S9 Ep14: The Fall of Assad and What’s Next for Syria with Phillip Smyth

After a despotic reign of over five decades, marked by 13 years
of bloody civil war that killed over half a million people and
displaced millions more, the al-Assad dynasty’s rule over Syria
has come to a sudden, shocking end. In just under two weeks,
rebel groups mounted an offensive that captured a string of major
cities, culminating in the fall of Damascus with barely a shot
being fired and Bashar al-Assad fleeing into exile in Moscow.
It’s difficult to understate what a complete sea change these
events are for Syria and the Middle East. Today, Phillip Smyth
returns to help us make sense of how this all unfolded so
quickly, so unexpectedly, and what it means for Iran and its
proxies like Lebanese Hezbollah, who propped up the Assad regime
and counted on Syria as a hub to exert their influence throughout
the region.

Read Phillip’s work for West Point’s Combatting Terrorism Center:
https://ctc.westpoint.edu/authors/phillip-smyth/

Read Phillip’s past work for the Washington Institute for Near
East Policy:
https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/experts/phillip-smyth

Follow Phillip on Twitter/X: https://x.com/PhillipSmyth

Relevant articles and reporting

"The Backstory Behind the Fall of Aleppo" by Hassan Hassan and
Michael Weiss | New Lines Magazine

"Jihadi ‘Counterterrorism:’ Hayat Tahrir al-Sham Versus the
Islamic State" by Aaron Y. Zelin | CTC Sentinel

Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) Backgrounder | Center for Strategic
& International Studies

"Syrian rebels reveal year-long plot that brought down Assad
regime" by William Christou | The Guardian

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