Skip to main content
Advertise Buy the paper Contact us Shop Subscribe Support us
10 points on the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s Syria
VIJAY PRASHAD reflects on the latest developments in Syria and what they mean for the Middle East

ON SUNDAY, December 8, after over a week of intense fighting between the Syrian government and the terrorist group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its allied factions, who gained control over key cities in the country, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad fled Syria.

The news was announced by the Russian Foreign Ministry, which also reported that with his resignation, Assad instructed his prime minister to stay in charge of the state to oversee a peaceful transition of power to opposition forces. 

The development happens 14 months into Israel’s genocide in Gaza, and weeks after signing a ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah. Below are reflections from Vijay Prashad regarding the takeover and key elements to understand it.

Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Features / 21 October 2024
21 October 2024
The remarkable resilience of Palestinians is a powerful example of human courage and dignity in the face of terrible violence, writes VIJAY PRASHAD
Features / 2 August 2024
2 August 2024
About half of Venezuela’s voting population is reliably wedded to the Bolivarian project. No other political project in Venezuela has the kind of election machine built by the forces of the Bolivarian revolution, argues VIJAY PRASHAD
Features / 5 July 2024
5 July 2024
The violence that the children of Gaza experience has become a daily affair. But this kind of violence can never be mundane, writes VIJAY PRASHAD
Features / 31 May 2024
31 May 2024
As Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza rages on, historian VIJAY PRASHAD reflects on the multidimensional impact of war on people and society
Similar stories
Features / 18 December 2024
18 December 2024
Following the sudden collapse of the Assad government, foreign powers and Islamist militias carve up the nation while Israel continues to drop bombs and expand its illegal occupation. Secular democracy is now a faded dream, writes LIBERATION