Return of exiles, tensions with Israel, urgent reconstruction… Syria seeks to recover one year after the fall of Al Assad

It has been a year since the fall of Bashar al-Assad, who ruled Syria with an iron fist for 20 years after his father Hafez’s three decades of oppressive rule. After 14 years of civil warhis regime fell before the advance of jihadists and rebels, and he fled to Russia, his ally for all these years. Which country have you left behind? How is the new Syria shaping up?

Syria has new leaders. The president of the transition is Ahmed al Shara, former leader of the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al Sham. He is a former rebel fighter arrested by US forces in Iraq in 2005 for his links to Al-Qaeda. However, today he has the support of the United States; He was even received at the White House by President Donald Trump.

Washington now presents Al Shara as “a strong leader” for the nation. With this support, the new Syrian leader promises to “rebuild Syria as a strong nation”. He said this on Monday in a speech from the capital, Damascus, on the first anniversary of the fall of Al Assad. A week ago, Trump said he was satisfied with the “results” of the lifting of sanctions against Syria.

It was last November 10 when the American president received Al Shara in the Oval Office. It was about first visit by a Syrian head of state to the White House since Syria gained independence from France in 1946. The meeting took place after Washington lifted sanctions imposed on Damascus for decades.

What happened a few days ago is proof of this unexpected good harmony. On November 30, the US government reported that a joint operation between its army and the Syrian authorities led to the location and destruction of more than 15 ISIS weapons depots in southern Syria.

The return to the country

More than three million Syrians have been able to return home in the year since the fall of the Assad regime. However, there are still many internally displaced people and 4.5 million refugees in neighboring countriesaccording to data from the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

More than 1.9 million Syrians who returned voluntarily since December 2024 have been displaced within the country, while 1.2 million were in neighboring countries. At least 170,000 refugees have returned from Jordan, some 379,000 from Lebanon, 28,000 from Egypt and 560,000 from Turkey, according to rough UNHCR figures.

“This is a unique opportunity to help end one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.”

The numerous returns mark a fundamental step in Syria’s recovery process, as forced displacement was one of the deepest wounds of the conflict and return is essential to end years of suffering and achieve stabilization, UNHCR analyzed. “This is a unique opportunity to help end one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world“, said the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi.

Making peace in Israel and with Israel

For Syria to recover from its ruins, it must live in peace, both internally and externally. This is why, Trump insisted Israel maintain ‘robust and sincere’ dialogue with Damascus. In fact, he warned the Israeli government that nothing can hinder the progress of the Arab nation. “It is very important that Israel maintains a robust and sincere dialogue with Syria and that nothing happens that interferes with Syria’s evolution into a prosperous state,” Trump wrote a week ago on his Truth Social network.

Because on this border, peace is not a fact. On November 28, an Israeli raid on the town of Beit Jinn, on the outskirts of Damascus, left 13 dead and dozens injured. To justify itself, Israel claimed that its operation aimed to search for members of the Lebanese Islamist group Jamaa al Islamiya.

After the fall of the Al Assad regime a year ago, Israel sends troops to the Golan Heights demilitarized zone and on the Syrian slope of Mount Hermon, where it still maintains positions that it considers essential for its security and for the “defense” of the Syrian Druze minority. In fact, Benjamin Netanyahu now claims to want to “keep” these occupied territories. The Jewish state occasionally bombs Syrian territory. In recent months, ground raids have taken place mainly in border provinces and sometimes as far north as the outskirts of Damascus.

There is also an internal conflict. There have been outbreaks of religious violence in which hundreds of civilians from Alawite and Druze minorities killed by Sunni fighters pro-government. Local Druze groups have now established their own de facto government and army in the southern province of Sweida.

At the same time, there continues to be Tensions between new Syrian government and Kurdish-led forces who control the northeast of the country. An agreement was signed in March that was supposed to lead to a merger of their forces.

The urgency to revive the economy

Syria’s new, so-called temporary, leaders want to guarantee peace and security, but both are only being built on the basis of a healthy economy. They are now awaiting the fruits of the diplomatic offensive that they began as soon as they came to power. They visited the Gulf countries, but also the United States and Europe.

Although Gulf countries have promised to invest in reconstruction projects, little has materialized on the ground. The country’s economy has barely recovereddespite the lifting of most Western sanctions.

The World Bank estimates that the reconstruction of the War damaged areas in the country will cost $216.00 million. “Without urgent global support, this window of hope will close,” says the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

The Toxic Captagon Backpack

The new Syrian economy will have to get rid of the toxic but lucrative Captagon backpack. The Al Assad regime participated in the production of this film. amphetamine widely consumed in the Gulf countries.

Known as “poor man’s cocaine,” Captagon production was linked first to the Islamic State and then to the Al Assad regime. Both had it as a source of income. By 2023, it was estimated that 80% of the global supply of this synthetic drug was produced in Syria. In recent years, the country It was almost a narco-state.