The fall of the Syrian government and what it means for the anti-imperialist struggle in the Middle East

The Freedom Road Socialist Organization condemns the ongoing U.S.-backed aggression against Syria. President Bashar Al-Assad has been forced to flee the country, and now sits in exile in Moscow. What is clear is that the Syrian government has collapsed. This blatant assault on Syrian sovereignty is part of a larger effort – by Western imperialists, Israel and reactionary forces in the region – to defeat the Axis of Resistance, which is fighting for the liberation of Palestine and to end U.S. control in the region.

Syria stood as a staunch ally to the peoples of Lebanon and Palestine, providing political and military support. The loss of Syria as a sovereign, independent state not only hurts the Syrian people, but also weakens the resistance forces against Israel in this region.

The destabilization of Syria is another step towards widening the war in the Middle East. Israel and the hawks in the incoming Trump administration are clear that they plan to ramp up hostility towards Iran.

History shows that U.S. involvement does more to set sovereign nations back in time than forward. The U.S. carried out decades of aggression against the Syrian government, supposedly in support of “democracy,” but this is a lie, and one that’s been used before. In Libya, which once boasted the highest standard of living in Africa, U.S./NATO intervention reduced the country to chaos, undoing decades of development and progress. These actions serve as grim reminders of what imperialist intervention truly entails.

At the same time, Israel, which already occupied Syria in the Golan Heights region, continues its attempts to annex more of Syria, while expanding illegal settlements and seizing Palestinian land. Just recently, Israel breached Syria’s borders for the first time in 50 years. This is an act of aggression that makes plain Israel’s ambitions to expand and its role as a tool of U.S. imperialism in the region. These incursions are part of a broader strategy to weaken and destabilize Syria while further entrenching the Zionist occupation.

For the last ten years the U.S. has bombed Syria many times and has had troops there for most of this period. The aggression against Syria has taken other forms – from oppressive sanctions that harm ordinary Syrians to the arming and financing of anti-government groups that have consistently been revealed to be proxies for U.S. and allied interests. The so-called “freedom fighters” will not bring liberation to Syria, but rather U.S. weapons, massacres and economic devastation.

We reject all U.S. support for these expansionist policies and condemn Israel’s ongoing attempts to seize more land. The U.S.’s backing of Israeli apartheid and illegal settlements not only violates international law but also perpetuates the suffering of Palestinians, Syrians and the region as a whole. U.S. troops and U.S.-backed forces have no legitimate role in Syria.

We call for the immediate withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Syria and an end to U.S. support of anti-government forces.

We demand an end to the sanctions on Syria, which devastate ordinary people while advancing U.S. imperialist goals.

We demand an end to U.S. military aid to Israel and condemn its illegal settlements and annexations, and genocidal occupation of Palestine.

We condemn those responsible for the destabilization of the Syrian government and we reaffirm our solidarity with the Palestinian resistance and its allies – Lebanon, Iran, Yemen and Iraq.

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