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The foreign policy story of 2024: The Fall of Assad in pictures

The foreign policy story of 2024: The Fall of Assad in pictures

The surprise regime change is remaking the geopolitical face of the Middle East in real time.

Reporting | Middle East

The surprise attack on Bashar Assad's Syrian strongholds in December led to an almost immediate collapse of his family's dynasty and his dictatorship. This, after the Middle East had already been rocked by Israeli wars against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. As of December, over 45,000 Palestinians in Gaza and over 4,000 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, have been killed and millions displaced.

Top photo credit: The fall of the Syrian regime, Syrians celebrate Bashar al-Assad's escape. Damascus, Syria, December 8, 2024 (Mohammad Bash/Shutterstock)
Syria Should the US take credit for Assad's downfall?Top image credit: Damascus University students stand on the toppled statue of the late Syria's President Hafez al-Assad, father of Bashar al-Assad, after Syria's Bashar al-Assad was ousted, in Damascus, Syria, December 15, 2024. REUTERS/Ammar Awad

Assad's fall in December was heralded by Sunni Syrians, many of whom had been victims of Assad's brutality and displaced in the country's Civil War, which began in 2011 after Arab Spring related uprisings.

A Hayat Tahrir al-Sham fighter in SyriaTop Image Credit: A rebel fighter stands atop a military vehicle as he carries a Hayat Tahrir al-Sham flag in Saraqeb town in northwestern Idlib province, Syria December 1, 2024. REUTERS/Mahmoud Hassano/File Photo

External forces are at work all over this conflict. Turkey, Israel, the United States — news reports after Assad's fall suggested that even Ukraine had a hand in sending HTS drones for the battlefield.

Members of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) a flag in Deir al-Zor, after U.S.-backed alliance led by Syrian Kurdish fighters captured Deir el-Zor, the government's main foothold in the vast desert, according to Syrian sources, in Syria December 7, 2024. REUTERS/Orhan Qereman

The fate of the Kurdish independence movement, which has been backed by the U.S., is at the end of the year unknown. The Turks want to extinguish it, while the Kurdish Syrian Defense Forces have held on to valuable, oil rich territory in the northeast of Syria and are not likely to go easily. There are also 2,000 U.S. troops in the region and the U.S. has been engaging in airstrikes inside the country, reportedly against ISIS.

syria assad resignationtop photo credit: Men hold a Syrian opposition flag on the top of a vehicle as people celebrate after Syrian rebels announced that they have ousted President Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria December 8, 2024. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi

The world watches as HTS claims power and wants the U.S. terror designation and sanctions lifted in order to begin rebuilding the country after more than a decade of war. Despite the calls by new leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, who leads HTS, for moderation and amnesty, reports in the waning days of 2024 tell of revenge crimes and raids by militias against Assadists in villages and towns. Meanwhile, al-Sharaa has said it may take up to four years for new elections in Syria.


The fall of the Syrian regime, Syrians celebrate Bashar al-Assad's escape. Damascus, Syria, December 8, 2024 (Mohammad Bash/Shutterstock)
Reporting | Middle East
US Marines
Top image credit: U.S. Marines with Force Reconnaissance Platoon, Maritime Raid Force, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, prepare to clear a room during a limited scale raid exercise at Sam Hill Airfield, Queensland, Australia, June 21, 2025. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Alora Finigan)

Cartels are bad but they're not 'terrorists.' This is mission creep.

Military Industrial Complex

There is a dangerous pattern on display by the Trump administration. The president and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth seem to hold the threat and use of military force as their go-to method of solving America’s problems and asserting state power.

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Top photo credit: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on CNBC, 8/26/25 (CNBC screengrab)

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Military Industrial Complex

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Top image credit: White House, February 2025

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Asia-Pacific

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