Link to Article: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/syria-vows-rid-itself-assads-chemical-weapons-legacy-2025-03-05/
In the wake of the al-Assad regime in Syria, the foreign minister has vowed to finally rid the state of chemical weapons, calling upon the international community for assistance. Speaking during closed door meetings in The Hague, FM al-Shibani reflected on Syria’s past of chemical warfare. During the Assad regime, the Syrian government used nerve agents and chlorine barrel bombs during the Civil War. The new Syrian regime vows to dismantle Assad’s program of chemical weaponry, claiming that the international community must help the new regime in terms of logistics, capacity building, resources, and technical expertise. However, Syria’s declared stockpile of weapons has never been accurately stated to inspectors, which al-Shibani has stated will change in the coming months.
This article is important because it highlights a major shift in leadership in a pivotal state in the region. For many years, Syria has been a chaotic state, embroiled in civil war since 2011. The authoritarian Assad regime has put down close to decades of rebel and revolutionary activity, partly through support from Russia and Iran. Assad’s leadership was known for its use of chemical weapons, against other states and most notably, his own people. However, the new leadership aims to shift this reputation away, as well as communicate transparently with the international community in terms of its possession of powerful weapons. al-Shibani, who assumed the position of foreign minister in December, has his own history in terms of rebel groups, as a founder of al-Qaeda in Syria.
The influence of a new Syrian leadership massively shifts the landscape of the Middle East. Assad-led Syria was an Iranian ally, specifically serving as a bridge between the Iranian state and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Without the alliance between Iran and Syria, Iran is unable to provide support and resources to Hezbollah, severely weakening the rebel group in Lebanon. This also shifts the goals of other Middle-Eastern powers such as Turkey and Israel who both have the goal of exerting further influence on the region, and may be able to do so through increasingly friendly relations with a “new” Syria.
In class, we have been discussing security threats. The Syrian civil war was an example of a rebel-nationalist conflict, with HTS and smaller-scale rebel groups taking Damascus and working to install Sharia and work towards an Islamic caliphate. During the conflict, the rebel group was assessed at a high-medium level threat, considered very dangerous because they continued the ongoing civil war. The Syrian military and other pro-Assad forces were used as a large-scale state response to rebel groups.