How Syria's forgotten war is back on the world's agenda

Many believed the country was lost in an unsolvable conflict, until everything changed in a matter of days, writes Bel Trew

- Bel Trew

For years, the world forgot about Syria. Many believed it was lost in an unsolvable abyss following the collapse of the 2011 revolution into a bloody civil war – made increasingly complex by the intervention of a mess of international actors. Most assumed that the immovable regime of Bashar al-Assad had won, and that nothing would ever change. Few could even tell you if the war was still ongoing, let alone what stage it was at.

That changed just a few days ago, when the success of a shock offensive by a hodgepodge of anti-Assad forces took everyone – including the insurgents themselves – by surprise. Regime forces appeared to dissolve as tens of thousands of fighters stormed Syria’s second city, Aleppo, and then continued their advance southward towards Hama.

This appears to have triggered uprisings and offensives from multiple factions across the country, with clashes reported in the north, south, east and west.

Assad hurried back to Damascus from Moscow and spent hours frantically calling Middle Eastern governments that had normalised relations with him last year, according to Charles Lister, director of the Syria programme at the Middle East Institute (MEI). The embattled autocrat reportedly demanded their support in “countering terrorism”, the analyst wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Whether anyone will come to Assad’s rescue remains to be seen. But for the first time in years, the paper tiger that is his regime – corrupt, broken, and deeply indebted to its backers, Russia and Iran – was exposed.