunition into the Levant region through this Syrian corridor.