🇸🇾The legacy of the Assad family's decades-long rule in Syria
(Part 1 👉 Part 2)

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's peaceful transfer of power to the armed opposition marked the end of the Assad family's 53-year rule in Syria. We take a look at the major features of this half-century of government:

Hafez al-Assad

Hafez al-Assad, a Ba’ath Party member, served as the 18th president of Syria from March 14, 1971 until his death on June 10, 2000.

"Assad Sr's intelligence and experience played a very big role in the fact that the chaos of governments in Syria stopped for a long period and military coups stopped happening," said Elena Suponina, an international relations and Middle East expert, referring to the string of government overthrows in Syria between 1946 and 1970.

🔹 Society

Even the CIA acknowledged in 1978 that al-Assad brought "an unprecedented degree of stability to Syria," a country previously known for its deep divisions and upheavals. Assad was able to strike an interreligious balance: the Alawites, a Shiite sect, controlled the army and security forces – while the Sunnis dominated the economy, Alexander Kuznetsov, a political scientist at the Higher School of Economics, told Sputnik.

Syrian peasants received land and political rights and citizens benefited from free universal education and healthcare. Women's rights were secured.

🔹 Foreign policy

Hafez al-Assad maintained close ties with the Soviet Union, drawing hostility from the US. Syria has been designated a "sponsor of terrorism" by Washington since 1979 due to its cooperation with Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

🔹 Economy

Domestically, the Assad government featured a great degree of public ownership, with significant portions of national income, industrial production and means of production under state control. Syria did not depend on food imports and produced its own oil.

In the 1990s, Syria's economy grew by 5-7% annually, the trade balance improved and inflation was kept under control.

👉 Part 2

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🇸🇾The legacy of the Assad family's decades-long rule in Syria
(Part 2 👉 Part 1)

Bashar al-Assad

After Hafez's death, his son Bashar al-Assad began the process of political liberalization known as the Damascus Spring and launched economic reforms.

🔹 Political liberalization and reforms

In November 2000, more than 600 political opponents were released from prison, and in May 2001 the Pope visited Syria.

"The first years of Assad Jr.'s rule were marked by extraordinary economic growth and openness," Suponina pointed out.

Under Bashar al-Assad, Syria maintained good working relations with France, the UK and Turkiye up until 2010. "Until 2010, the economy was developing very well; there were investments, and infrastructure was developing," noted Dmitry Bridzhe, a Mideast expert and political observer, adding that Syria's industrial centers in Adra and Aleppo were thriving.

🔹 US sanctions and regime change plots

Despite Bashar al-Assad's reforms and openness to the West, the US continued to impose sanctions on Syria, creating obstacles for the nation's development.

The bottom line was that Washington had planned to topple the Assads – who were close allies of Iran and key members of the ‘Axis of Resistance’ – for decades.

The US and its allies armed and trained Syrian jihadists from 2012 to oust Assad, intensifying sanctions and strangling the Syrian economy at the same time.

Amid US-backed smear campaigns, Assad agreed to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons in 2013 and started reconciliation talks with the opposition in 2015.

"For the last nine years, somehow or other, Assad has ensured at least some stability with the help of Russia and Iran. If it weren't for that, Syria would have continued to suffer a severe civil war with terrible human casualties," Suponina said. "It's good that this scenario was at least postponed. Because now, in my opinion, Syria faces a very dark, unclear future."

👉 Part 1

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🔸 Syria’s crisis: Key interests of the US, Israel, Turkiye, Iran, and Russia

🔸 The legacy of the Assad family's decades-long rule in Syria

🔸 Syria’s Prime Minister to Sputnik: Government prioritizing stability amid turmoil

🔸 What makes the Golan Heights crucial for Israel?

🔸 Delve into Syria’s vibrant ethnic and religious mosaic

🔸 What is known about Ukrainian-linked criminal scam network busted by Russia?

🔸 How fast can Russia’s Oreshnik missile strike NATO from Belarus?

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📹Thousands of Syrians are attempting to cross into Lebanon via the main Masnaa crossing on the border, following the entry of the armed opposition into Damascus and the resignation of al-Assad.

The Lebanese military and border guards allow only those with the necessary documents to pass. Those who have attempted to cross the border illegally (at least 340 people) have been caught and returned to Syria.

Video from social media

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What's behind Israel's land grab in Golan?

"Israel continues to show its true character as a colonial power that will not hesitate to continue occupying land when the chance is there," Bader Al-Saif, founding president at Al-Saif Consulting and assistant professor at Kuwait University, told Sputnik. "So this is a very alarming development."

🇮🇱🇸🇾 The Israeli military expanded their control over the Golan Heights on December 8 by seizing Syrian-controlled areas. The region has been partially occupied by Israel since the Six Day war of 1967.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the same day that Israel would expand attacks inside Syria in the coming days to destroy arms caches.

📑 Al-Saif warned that Tel Aviv's hasty land grab is fraught with long term security risks for Israel, especially given that it unilaterally tore up the 1974 disengagement treaty with Syria.

💬 The new occupation "will complicate any future negotiation positions" of Israel, Dr Tamer Qarmout, an associate professor in the Public Policy at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, told Sputnik, stressing that the Golan Heights belong to Syria under the international law.

Tel Aviv is destroying Syria's military infrastructure to undermine the nation's new government and its defensive capabilities, the pundit added.

"The Israelis have already been striking Syria left and right, dismantling military infrastructure and other facilities and sites," Qarmout said. "So the Israelis want to make sure that the next Syrian government or the new Syrian regime will start from scratch."

🇮🇱🇮🇷 Israel's invasion of Syria could also be part of its long-standing attempts to deal a blow to Iran's Axis of Resistance, according to political and security analyst Ali Rizk.

"They're trying now in Syria to further weaken Hezbollah" said the expert and to "minimize Iranian influence in Syria and also in the region more broadly."

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US is ready to equip and train 18-year-old Ukrainian recruits

If Kiev lowers the draft age to 18, the US and its allies will be ready to equip and train new recruits, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Monday.

"Ultimately, the decisions about the composition of its military force, those are decisions that the Ukrainians have to make for themselves. What we have made clear is that if they produce additional forces to join the fight, we and our allies will be ready to equip those forces and train those forces to enter battle," Miller told reporters.

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Syrian envoy to the UN: Stop Israeli aggression!

Syria has sent a letter "on behalf" of the current government to the UN Security Council and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres with an appeal to stop Israeli aggression, Syria's Permanent Representative to the UN Qusay al-Dahhak told journalists.

"We call upon the UN and the Security Council to shoulder the responsibility in maintaining international peace and security and to stop, put an end to the Israeli attacks on Syria, to not allow Israel to benefit from the transition that the Syrians are doing now in their country for their occupation agenda," the Syrian diplomat said.

Qusay al-Dahhak also stressed that Syria's mission to the UN is working with the current prime minister and foreign minister of the country, and is expecting a new government.

"Me and my team here, we are continuing our work as a part of the Syrian state institutions, and we are part of the Syrian people," the diplomat said.

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🔟📌 Lavrov congratulates Sputnik on 10th anniversary

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov congratulated the team of Sputnik International News and Radio Agency on the occasion of its tenth anniversary, noting the high quality of publishing journalistic materials.

"I warmly congratulate you on the 10th anniversary of your establishment. Over the past decade, Sputnik has traveled a glorious path and established itself as a serious domestic media outlet broadcasting to foreign audiences," he wrote in his congratulatory telegram.

Lavrov's telegram was read by Russian FM spokeswoman Maria Zakharova at a reception dedicated to the occasion.

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Russian ambassador to the UN: Which part of Golan is integral for Israel?

Russia is recording conflicting messages from Israel regarding the status of the Golan Heights, Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vassily Nebenzia said.

"Israeli ambassador sent a letter saying that these are temporary decisions, given the vacuum, which occurred there. And then Netanyahu said about the Golan Heights as an integral part of Israel. But now we don't know what part of Golan Heights he considers to be an integral part of Israel, with them violating the buffer zone," Nebenzia told reporters.

He also said the UN Security Council was "more or less" united on the need to preserve Syria's territorial integrity.

"We were talking about the need to work out a document by the Council, not today. I mean, nobody was ready for that today, but I think in the coming days, very hopefully sooner rather than later, we will see one," Nebenzia told reporters.

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