The rebels’ lightning offensive ousted the head of a country bled dry by decades of neglect and an appalling civil war. It offers hope to some, despair to others.
Vladimir Lenin once famously said, “There are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks where decades happen.” The Bolshevik revolutionary’s apocryphal words referred to the rapid collapse of tsarist Russia, but they seem especially apposite to today’s Middle East.
Hamas’ horrific raid on Israel on October 7 last year is a self-inflicted wound that so far has cost more than 50,000 Palestinian, Lebanese and Israeli lives. For that matter, Israel has done itself massive damage internationally with its intransigence and heartless belligerence. But it was its successful degradation of Hezbollah that spurred Syrian rebels to begin their offensive the same day last month as a ceasefire came into effect in the Lebanon conflict.
The fall of the House of Assad, which has ruled in Damascus for more than half a century, does not necessarily mean a new spirit of democracy will sweep Syria. The nation has been ruined, drained of its lifeblood, and faces the daunting task of starting again from scratch.
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