What will US do now? The risks raised by a hands-off approach

For a Biden administration in its final days, managing the downfall of Bashar al-Assad was not on the cards.

- Andrew Roth

For a Trump administration dedicated to isolationism, Syria's future may be too important to ignore.

Before last week, the frontlines of the country's nearly 13-year-old civil war had been largely frozen. Conflicts in Ukraine and Israel were dominating attention and US diplomatic efforts. And the trend toward normalising relations with Assad only appeared set to extend his time in power.

The status quo was overthrown in just a matter of days as rebel forces stormed into the country's largest cities. With Syrian government troops melting away in their path, Iran and Russia declined to reinforce the regime, and Assad was toppled and has since found asylum in Russia.

Steven Heydemann, a non-resident senior fellow in the Center for Middle East Policy thinktank, said the developments were "really the most important reordering of the region since 2003", driving a wedge between the alliance of Iran and Syria, and reversing a steady advance of Iranian interests around the region since the Iraq war.