Syria after the Assad fall: new power game or chance of peace?

Syria after the Assad fall: new power game or chance of peace?

Laimgrubengasse 10, 1060 Wien, Österreich - With the fall of the Assad regime, Syria faces a historical chance of peace and democracy. Agnes Sirkka Prammer, a prominent MP of the Greens, points out that the global celebrations and the cheers among Syrian displaced people, even in Vienna, reflect the immense joy of the end of the brutal rule Abdullah al-Assads. But the international day of human rights also throws a shadow on this joy, because the suffering of the Syrian population has not been forgotten in recent decades. The civil war, which lasted over 14 years, left hundreds of thousands of dead and millions of displaced persons, and now that Assad and his family fled to Russia, the future of the country seems uncertain

power vacuum and geopolitical tensions

David Stögmüller, also a member of the Greens, warned of the dangers that leaves the power vacuum. Various Islamist groups, Kurdish associations and other militias are fighting for influence, while the United States and Russia continue to play a role in the region. This illustrates the complexity of the situation because the potential for renewed violence in a country with ethnic and religious minorities exists. As ZDF correspondent Golineh Atai reports, the rebel alliance under the leadership of Hajat Tahrir al-Scham (HTS) works on a transitional government that has to clarify important questions about the distribution of power.

The HTS has announced a general amnesty for conscripts and is now aiming for the creation of a new government, which could mean both stability and potential tensions. The United States has already flown dozens of air strikes against the terrorist militia Islamic State (IS) to prevent them from using the power vacuum. President Biden confirmed that US troops will remain in Syria initially to ensure security. These developments, together with the announcement of the Turkish President Erdogan to open the border crossing to Syria in order to facilitate the return of refugees, show that the geopolitical effects of these upheavals are far -reaching.

The fall of the Assad regime could not only change the fate of Syria, but also have a lasting impact on the political landscape of the entire Middle East, as can be seen from both reports. The demand for the guarantee of human rights remains of crucial importance in this context in order to achieve a stable future.