In ruins, Syrians mark 50 years of Assad family rule
beirut — On November 13, 1970, a young air force officer from the coastal hills of Syria launched a bloodless coup. It was the latest in a succession of military takeovers since independence from France in 1946, and there was no reason to think it would be the last.
Yet 50 years later, Hafez Assad’s family still rules Syria. The country is in ruins from a decade of civil war that killed a half million people, displaced half the population and wiped out the economy. But Hafez’s son, Bashar Assad, has an unquestioned grip on what remains.
His rule, half of it spent in war, is different from his father’s in some ways — dependent on allies like Iran and Russia rather than projecting Arab nationalism, run with a crony kleptocracy rather than socialism. The tools are the same: repression, rejection of compromise and brutal bloodshed.
It wasn’t clear whether the government intended to mark the 50year milestone this year. While the anniversary has been marked with fanfare in previous years, it has been a more subdued celebration during the war.
“There can be no doubt that 50 years of Assad family rule, which has been ruthless, cruel and self-defeating, has left the country what can only be described as broken, failed and almost forgotten,” said Neil Quilliam, an associate fellow at Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa programme.
First welcomed as a reformer and moderniser, Bashar, a British-trained eye doctor, opened the country and allowed political debates. He quickly clamped back down, faced with challenges and a rapidly changing world, beginning with the September 11 attacks in America.
He opposed the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, worried he would be next. He let foreign fighters enter Iraq from his territory, fuelling an insurgency against the US occupation and enraging the Americans.
He was forced to end Syria’s long domination of Lebanon after Damascus was blamed for the assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri. Still, he tightened ties with Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
The Assad family’s gravest challenge came with the Arab Spring uprisings that swept the region, reaching Syria in March 2011.
His response to the protests was to unleash security forces to snuff them out. Instead, protests grew, turning later into an armed insurgency.
With his army nearing collapse, Assad opened his territory to Russia’s and Iran’s militaries and their proxies.
Eventually, he effectively eliminated the military threat against him. He is all but certain to win presidential elections due next year in the shattered husk that is Syria.
Dagher said the war transformed Syrians in irreversible ways. An economic meltdown and mounting hardship may change the calculus. “A whole generation of people has been awakened and will eventually find a way to take back the country and their future,” he said. —