International Relations:

Playing a Double-Edged Game

A Decade in Power: Syria under Bashar al-Assad’s Rule

When Bashar came to power, he certainly faced the challenge of maintaining his father’s unorthodox foreign policy. Hafez was known to be a savvy head of state. He was able to sustain good relations with important Arab nations like Saudi Arabia and Egypt and play on their differences.

At the same time, he received the international community blessing for taking control over Syria’s smaller neighbour, Lebanon. During the Cold War, he managed to have ties with the Soviet Union while maintaining good relations with the United States.

He also reached out to Iran without drawing the ire of western powers. For Assad, the son, sustaining this shaky balance was more difficult. With the polarisation of the world after the 9/11 attacks on America, the mounting pressures against Iran for allegedly trying to acquire nuclear armament and the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, Damascus was forced to take sides.

Furthermore, the country faced international isolation following the assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri in 2005, a crime widely blamed on Damascus. Bashar responded by getting closer to Tehran and bolstering support for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and the Palestinian radicals Hamas. In recent years, however, the West started a new policy of engagement towards Syrians to woo them away from Tehran.

Damascus’ response has been contradictory. The country seems again engaged in the risky game of trying to please all sides. Like during the times of his father, Bashar has announced that he had chosen peace with Israel as a “strategic choice” in return for the Golan Heights, occupied by the Israelis since 1967.

Meanwhile, Damascus does not seem to be ready to give up its alliance with Iran anytime soon. With Washington’s hands still tied in the region as it grapples with two messy wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Damascus might be able to buy more time. But for how long can the regime sustain the status quo?

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