My first thought is that the takriris will likely end up making the Assad regime look good!
Perhaps the 'brutal dictator' moniker is true, still Syria before 2011 (Alistair Crooke visited in 2009) was a prosperous, middle-income country, following the principles of Bathist socialism.
Bashar Al Assad's Syria after the end of fighting was a mess. Thousands of men had died, much of its industry destroyed or in custody of the Turks, and the Americans had seized its hydrocarbon and wheat fields. So, after 2020, Syria no longer had any industry, only part of its agricultural land, and no oil. It was broke, but with US sanctions, it couldn't buy anything anyway. People were starving.
And, Assad did not govern very well. Instead of sticking with his allies, Russia and Iran, he sucked up to the Gulf States, trying to get sanctions relief. That failed, and I think he just gave up, unable to change, and frankly, unable to govern.
My first thought is that the takriris will likely end up making the Assad regime look good!
Perhaps the 'brutal dictator' moniker is true, still Syria before 2011 (Alistair Crooke visited in 2009) was a prosperous, middle-income country, following the principles of Bathist socialism.
Bashar Al Assad's Syria after the end of fighting was a mess. Thousands of men had died, much of its industry destroyed or in custody of the Turks, and the Americans had seized its hydrocarbon and wheat fields. So, after 2020, Syria no longer had any industry, only part of its agricultural land, and no oil. It was broke, but with US sanctions, it couldn't buy anything anyway. People were starving.
And, Assad did not govern very well. Instead of sticking with his allies, Russia and Iran, he sucked up to the Gulf States, trying to get sanctions relief. That failed, and I think he just gave up, unable to change, and frankly, unable to govern.