While the genocide of Palestinians and conflict between Israel and others in the Middle East has been under focus by the international community and the Muslim Ummah, attention has now been suddenly diverted back again to the geopolitical competing theatre of global players in Syria.
The armed opposition groups based in the North West of Syria fighting against the Assad regime have suddenly become resurgent making significant gains towards capturing two major cities Aleppo and Idlib and now Hama.
The civil war that has resulted in the misery for millions of Syrians and has been ongoing for more than 13 years and has shaped the Middle East and is deeply intertwined with the region’s geopolitics and global power struggles, fanned a number of external players including Israel, the latter being the main beneficiary of the conflict.
The conflict began in 2011 when Syrian masses joined the wave of “Arab Spring” uprisings sweeping across the Middle East and North Africa, movements, rooted in demands for justice, dignity, and freedom.
In Syria, peaceful demonstrations called for reforms and an end to Bashar al-Assad’s oppressive rule, but they were met with violent crackdowns where this brutality turned a popular movement into a prolonged armed conflict fanned by neighbouring countries as well as US.
The once-peaceful protests transformed into an armed struggle, with groups like the Free Syrian Army (FSA) emerging as key players while in the chaos, extremist groups, including ISIL (ISIS), exploited the situation to gain a foothold, citing their own interpretations of Islamic governance to justify their actions.
However, their actions were widely condemned by Muslim scholars for contradicting Islamic teachings, including the sanctity of innocent lives.
Syria is a focal point in Middle Eastern geopolitics where Iran and Hezbollah, and other militias committed to preserving the “Axis of Resistance” against Israel and Western influence, threw their support behind Assad.
Russia also joined in support of the Assad regime providing critical military assistance that helped the Assad regime to recapture key areas, including Damascus and Aleppo.
This conflict also intersected with the broader regional rivalry between Iran and Israel and additionally Turkey and other Gulf states with their own vested interest thereby complicating the issues and prolonging the conflict in Syria.
In the northeast, the United States supported the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led group primarily focused on defeating ISIL. This support strained US-Turkey relations, as Turkey viewed the SDF as an extension of the PKK, a group it considers a terrorist organisation.
The Kurdish role in Syria highlighted the complex ethnic and geopolitical dynamics of the region, where alliances often shifted based on immediate strategic interests.
Donald Trump’s presidency marked a shift in US foreign policy in the Middle East. His administration’s prioritisation of “America First” and reduced involvement in conflicts like Syria created a vacuum that regional powers, including Russia and Iran, sought to fill.
The Syrian war cannot be viewed in isolation from the broader Middle Eastern conflict involving Israel, Iran, Hezbollah, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Yemen and the United States.
Israel has been conducting numerous airstrikes in Syria, targeting Iranian military assets and Hezbollah positions thereby weakening the position of the Assad regime and hence playing a major role in the recent gains by the opposition led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) to Assad regime.
The Syrian civil war is a microcosm of the broader struggles in the Middle East, involving questions of governance, religion, and international influence.
The conflict has demonstrated the devastating human cost of geopolitical rivalries and sectarian divides, while also serving as a reminder of the enduring relevance of Islamic principles in calls for justice with peace.
If the Muslims in general and their leaders in particular don’t play a role in establishing good governance, justice and peaceful means of solving conflicts, Israel has been, is and will be the main beneficiary and will continue its hegemony in the region with ‘iron clad’ support by the United States specially now under Trump 2.0.
Muslims, you have been warned, please take heed.
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