Washington, DC – A lightning-quick offensive has seen Syria’s opposition take control of major cities and large swaths of territory, toppling the government of longtime leader President Bashar al-Assad and indelibly altering the war-torn country’s future.
The events represent a remarkable reversal of fortunes in Syria and enlivened a multipronged civil war that appeared largely stagnant for years. The situation, analysts told media, also appears to have been largely unanticipated by the administration of United States President Joe Biden, and raises galling questions over how Washington will proceed in the weeks and months ahead.
“I think everything that’s happening caught them by surprise,” Qutaiba Idlbi, a senior fellow at the Washington, DC-based Atlantic Council, told media. “So many of us analysts and Syria watchers have been wondering what’s going to come next.”
“[The Biden administration] will need to recalibrate their approach to Syria,” added Idlbi, who is also a Syrian refugee. But that is all but assured to be constrained by Biden’s diminished power before he hands over the office in January to president-elect Donald Trump, he said.
“I feel that the events on the ground are moving way too quickly for them to catch up, especially in this lame-duck session.”
Speaking on Sunday – hours after opposition groups led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) entered the Syrian capital of Damascus and sent al-Assad fleeing the country – Biden gave his first response to what he described as both a moment of “historic opportunity” and “risk and uncertainty”.
Biden said the end of al-Assad’s presidency was in part due to US support for Israel’s war on Gaza and its fight against Hezbollah in Lebanon, as well as support for groups in Syria and Iraq that weakened Syria’s close ally, Iran.
He also pointed to US support for Ukraine’s war against Russia’s invasion, which siphoned resources from Moscow, a close ally of al-Assad: “The upshot of all of this, for the first time ever, neither Russia [nor] Iran or Hezbollah could defend this abhorrent regime in Syria,” Biden said.
Looking ahead, Biden said Washington would prioritise supporting Syria’s neighbours – including Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Israel.
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