Tuesday | 14 January 2025 | Reg No- 06
বাংলা
   
Tuesday | 14 January 2025 | Epaper

Why Assad’s regime falls

Published : Wednesday, 11 December, 2024 at 12:00 AM  Count : 362
Athar Noor
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad fled the capital Damascus in a private plane in the face of rebel attacks. Hadi al-Bahra, head of Syria's anti-Bashar political coalition, declared the capital Damascus "Bashar al-Assad free". Also congratulated the people of Syria. This is a particularly happy moment for Syrians, the end of a dark era. 

In 2011, the storm that came to the Arab authoritarian governments in the Arab Spring successfully changed the face of Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya. The fresh air of democracy came to change the fortunes of the people. But the misfortune of the Syrian people. After the wave of the Arab Spring reached Syria in 2011, mass protests against Bashar al-Assad began. People took to the streets to demand their democratic rights and freedom, posing a major challenge to Bashar's regime. People demand political freedom and an end to corruption. The regime responded with a violent crackdown on the protests, plunging the country into a civil war. Many rebel factions emerged, and the conflict quickly became multifaceted. The West, Iran, Russia, Hezbollah are directly involved in this conflict. Foreign powers took sides and began sending money, arms and soldiers. The conflict escalated and various opposition parties emerged, including jihadist groups. In addition, the intervention of foreign powers, including the United States, Russia, Iran and Turkey, further complicates the crisis.

On August 21, 2013, Bashar showed the most brutality in this civil war. He used chemical weapons against rebels in Ghouta, southern Syria. Thousands of people died in this attack. Later, under pressure from the US and Russia, Syria agreed to destroy its chemical weapons stockpile. Despite these promises, reports of chemical attacks continued to come in sporadically. More than 5 lakh people lost their lives in this war. And about 1 crore 2 million people have been displaced.

A few established vested interests emerged around 2018 during a period of civil war. Among them are Bashar's authoritarian group, Kurdish forces and Islamist rebels. This is how the country became a total ruin due to quadruple trouble, civil war in the last thirteen years. As a result, the world's most displaced people are Syrians. In the long war, 22 million, which is half of the population, became refugees. Most of which have taken refuge in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and other Arab countries. (UN Refugee Report)

Syria is a very promising country in the Middle East, its history, tradition surrounds its special fame and prosperity. The story of the 54-year rule and exploitation of the Assad family in this country began in 1970. Bashar al-Assad's father, Hafez al-Assad, was an important leader of the Baath Party that seized power in a coup that year. Hafez al-Assad was the head of state of Syria for almost 30 years. He is accused of genocide in 1982 in the city of Hama in the suppression of the Muslim Brotherhood rebellion. 10 to 20 thousand people were killed in that incident. This incident is a dark chapter of his rule.

After the death of Hafez al-Assad in 2001, Bashar al-Assad ascended to the presidency in a referendum. Bashar al-Assad is the second son of Hafez al-Assad. After graduating from Damascus Medical College, he trained as an ophthalmologist in London and entered the medical profession. His elder brother Basil al-Assad was the political heir of the family. So, Bashar was out of politics. However, when the elder brother Basil died in a road accident in 1994, Basha was forced to take responsibility for the family. At the behest of his father, he joined the army and began training in politics. Before taking power, Bashar al-Assad was seen as a reformist. After he took power in September 2000, 100 Syrian intellectuals called on him to lift martial law, greater freedoms and multi-party political practices.

Following this call, Bashar al-Assad introduced some limited reforms early in his rule, including liberalizing the economy and easing some political restrictions. This period became known as the 'Damascus Spring'. However, these reforms did not last long. The regime reverted to strict authoritarianism and repression began anew. Corruption, economic inequality and political repression continued, sowing the seeds of popular discontent. This discontent was followed by a larger social and political crisis. After all this, he used his strong position in the military to gain power. His rule was a symbol of centralized and strict control.

Russia and Iran are the main backers of the Assad regime in the war, but the United States, the United Kingdom and other Western countries help rebel groups. Fortunately for the people of Syria, two of Bashar's main allies, Russia, who are busy in Ukraine and Iran, who are involved in a shadow war with Israel, did not get a chance to do much to save him this time. As a result, their utter disregard for protecting Assad became apparent. Since last month, anti-Bashar al-Assad armed groups have been making rapid gains. Eventually these powerful rebels achieved ultimate success in a long armed battle. was able to capture every city in Syria. From Homs, Hama, Hafaya, Mardis, Soran and Aleppo, Damascus finally liberated the entire country from Assad. Now it's just time to see what Syria looks like next. As for what the future holds, we hope that bloody Syria will emerge from the rubble and on its way to a prosperous, happy and secure state. It will return to the world as an ideal peaceful state.

The writer is political analyst,  BSS.MSS, International Relations, University of Chittagong



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