Some 54 years after Hafez Assad seized power in Syria, rebels overthrew the dynasty his son Bashar squandered.
Bashar Assad’s downfall was made possible partly by the fact that his Iranian and Russian patrons were distracted by their own existential problems. But it was Assad’s own shortcomings that hastened the regime’s collapse. Hemmed in by a parasitic economy and an ossified political system that brooked no dissent, Assad lacked the strength to reform much of anything.
Bashar was never groomed to lead Syria. His elder brother, Bassel, was their father’s heir apparent. But after Bassel’s untimely death in 1994, Bashar was summoned home from his ophthalmology residency in London.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.