A Damascus court sentenced Syria's former president Bashar al-Assad to death on Tuesday, marking the first major prosecution under the country's transitional authorities as Syria begins to reckon with a 14-year civil war that killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions. The court convicted Assad of premeditated murder of multiple people, including children, as well as torture, arbitrary detention and crimes against humanity. Assad's brother Maher and former security official Atef Najib also received death sentences.
The ruling, issued in absentia for Assad and his brother, comes as Syria's new government attempts to hold accountable those responsible for mass atrocities during a conflict that devastated civilian infrastructure and left the country facing what observers describe as a profound political, economic and humanitarian crisis. Assad fled with his family to Moscow in December 2024 as armed opposition forces closed in on Damascus.
The Human Cost of Syria's War
Assad became president in 2000 after the death of his father, Hafez al-Assad, maintaining the family's rule and the dominance of the Alawite sect in the predominantly Sunni Muslim country. In March 2011, government forces led by Assad violently suppressed protests that emerged during the Arab Spring, prompting an armed uprising that would spiral into one of the century's deadliest conflicts.
Hundreds of thousands of people were killed in the subsequent years. A UN investigative mechanism said evidence showed a systematic pattern of torture, sexual violence and enforced disappearances across more than 100 government detention facilities. The Assad government faced accusations of widespread arbitrary detention, extrajudicial killings and attacks on civilians throughout the 14-year civil war.
Najib, a cousin of Assad who was arrested in January last year, was tried in person and convicted of crimes including murder, "the intentional killing of children under 15," and "torture leading to death." His conviction represents one of the few instances where a senior Assad-era official has faced trial for atrocities committed during the conflict.
Syria's Political Transition
After Sharaa's Islamist group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, seized Damascus on 8 December 2024, ousting Assad, Ahmed al-Sharaa became Syria's interim president. Sharaa has promised to pursue former government personnel and loyalists implicated in war crimes, though rights concerns have continued during Syria's political transition. UN experts have reported allegations of summary executions, forced displacement and other abuses against civilians under the new administration.
Sharaa has embraced a public transformation, trimming his beard and replacing his turban and thobe with a suit and tie. He's appeared in western media outlets speaking of Syria's "diversity as a strength" and of "unifying the country." During a visit to London in April, Sharaa said Damascus would stay out of the Israeli-US war on Iran unless his country comes under attack.
The transitional administration has initiated economic reforms, including public-sector employee reductions, tax system reforms and the reopening of border crossings. But some have questioned the sustainability of Sharaa's transformation and pointed out that he hasn't publicly apologized for past actions.
Foreign Military Presence Ends
In April, the last remaining US troops in Syria left their base in Hasakah, ending a 10-year presence in the country. American troops had been in Syria since 2015. The Syrian foreign ministry said it welcomed "the completed handover of military sites where United States forces were previously present in Syria to the Syrian government."
Washington, which backs Sharaa's new government, previously had around 1,000 US troops in Syria. Earlier this year, the US helped facilitate an agreement between the longtime US partner Syrian Democratic Forces and Damascus, under which the Syrian government agreed to take the lead in combating militant groups such as the Islamic State group. The SDF also agreed to hand over control of large swathes of territory, including Raqqa and Deir Ezzor, to Damascus.
On Monday, Syria also reached a memorandum of understanding with Russia to scale back Moscow's military presence on Syria's Mediterranean coast, ending 18 months of negotiations over the future of the Hmeimim airbase and Tartus naval facility. Russia and Iran had backed Assad throughout the civil war, while the US, Turkey and other countries supported different factions at various stages.
Sectarian Tensions Persist
Tensions between the new government and the Alawite community remain high. Last year, armed attacks on security forces by suspected Assad loyalists in the coastal Alawite heartland of Latakia spiraled into brutal sectarian bloodshed. At least 1,500 Alawites were killed in the subsequent violence, with a Reuters investigation tracing much of the violence back to security officials in Damascus.
The ongoing violence highlights the challenge facing Syria's transitional government as it attempts to move the country beyond decades of authoritarian rule while managing deep sectarian divisions that the civil war intensified.
Why This Matters:
Assad's death sentence represents Syria's first attempt at judicial accountability for a war that killed hundreds of thousands of civilians and displaced millions more. But the ruling also underscores the distance between legal verdicts and actual justice — Assad remains in Moscow, beyond the reach of Syrian courts, while Syria's new government faces its own allegations of human rights abuses. The humanitarian crisis persists: civilian infrastructure remains devastated, millions remain displaced, and sectarian violence continues to claim lives. The withdrawal of US and reduction of Russian forces marks a significant shift in Syria's geopolitical landscape, but the country's path to stability remains uncertain. Whether Sharaa's government can deliver both accountability for past atrocities and protection for all Syrians going forward will determine whether this moment represents genuine transition or simply a change in who holds power over a fractured nation.