The Collapse of Syria Has Begun

Ted Galen Carpenter

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Violence is accelerating under Syria’s new Islamist government, as is the persecution of ethnic and religious minorities. This tragedy was entirely predictable. As far back as Barack Obama’s first term, critics warned that Washington’s flirtation with and assistance to Sunni Arab radicals would turn out badly. Nevertheless, Joe Biden’s administration persisted in that approach in an effort to overthrow the secular government of Bashar al-Assad. 

From the standpoint of US policymakers, Assad had committed two unpardonable sins. He transformed his country into Iran’s closest regional ally, and he forged closer ties with Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Indeed, Russian air power played an important role in 2016 in enabling Syrian government forces to rout the predominantly Sunni insurgency and regain control of key portions of Syria.The ability of Tehran and Moscow to prop up Assad’s government gradually faded as the years passed, however.

Moscow’s assistance, especially, became less reliable as the Kremlin changed its principal strategic focus to the conflict in Ukraine. During the final year of Biden’s administration, a de facto alliance consisting of the United States, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey redoubled its efforts to bring Syria’s insurgents to power.That move finally succeeded. In December 2024, a Sunni Islamist coalition led by the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) movement—once an affiliate of Al Qaeda—successfully ousted the Assad government. Washington and its allies had worked diligently for that goal since 2011, even though the effort triggered a civil war that had produced more than 600,000 fatalities and over 13 million people displaced.

Biden administration officials, as well as the always reliable pro-imperial mouthpieces in the establishment news media, predictably portrayed the rebel victory as the “liberation” of the oppressed Syrian people. The lead segment on the December 15, 2024, edition of the CBS program “60 Minutes” was typical. Such propaganda continued a long, dishonorable tradition of portraying even Washington’s most corrupt and vicious authoritarian clients as proponents of freedom and democracy.