Syria's Winners and Losers: Geopolitics Amid the Chaos

[bronxiteforever]

The Greek Reporter
By
Tasos Kokkinidis
December 10, 2024

… Strategist John Sitilides told Greek Reporter that no one has any idea at this early moment what the near-term or long-term future of Syria and the region will look like or how events will play out. “The question right now, for Western policymakers is whether the future of Syria’s governance involves power sharing or endless power struggles between various factions, terrorists and external countries with proxy groups inside of Syria.”

The rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) has been classified as a terrorist organization and has its roots in al-Qaeda and a violent past. They have spent recent years trying to rebrand themselves…At this point, Turkey probably has scored a significant advantage out of the chaos in Syria. With their ties with the Syrian National Army and the Free Syrian Army and their sort of wink and nodding understanding with the HTS terrorist organization leadership, it’s probably in a prime position relative to other external players,” Sitilides tells Greek Reporter.

… He adds that Iran has suffered a grievous geo-strategic loss with the defeat of its ally in Damascus, which was critical to Iranian support for Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Russia has also suffered a serious setback, both in terms of its international profile, because of its inability to defend its allies since 2015, the Bashar regime, and with the potential loss of two strategic bases, the naval base in Tartus and the air base in Latakia. It’s going to be very difficult for Russia to defend those bases and to maintain them given the new government and its likely antipathy towards Moscow.

More here

https://greekreporter.com/2024/12/10/winners-losers-syria-chaos/

[comradebillyboy]

1. I'm hoping for the best but Arabs seem to

overwhelmingly prefer despotism to democracy. Perhaps the new crew will be somewhat less brutal and despotic than Assad. Turkey might be able to keep the new Syrian government on a more moderate track as one of the very few democracies in the Muslim world.