William Roberts
President Trump’s return to office has fortuitously coincided with the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria as well as ceasefire agreements between Israel and both Hamas and Hezbollah. These developments have weakened Iran’s Axis of Resistance and present a historic opportunity for regional stability. While Israel’s military operations in Lebanon and Gaza could resume, Syria’s civil war has seemingly reached a conclusion. The U.S. should maintain cautious engagement with the Syrian transitional government through strictly enforced conditions for further normalization. The outcome of Syria’s transitional government will be highly consequential for the region and so ensuring a positive outcome in Syria must be a top priority.
The large and loose coalition of militias led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an Islamist paramilitary group with past ties to ISIS and Al-Qaeda, had planned a long campaign to Aleppo. Instead, the unexpected disintegration of Assad’s security forces brought this coalition to Damascus in mere days. The new transitional government of Syria is unprepared and will have to navigate serious challenges to preserve the peace. In his first national address after the fall of the Assad regime, the new President of Syria, Ahmad al-Sharaa (formerly Muhammad al-Jolani), promised to hold a “national dialogue conference” to prepare a new constitution that would guarantee democratic governance and protect the rights of women and religious minorities.
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