Workers World condemns the overthrow of the democratically elected government of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Assad had served as president in Syria since 2000. Syrian “rebels,” backed by the U.S., Israel and Türkiye, took over Syria’s capital Damascus on Dec. 9. Assad has been granted political asylum in Russia. 

Along with the liberation forces in Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon, the Syrian and Iranian governments had joined the Axis of Resistance. This alliance has been providing important military assistance to the Palestinian resistance on the front lines against the Zionist, terrorist state of Israel that has been committing genocide in Gaza for over a year. 

The Syrian government had the revolutionary foresight to help uplift the Axis of Resistance. This was the only path towards liberation from U.S. imperialism and Zionism for the whole region. As a result, Syria remained in the crosshairs of imperialism and its client Israel, which maintains an expansionist perspective that includes annexing both Syria and Lebanon.

For the U.S. and Israel, Assad’s main “crime” was refusing to be a puppet of imperialism. 

This recent setback in Syria, which is harmful for the world movement, did not begin just a few weeks ago. It is rooted in over 13 years of imperialist attacks on this sovereign country. 

After the U.S. backed and funded mercenaries and terrorist forces in 2011, whose all-out effort aimed to destroy Syria, the Syrian Arab Army was able to regroup and fought back heroically. At great cost it was able to retake the major cities of Syria, including Aleppo, which is 217 miles from the Turkish border. But the conflict to regain full control of Syria was frozen for years. 

U.S. / Turkish mercenary and terrorist forces maintained control of one-third of Syrian territory. This included the oil-rich and agricultural base of Syria. Armies of terrorist forces, enemies of Damascus, were paid, trained and fully outfitted in Türkiye and Jordan. 

U.S. imperialism bragged for years that they were able to maintain the political and especially economic isolation of Syria through sanctions and the complete denial of all reconstruction aid for Syria. Meanwhile, Washington supplied ample funds for reconstruction in U.S- controlled regions. 

These deadly sanctions, another act of war, were an attempt by the U.S. to deny vital services, to starve the population and to hollow out the Syrian economy until it collapsed.

The worldwide anti-imperialist movement must keep the bigger picture in mind. This is a moment to uplift, salute and remember the martyrs and resistance fighters in Syria, who for decades and against all odds held firm against U.S. imperialist domination.

The global struggle has many fronts, including in occupied Palestine, Syria and the rest of West Asia. Because imperialism has no solutions to any crisis, we remain confident that the struggle will regroup and break forth again at a higher level.

Nothing is final in class struggle, except that it will continue until imperialism is finally defeated on a global scale. The temporary setback in Syria shows that a battle may be lost but not the war. 

Hands off Syria! U.S. out of West Asia!