When former president Hafez Al-Assad died in 2000, Syria's fate was still unknown. People discussed the future of the country in whispers, as fear had become embedded in their hearts throughout Al-Assad's 30-year rule. Even those close to the heart of the dictatorship, including security officials and even government ministers, could go to sleep anxious and wake up confused. Although security and military circles knew who had been groomed to take over the presidency after the death of Al-Assad's older son Bassel, they were still uncertain about a smooth transition of power. The military figures that Al-Assad had groomed to be obedient to his son Bashar quickly eliminated any alternative leader and took control of the street and institutions following the former president's death. Bashar Al-Assad was given a new military rank, and in a five-minute session of parliament the Syrian constitution was amended to reduce the minimum age of the president from 40 to 34 years old, making Hafez Al-Assad's second son heir to the presidency within days of his father's death. Bashar Al-Assad then allowed some freedom of expression to be introduced in Syria, promising reforms that the opposition described as the “Damascus Spring”. They imagined that the people would be given the right to express themselves freely and to organise, but it quickly became apparent that these steps were just an illusion to end any threat to Bashar Al-Assad's hold on power. He then rescinded the freedoms he had granted, and the international community accused him of involvement in the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Al-Hariri and forced him to withdraw Syria's troops from Lebanon. Syria's relations with its Arab and other neighbours deteriorated, relations with Europe were severed and the clampdown at home worsened. Al-Assad issued a newly oppressive media law and began appointing even more chauvinistic and aggressive minions. He took control of the Syrian economy through his relatives and cronies, and security officers increasingly monopolised the country's security and economy. He opened the floodgates to Iran and issued a tailored constitution that gave the president unprecedented extraordinary powers. The so-called “Damascus Spring” thus only lasted three years, and then the country began to regress. A catastrophic slide began in 2011, revealing the true nature of the regime that Al-Assad had created after inheriting an already totalitarian and sectarian police state from his father. When a peaceful uprising began in 2011, with the people demanding freedom, dignity and an end to the control of their daily lives, the Al-Assad regime responded with ferocious repression. The military annihilated people who wanted freedom after 11 years of Bashar Al-Assad's rule. The peaceful uprising then grew into a sweeping revolution, and after six months it became armed. This was because the regime had used excessive violence against its own citizens. Within six months, some 20,000 Syrians had been killed, a number that had climbed to hundreds of thousands two years later. The opposition was weak, oppressed and disorganised, afflicted by the malaise that had stunted political life in Syria for decades. Its members were imprisoned and tortured, with the Baath Party, the single party ruling Syria under Al-Assad, becoming simply a cover for the security agencies. The revolution began without coordination or leadership. The regime targeted the young people who led it bravely and peacefully, killing them one after the next. Islamist supporters were released from prisons, and a large part of the revolution became Islamised. The regime's aggression attracted terrorist groups in the region, and Iran used the chaos as an opportunity to take control of Syria through its use of sectarian Shiite militias from Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan. Russia used the Syrian regime's dire need of help as the key to extend its control over Syria and the eastern Mediterranean. The Gulf countries, regional countries, the US and Europe began to interfere in Syria, transforming the country into a domestic, regional and international war zone. More than 20 countries are now embroiled in the Syrian conflict, bickering and wrangling, challenging each other and differing in their strategies and goals. Russia has established air, land and sea bases in Syria, protecting the regime in return for a foothold on the Mediterranean and promoting Russia's comeback onto the international stage. The US also created land and air bases in Syria, superficially supporting the opposition and using the Kurds as boots on the ground. Its intention was to fight Sunni and Shiite terrorism, lay its hands on Syria's oil and gas resources, and send a message to Russia that it would not be given a free hand in the Middle East. Iran joined the fray, establishing land and air bases, infiltrating society and changing Syria's demographic makeup. It has aimed to establish a Shiite Crescent connecting Iran to the Mediterranean via Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, to impose itself as a regional heavyweight, and to use its influence in Syria and its proximity to Israel to negotiate with the US. Turkey marched into Syria and created military bases, supported opposition factions in the north and supplied them with weapons and facilities. It has wanted to control any separatist Kurdish threat, impose itself as a regional power and to benefit economically from the crisis. European countries such as France, Britain, Germany and Italy have dabbled in the crisis and sent in troops under the umbrella of the International Coalition to ensure their share of the Syrian pie. The Gulf countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE and others have also intervened to block the Iranian threat and in the hope of extending their influence in the region. International and trans-border groups and militias such as Al-Qaeda, the Islamic State (IS), Iranian militias, Lebanese militias and Kurdish militias from Iraq, Turkey and Iran have all arrived in Syria as mercenaries and used force to achieve the goals of their masters. Over the past seven years, Syria has become an international war zone in which political, military, economic and social factors have mixed and alliances shifted and become confused. Dozens of countries with contradictory goals, strategies and ideologies are now meddling in the country's civil war. It has been impossible to find any middle ground, and the nature of the conflict and the region suggests that the war will continue for a long time yet without a political or military resolution. This will be at the expense of further millions of people dead or living out a half-life abroad as refugees.
