Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator
Syria is known for its ancient mosaics. A multitude of tiny colored ceramic pieces artfully arranged to create a beautiful scene; a piece of priceless art.
The events leading up to the fall of the 24-year dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad involved a multitude of moving pieces that came together finally in the early hours of December 8 when Assad and his family fled in a private plane to Moscow for asylum.
One of the main wheels of the machine which brought Damascus to its knees was Abo Muhammed al-Jolani, the commander of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). Jolani was not alone, as he had formed a coalition of many groups, both larger and smaller than HTS.
Jolani has become the ‘face’ of the new Syria and wasted no time giving an interview to CNN on December 6. But, that is not his first American interview. In 2021, PBS journalist Martin Smith visited Jolani in Idlib, the agricultural province in northwest Syria, which had been a bastion of armed groups who had surrendered in various deals with the Syrian Arab Army (SAA), brokered by Russia. When the SAA took back territory from Aleppo, Hama, Homs, Deraa, and Damascus after 2016, the armed groups were allowed safe passage, with one rifle, on green city buses for a free ride to Idlib.
Jolani and various armed groups lived in Idlib and set up the ‘Salvation Government’ to administer the province. Some of the groups were Syrian, but also there were the Uyghurs from China, Chechens, Europeans, and one American from New York.
When the Syrian conflict began in 2011, the Free Syrian Army (FSA) was created by the Obama administration through a covert CIA program, which was shut down by President Trump in 2017.
The FSA was a Syrian grassroots force, trained and supplied by the US, Turkey, Qatar, and others. However, over time they became extinct once the fierce fighters of Jibhat al-Nusra burst onto the scene.
Jibhat al-Nusra was so successful under the command of Jolani that they threatened to take the Syrian coast in September 2015, and had they done so, the Assad regime would have likely fallen. However, Russia came to the rescue. The Russians set up an airforce base near Latakia and began bombing the armed groups which ended in December 2016 by taking back east Aleppo. The defeated fighters fled to Idlib and Turkey.
Israel and the US wanted militias tied to Iran and Hezbollah removed from Syria. Turkey wanted the US-backed Kurdish militias, SDF and YPG, demilitarized. The Syrian people wanted the dictator Assad removed, and all those various goals came together, like pieces in a mosaic, in a lightning-fast attack beginning on November 27. By the 29th, HTS and its coalition had taken Aleppo. Just six days later, on December 5 Homs fell to Jolani’s fighters, and the next day the major city of Homs fell. Over-run and demoralized, the SAA folded in Damascus on the 7th, and it was clear the country had collapsed without attacking the Syrian coast.
Sunday, December 8 Assad and their family fled Damascus. It took just eight days to remove the Syrian president, its national army and consolidate HTS, and disburse fighters across the country.
On December 10, the US-backed SDF pulled out of Deir Ez Zor. It remains to be seen when the 900 US Army troops illegally stationed in the east of the country at Al Tanf base will get orders to withdraw, presumably over the border to Iraq.
Talking with people in the streets of Latakia, I heard many wishes and dreams being voiced for the first time publically, without fear of the deadly Assad secret police.
Abu Hussein asked for more electricity. He was suffering with just 30 minutes of electricity at three daily intervals.
Em Mustapha wanted her sons home from Germany where they had fled by sea in summer 2015.
Nadia Kanaan wished all the thousands of prisoners in Sednaya would be released. Her brother had died there while tortured and starved to death in 2012. Secret parts of the prison were difficult to enter because of electronic codes. As of December 11, teams of rescuers were still working to find access to the three underground floors of the huge prison complex.
A shopkeeper, George M’bayed, said he wanted to see the sanctions lifted so merchants could import products necessary for rebuilding Syria.
The crippling US and EU sanctions prevented even private donations from going to Syria while strangling any hope of foreign investments out of fear of sanctions penalties.
The future of Syria is uncertain. The political wing of the opposition has yet to arrive in Damascus and begin a plan to set Syria on a path of secular democracy. Hadi Al-Bahra, the President of the Syrian Opposition Coalition, has said “the ultimate goal remains to achieve lasting peace for Syrians and transition to a democratic, pluralistic system as stipulated by UN Resolution 2254.”
Steven Sahiounie is a two-time award-winning journalist.
