By Salam Hindawi | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice
In late November, I had received a Telegram text from my brother, based in Germany, saying there were skirmishes between Syrian opposition forces and the Assad army – the official, regular Syrian armed forces – on the outskirts of our hometown of Aleppo, near our long-abandoned farmhouse.
He sounded jubilant as he relayed the news, as if Assad would be toppled tomorrow. For me, I was far more skeptical to the extent of sarcasm. Years of dormancy in the Syrian Revolution – kicked off in 2011 – had made people pessimistic and dismissive of any idea of regime-changing victory, such as that which took place in Egypt or Libya.
“Bro…new frontlines seem to have been open. It looks different this time, maybe there’s more support…” he texted.
“Yeah, he’s not going down. Our only hope is him stepping down at the end of his second term in 2028, per the constitution he wrote for himself…,” I answered, adding with clear sarcasm, “tomorrow you’ll see him fleeing his presidential palace.”
And, boy, was I wrong! Pretty much all of that was about to materialize, to my ecstasy, of course.
For starters, Syria has seen public turmoil as a part of a protest wave that swept across the Arab world known as “The Arab Spring.” Our protests initially were peaceful, limited and quick in nature allowing protesters to flee on foot upon the sight of Assad’s men approaching.
However, as Assad grew more brutal in his response, turmoil turned into an armed conflict and our peaceful protests into an existential strife. Things descended from the frying pan into fire with regional and international interference by multiple countries and forces that turned the Syrian conflict into a proxy war. Assad had on his side Russia, Iran, Hezbollah and some Shia militias from Iraq, while the opposition had Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkiye and some radical jihadist groups from Caucasia and Central Asia.
Indeed, it was the mother of all messes.
With the fall of Assad, new hopes for democracy and human rights are revived. And amidst all the upcoming chaos, I need the American media, especially on the right, to stop reducing us to a bunch of terrorists who will slaughter every Christian in the country. Syrians pre-Assad have co-existed for centuries, and minorities have assumed positions of power on the regular. I’d also like to think Israel played an indirect role by obliterating Hezbollah and Iran to defend her citizens. Ukraine weakened Russia to the extent they couldn’t bolster their Syrian stooge any longer. And that’s the story of our victory over the rule of the Assad family that had lasted more than 54 years.
Salam Hindawi is an ex-Syrian military warrant officer who defected in 2012 and sought safety in Turkiye, then asylum in the U.S. in 2014. He holds a master’s from the University of Colorado, and is now a permanent resident in the U.S.
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