Syria: Fall of Damascus sidelines Russia and brings Turkey to the fore

Last ditch diplomatic attempts to create a political solution between Bashar al-Assad’s regime and the opposition floundered and weary diplomats woke six hours later to the news that Assad had fallen.

Syrians celebrate the arrival of opposition fighters as they step on a picture of Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus, Syria, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. Picture: AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki

As celebratory gunfire was heard across liberated Syria, the diplomatic guns of Iran and Russia, in Doha to attend a major dialogue forum, fell silent, rendered powerless and irrelevant by events in Damascus.

Only 12 hours earlier the key external powers – Russia and Iran along with Turkey – had met five Arab states on the sidelines of the forum to issue a joint statement appealing for an end to military operations, preservation of Syria’s territorial integrity and consultations on a political solution between Bashar al-Assad’s regime and the opposition. It was a last attempt to retain a semblance of control over events, but the diplomats also anxiously discussed the fate of Syrian president at the meeting, and whether there would be fighting on the streets of Damascus soon.