Post-Assad Syria's search for its place in an evolving international order
Since October 2023, the volatility of West Asia has been at the forefront of regional and global conversations on security. Amidst the turmoil in Gaza, Israel's war against Hamas and Hezbollah, security concerns in the Red Sea following attacks by the Houthis, and the prolonged Ukraine conflict, the international community was caught unawares as the Assad government in Syria disintegrated in December 2024. This was especially true for the Western powers that have piloted international multilateral institutions since World War II.
At the end of December 2010, in the town of Sidi Bouzid in Tunisia, a fruit seller set himself on fire to protest corruption and intimidation by the police. The outrage it sparked was the beginning of a region-wide mass protest movement, popularly called the Arab Spring, which spread across the Arab world, challenging leaderships and monarchies that had been holding power for decades. In Syria, people mobilised against the Assad family, who also belonged to the minority Alawite community in a majority Sunni State, challenging their rule. This popular mobilisation started with anti-Assad graffiti sprayed around the town of Dar'a by some teenagers, who had to face severe consequences for doing so.
This paper can be accessed here.
This paper is authored by Kabir Taneja, ORF.
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Prior to the strike, the spokesperson added, 'steps were taken to reduce the chance of harming civilians, including the use of precision weapons, aerial observations and additional intelligence information.' At just 28, Al-Sharif had become one of Gaza's most recognised journalists. He is among 186 reporters and media workers killed in the Strip since October 7, according to CPJ – the deadliest period for journalists since the group began collecting data in 1992. Other organisations have put the death toll as high as 270. 'If these words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice,' Al-Sharif wrote in his final message, posthumously published on his social media accounts. 'I have lived through pain in all its details, tasted suffering and loss many times, yet I never once hesitated to convey the truth as it is, without distortion or falsification.' Yuval Abraham is a journalist and filmmaker based in Jerusalem. A version of this article, republished here with permission from 972 Magazine, was first published in Hebrew on Local Call. Read it here. 972 Magazine is an independent, online, nonprofit magazine run by a group of Palestinian and Israeli journalists.
