History of Modern Syria

France has a longstanding interest in the areas that are today Lebanon and Syria, dating back to the Crusades. Great Britain acknowledged this special relationship when it agreed under the Sykes-Picot agreement that France would control the area after World War I.

Syria and Lebanon did not exist as separate states. They, too, had been districts in the Ottoman Empire. When the French were awarded the mandates for the area, they divided it up into four areas: Great Lebanon, the state of Damascus, the state of Aleppo, and the territory of Latakia. In 1925, Aleppo and Damascus became unified under the title of the State of Syria. A government was elected to carry on most functions while remaining under the umbrella of the French mandate.

As in other places controlled by foreign powers, the native population was divided among those who chafed at imperialist intervention and those willing to cooperate with their foreign masters. Growing resentment toward French rule and a desire for independence resulted in the signing of a treaty in 1936 in which France agreed to grant Syria independence within three years in exchange for a military alliance that allowed the French to protect their regional interests. France never ratified the treaty, however, and took direct control of the country again on the eve of World War II.

Promises, Promises
Tumultuous Times
Moving to the Dark Side
Musical Governments
Assad Takes Command
Hama Rules
Syria Loses Its Patron
Civil War
Collapse of Assad’s Regime
“Operation Bashan Arrow”

Promises, Promises

When Germany defeated France, the mandates came under the control of the Vichy government. In 1941, British troops, accompanied by Free French forces, invaded Syria and ultimately occupied the area along with Lebanon. Both the British and French promised to support independence for Syria and Lebanon.

Not surprisingly, the pledges had little to do with satisfying Arab nationalist interests and everything to do with imperial interests. Britain was interested in improving its standing with the Arabs, which was viewed as suffering because of its policy toward Palestine, and also hoped to minimize French influence in the area. The French wanted to protect their privileged position in the area and hoped to delay independence. Nevertheless, in 1941, France agreed to allow Syria to declare its independence. Formal independence would come after the war five years later when the last French troops were withdrawn.

The first election was held after the war, and Syria’s emancipation brought longtime nationalist Shukri el-Quwatli to power. At the time, the principal concern was maintaining Syria’s newly won independence, which was now threatened primarily by the Hashemite kings in Transjordan and Iraq, who hoped to unite the three nations, along with Lebanon and Palestine, under their banner.

Tumultuous Times

The war over Palestine in 1948 once again was a catalyst for change as the Syrians joined the invading forces seeking to destroy Israel and were defeated. The public was angry at the humiliation. The government and army blamed each other for what was popularly viewed as a catastrophe for the Arabs. The head of the army, Colonel Husni Zaim, responded by seizing government control.

Zaim alienated many of his supporters, however, by retreating from his support for closer ties with the Hashemites and seeking alliances with Egypt and Saudi Arabia instead. This decision, along with other missteps, provoked another military coup in August 1949 in which Zaim was executed. The new military leader, Colonel Sami Hinnawi, agreed to create a new civilian government, which began again to express interest in close ties with Iraq and Jordan. Another army leader, Lieutenant-Colonel Adib Shishakli, deposed Hinnawi to prevent the unionist movement. Three governments in less than a year, and we’re not done yet.

Shishakli initially allowed a civilian government to function but grew dissatisfied with its direction and took total control of the country in late 1951. His despotic rule provoked increasing opposition, and the military finally forced him to resign just three years later. The old president, Hashim el-Atassi, was reinstated.

Moving to the Dark Side

Opposition to the Baghdad Pact, Western support for Israel, and the Anglo-French conspiracy with Israel in the Sinai campaign all contributed to the growing popularity of socialism, communism, and pan-Arabism in Syria. When Egypt signed an arms deal with the Soviet Union, Syria followed suit, and the Syrians gradually became close allies of both governments. This culminated in February 1958 with the announcement that Egypt and Syria were uniting. This marked a temporary end of Syrian independence as it became the northern province of the United Arab Republic.

The marriage lasted barely three years. The two countries had vastly different histories, economies, and foreign policies. The bottom line for the Syrians, especially the army, was that they resented Egypt’s effort to dominate them. From Egypt’s perspective, it was not a union of equals, and Nasser left no doubt who was calling the shots. In 1961, a group of army officers led a successful coup that resulted in a divorce from Egypt.

A civilian government was again elected to rule Syria in December 1961, but the army was not content with the results and seized control again the following March. Less than a year later, the regime changed again as the Syrian branch of the Baath party, backed by members of the army, established a dictatorship following the Baath’s ascendancy in Iraq by a month. The two nations subsequently concluded agreements to unify their military and economies while remaining separate.

Musical Governments

The revolving door turned again in February 1966 when another coup brought Nureddin Atassi to power. Syria subsequently became increasingly close to the Soviet Union and hostile toward the United States. Syria also took a more belligerent posture toward Israel, and cross-border incidents became more frequent, leading ultimately to the 1967 War.

Syrian forces were routed in the war. The humiliating defeat did not prompt Syria to negotiate peace with Israel; rather, it stimulated even greater hostility that manifested itself in increased support for terrorist organizations. Several of the major Palestinian groups set up headquarters in Damascus, and Syria sponsored its own terrorist organization, al-Saiqa. Syria was careful, however, to maintain tight control over the terrorists and not to allow them to mount operations from Syrian territory. Doing so helped spare Syria the problems that Jordan and Lebanon faced, namely, provoking Israeli counterattacks on its territory and allowing the terrorists to create their own state within the state.

This last point played a key role in the future of Syria. In September 1970, King Hussein decided to go to war against the Palestinian terrorists in Jordan because they had created what amounted to a state within Jordan and threatened the Hashemite regime. Syria decided to intervene on behalf of the Palestinians and sent tanks into Jordan. The Syrian minister of defense — the former commander of the air force, Hafez Assad — opposed the move and refused to use the air force to support the incursion. This allowed King Hussein’s air force the freedom to attack the Syrian forces and ultimately rout them.

Assad Takes Command

Hafez Assad* claimed the debacle resulted from the government’s failure to coordinate its actions with the military and that it had strengthened Israel. Assad and his allies then forced Attasi to resign, and within a few weeks, the defense minister assumed control of the country. In the succeeding years, Assad skillfully solidified his power by a combination of popular moves, such as announcing that a new constitution would require that the president of the Republic be a Muslim and by ruthless suppression of his enemies.

Under Assad, Syria became one of the Soviet Union’s closest allies and received large amounts of military and economic assistance. In October 1973, Syria joined Egypt in the surprise attack against Israel. Although it initially reclaimed the Golan Heights, Israel successfully repulsed the Syrian forces and was ultimately in a position to threaten Damascus.

Despite suffering a defeat, Syria emerged from the war with a sense of accomplishment at having demonstrated the vulnerability of the Israelis. While Anwar Sadat used this restoration of Arab honor as the basis for entering peace negotiations with Israel, Assad took the exact opposite approach and became a leader of the Rejectionist Front.

Although Assad’s principal obsession was with Israel, he was also committed to the policy of creating a Greater Syria that would include Lebanon. He got his chance to achieve his ambition when the civil war broke out in Lebanon, and Assad ordered his troops to invade in April 1976 under the pretext of acting as peacekeepers. The troops have never left, which has enabled Syria to control the Lebanese government ever since. This also brought the Syrians into conflict, however, with Israel. Except for a few instances, such as the air battles during the Lebanon War in 1982, Syria has been very careful not to directly take any action against Israel that might provoke retaliation, preferring to use terrorist groups in Lebanon as proxies to make mischief along Israel’s northern border.

Hama Rules

Although he ruled with absolute power, Assad was not without his domestic opponents. In 1982, he decided to take care of his rivals and to do so in a way that would send the message to anyone else with thoughts of challenging his rule that he would brook no dissent. On February 2, Assad sent thousands of troops to the city of Hama to crush an uprising led by the Muslim Brotherhood (more about this group in the next chapter). As many as 20,000 people may have been killed. Journalist Thomas Friedman refers to this tactic as "Hama Rules."

These tactics were applied again in October 1990 while the world was distracted by events in Kuwait. To end Christian-led opposition to Syria’s occupation of Lebanon, Syrian troops overran the Beirut stronghold of Phalangist leader General Michel Aoun. Approximately 700 people were massacred in the fighting, which eliminated the last remaining threat to Syrian dominance of Lebanon. A few months later, the Lebanese president went to Damascus to sign a treaty that allowed Syria to keep its troops in his country.

Unlike what happened after the Sabra and Shatila massacre, no international outcry was heard after the Syrian massacres in Hama or in Beirut. The United Nations did not condemn Syria’s actions, no investigations were called for, and no Arab leaders came forward to condemn Assad’s actions.

Syria Loses Its Parton

A turning point for Syria occurred with the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Syrians had relied on the Soviets for more than two decades to provide financial assistance to keep their economy afloat and military hardware to threaten Israel. Syria’s economy deteriorated once the money and arms stopped flowing, and its military strength declined. It remained strong enough to control Lebanon but not to seriously threaten Israel. Syria tried to compensate for the loss of Soviet support by seeking aid from the former Soviet Union and by building alliances with other radical regimes — in particular, the Iranians who used Damascus as the transit point for arms to Hezbollah in Lebanon. Also, to offset the growing imbalance in its conventional capability vis-a-vis Israel, the Syrians have been more actively building a nonconventional arsenal of chemical and biological weapons.

Hafez Assad maintained control over Syria until his death on June 10, 2000. As he grew old and sick, he groomed his son, Bashar, as his successor. His son has subsequently worked to consolidate his power and has, to date, pursued policies consistent with those of his father.

Civil War

At the height of the Arab Spring in 2011, pro-democracy demonstrators took to the streets in Syria, calling for the ouster of Bashar al-Assad.

The protesters were met with deadly force. The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) has cited estimates of over 500,000 deaths since the war began in 2011. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) tracks the displacement crisis, with 13.5 million internally and externally displaced people.

As Assad’s forces crushed the pro-democracy movement, an armed opposition began to form made up of small organic militias and some defectors from the Syrian military.

The opposition forces—decentralized and made up of different ideologies but with a common goal of toppling Assad—were supported in various ways by foreign powers, including neighboring Turkey, regional giants Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and the United States.

As the anti-government forces grew, Syria’s allies Iran and Russia stepped up their support. On the ground, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, as well as its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah, helped fight the armed rebel groups. In the skies, the Syrian Air Force was bolstered by Russian warplanes.

Extremist Islamists, including al-Qaeda, took an interest in Syria, taking up a common cause with the moderate Syrian opposition who did not welcome jihadist involvement.

But by 2014, the extremists dominated, and ISIS began sweeping across the country. Fearing Syria would become a permanent terror hotbed, an international coalition led by the US stepped in with a focus on eliminating the group but without confronting the Syrian regime.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – a U.S. partner made up of Kurdish fighters - fought against ISIS, effectively ending the group’s territorial existence.

In 2020, Russia and Turkey agreed to a ceasefire in the last remaining opposition-held province, Idlib, agreeing to establish a security corridor with joint patrols.

There have been no significant flare-ups since then, but Syria’s government never regained all of its territory. 

Collapse of Assad’s Regime

On November 27, 2024, a coalition of Syrian rebel forces, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and supported by Turkish-backed factions, successfully recaptured Aleppo from the Assad regime. This marked the first significant shift in Syria’s battle lines since the regime had reclaimed Aleppo in 2016. The rebels’ success revealed the vulnerabilities of the Syrian regime, exacerbated by declining military readiness, a fragile economy, and distracted key allies—Russia and Iran, focused on Ukraine and Israel, respectively.

“Operation Bashan Arrow”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the fall of Assad’s regime, attributing it to Israeli actions against Iran and Hezbollah, Assad’s key allies. He acknowledged the collapse as a historic moment but warned of potential dangers. Netanyahu emphasized Israel’s readiness to defend itself while expressing a desire for peaceful relations with Syrians, including Druze, Kurds, Christians, and Muslims seeking peace with Israel. Western leaders, including France, the United Kingdom, and Germany, celebrated the demise of the Assad regime. President Biden said: “At long last, the Assad regime has fallen. This regime brutalized, tortured, and killed nearly hundreds and thousands of innocent Syrians. The fall of the regime is a fundamental act of justice; it’s a moment of historic opportunity for the long-suffering people of Syria to build a future for their country.” He added: “For years, the main backers of Assad had been Iran, Hezbollah, and Russia. But over the last week, their support collapsed. All three of them are far weaker today than when I took office. And let’s remember why: after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th, 2023, when much of the world responded with horror, Iran and its proxies chose to launch a multi-front war against Israel. That was a historic mistake on Iran’s part.”

Israel has also taken advantage of the upheaval to destroy as much of the previous government’s military resources as possible. Israel launched its most extensive air campaign in the region since the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Over 300 airstrikes targeted key infrastructure in “Operation Bashan Arrow.” Notably, Israel destroyed a significant security complex in the Kafr Sousa district of Damascus, along with research centers where it had previously said Iranian scientists developed missiles and chemical weapons. Strikes have neutralized the Damascus International Airport’s air defense systems, weakening Syria’s ability to interfere with Israeli air operations. Additionally, airstrikes have eliminated almost the entire Syrian air force, targeting its Russian-supplied MiG fighter jets, Sukhoi bombers, and attack helicopters and struck strategic missile depots and weapons storage sites. The Israeli Navy destroyed Syrian naval vessels. These strikes are part of Israel’s broader strategy to prevent weapons from reaching hostile rebel groups and to diminish security threats in the region. After those strikes, the IDF estimated it had destroyed 870% of the former regime’s military capabilities.

To further protect the nation from the possibility of the fighting in Syria spreading to Israel, the IDF sent additional troops to the Golan Heights and declared closed military zones near agricultural areas. Netanyahu also ordered the IDF on December 8, 2024, to seize control of the buffer zone between Israel and Syria, located in Syrian territory, that was demilitarized under the 1974 Disengagement Agreement. “This agreement has collapsed, Syrian soldiers abandoned their positions,” Netanyahu said. “We will not allow any hostile forces to establish themselves at our border.”

The United States also took the opportunity to strike over 75 targets, including ISIS camps and operatives in Syria. “T.here should be no doubt - we will not allow ISIS to reconstitute and take advantage of the current situation in Syria,” said U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM)’s General Michael Erik Kurilla, “All organizations in Syria should know that we will hold them accountable if they partner with or support ISIS in any way.”

On December 10, 2024, it was reported that Syrian opposition leader Ahmed al-Sharaa met outgoing Prime Minister Mohammed al-Jalali, who agreed to transfer power to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)’s Syrian Salvation Government (SSG). Mohammed al-Bashir, who is close to HTS and heads their Idlib-based SSG, is set to lead the transitional administration. The new government aims to consolidate control, rebuild institutions, and address displacement. HTS has offered amnesty for conscripts and pledged justice for war crimes, though concerns about security and political fragmentation persist. 

While the removal of Assad was universally cheered, some analysts cautioned against quickly embracing the rebels or taking their word that they would implement a more democratic regime. HTS is a jihadist group with origins in al-Qaeda. Other factions are also radical Sunni Muslims. Taking a page from the Taliban playbook, the leaders want everyone to believe they have abandoned their more extreme views, but, as Col. (ret.) Richard Kemp cautioned, “In 2021, the Taliban tried to convince the world that they had changed from the group that inflicted such brutality on the country before being ejected 20 years earlier. Their spokesman said they would not seek revenge on those who had collaborated with Coalition forces and the U.S.-backed government and would even respect women’s rights and press freedom. We know how that worked out.”

The United States said it would keep troops in Syria and set terms for recognizing the new regime. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, “The transition process and new government must also uphold clear commitments to fully respect the rights of minorities, facilitate the flow of humanitarian assistance to all in need, prevent Syria from being used as a base for terrorism or posing a threat to its neighbors, and ensure that any chemical or biological weapons stockpiles are secured and safely destroyed.”

On December 14, 2024, Syrian rebel leader Abu Mohammad al-Jolani declared that his forces have no intention of engaging in conflict with Israel, emphasizing that Israeli intervention excuses are invalid now that the Iranian troops have left Syria. Two days later, he stated that Syria under his control would not be used as a launchpad for attacks on Israel or any other state. He urged Israel to end its airstrikes and withdraw from territories taken after the fall of Bashar al-Assad. He also expressed willingness to honor the 1974 disengagement agreement and allow the return of United Nations monitors. At the same time, Syria’s transitional government called on the United Nations to stop Israeli strikes and withdraw from occupied areas, claiming Israel violated the disengagement agreement.

Al-Jolani’s group claims to ensure minority rights and avoid military confrontations. It also plans Syria’s future governance through presidential or parliamentary systems discussions.

On December 17, 2024, Netanyahu visited the Syrian side of Mount Hermon, stating that Israel would retain its presence in the area until a security arrangement guaranteeing Israel’s safety is established. Highlighting the site’s strategic importance, Netanyahu emphasized that its significance to Israel’s security has only increased in recent years, particularly in light of recent events in Syria, and affirmed that Israel will determine the arrangement that best ensures its security.

On December 24, 2024, al-Jolani has announced an agreement to dissolve all former rebel factions and consolidate them under the defense ministry. This move, part of a restructuring plan that integrates former rebels and defected Assad officers, aims to prevent clashes among diverse groups. The new interim government has appointed Murhaf Abu Qasra, a key figure in the insurgency, as defense minister. Al-Jolani has assured Western officials that his Islamist-led administration will avoid retaliation and protect the rights of ethnic and religious minorities, such as Kurds, Shi’ites, Christians, and Druze, addressing fears of persecution under Sunni Islamist rule.

*One sensitive aspect of Hafez Assad’s rule is that he was a member of the minority Alawi religion, which was not accepted by the majority of the population, which is Sunni.

Sources: Mitchell G. Bard, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Middle East Conflict. 4th Edition. NY: Alpha Books, 2008.
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Map: CIA Factbook.