International newspapers: The fall of the Assad family is a stunning earthquake that will reshape the map of the Middle East

"It is a stunning development and another major regional earthquake after a year of war in the Middle East." Will the fall of the "Al-Assad" family redraw the map of the Middle East? And what are its repercussions for the region?

The answer to these two questions was the focus of international newspapers and news websites in their coverage of the resounding fall of the ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The French newspaper Le Figaro said that the lightning attack that culminated in the overthrow of Assad took only 12 days and that no one expected "this acceleration in history." The newspaper said that we must hope that the various opposition groups will come together to rule multi-religious Syria, and that post-Assad Syria will not resemble post-Saddam Hussein Iraq, referring to the tragic events that Iraq witnessed after the Americans overthrew its president in 2003.

The newspaper mocked the latter in its comparison between Saddam and Bashar, saying: “Saddam Hussein showed greater courage against the Americans when he lost power in 2003 in Baghdad.”

In turn, the French newspaper Le Monde reported that Bashar, the bloodthirsty tyrant, became president by chance, as his brother was the one who was prepared to fill that position before he was killed in a tragic accident.

In this regard, she said that what happened was “a cruel historical irony… The man with blood-stained hands, who fled on Sunday, December 8, after spending a quarter of a century in power in Syria, after destroying his people and crushing his country, was not originally prepared to take the reins of power.”

Amazing development

The American website Axios described what happened as “an astonishing development and another major regional earthquake after a year of war in the Middle East, which further destabilizes Syria and the region in the short term, and which may have, in the long term, dramatic consequences not only for Syria, but also for its allies, Russia, Iran and Hezbollah, who helped keep Bashar in power after the 2011 uprising.”

“The fall of the Assad family will redraw the map of the Middle East for many converging reasons, and what happens next in Syria will have profound implications for the entire region,” Kelly Cassis, a geopolitical analyst and director of international relations at the Center for Political and Foreign Affairs (CPFA), wrote in an article for The National Interest.

compete for dominance

The New York Times dealt with a news analysis of the developments taking place in Syria and their potential consequences for the region in light of the fierce competition between international parties to dominate the entire Middle East region.

The newspaper's correspondent, Neil MacFarquhar, said in his analysis, which was before Bashar was deposed, that the question looming on the horizon, as the statues of President Bashar al-Assad's father and his brother Maher fell to the sounds of "God is Great", is whether the rebels will overthrow the president himself during their rapid advance.

He pointed out that Ahmed al-Sharaa (al-Jolani), the commander of the Joint Operations Department of the Syrian opposition, stated - in a video interview with the New York Times - saying: "Our goal is to liberate Syria from this oppressive regime."

He added that what happened represents the most important confrontation so far in the struggle to reshape the region, which flared up with the Al-Aqsa flood on October 7, 2023, according to the news analysis.

Correspondent Farquhar points out that the main players in the region - Israel, Iran and Turkey - have an interest in the consequences of developments in Syria, which will not only affect the Middle East, but will also extend to global powers such as the United States and Russia.

Farquhar: The conflict in Syria is very important because it aims to control a regional crossroads that affects the entire Middle East

If the war in the Gaza Strip represents - in the opinion of the author of the analytical article - the worst manifestation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict so far, which seems intractable, then analysts describe the conflict in Syria as much more important because it aims to control a regional crossroads that affects the entire Middle East.

The American newspaper correspondent quotes Mona Yacoubian, head of the Middle East and North Africa Center at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, as saying, “Syria is the barometer that shows the vital driving forces (dynamics) in the region.”

Israeli strategists describe Syria as the "axis of all axes" because it was - they claim - a supply corridor for areas in southern Lebanon with weapons and men.

According to the analysis, Israel's reaction to an Islamist government that might come to power after the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime is not yet clear, especially if it is a government beholden to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was one of the "most vocal critics" of the war in Gaza.

Iran realizes that if it loses Assad, and thus its influence over Damascus, the game is over for its attempts to fortify its Shiite proxies in Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen, which could threaten Israel.

But the correspondent adds in his analysis that Iran has begun evacuating its senior military leaders in the Quds Force and other elements from Syria since last Friday.

According to the article, some analysts believe that Erdogan had a hand in the sweeping advance of the fighters of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the main group in the Syrian opposition forces. They pointed out that Turkey seized the opportunity to increase its influence at a time when Iran was under siege, as it - in their estimation - wants to return to their homes more than 3 million Syrian refugees who fled to Türkiye due to the civil war.

As for Russia, according to the writer, it will face a dilemma, warning that there is evidence of a decline in its confidence in continuing in Syria as it was, which was evident from its demand on Friday for its citizens to leave Syria.

But Russia and Iran weren’t the only countries to order their citizens out of Syria, the author notes, noting that the United States joined them as well. Analysts believe that Washington has been clueless about what to do about Syria for more than a decade, and that its policy has been left in the lurch since Russia moved in 2015 to intervene militarily there.

The New York Times sees in its news analysis that Washington is now going through a transitional period between two administrations, as the incoming president, Donald Trump, once referred to Syria as a country of “sand and death.”

The American newspaper concludes that many observers consider the central Syrian state to be a “hollow shell,” quoting Andrew Tabler, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former US government official on security issues, as likening the regime sponsored by Assad to “an old car assembled with spare parts by anonymous mechanics.”

Source: Le Figaro + Le Monde + New York Times + Washington Post