A Damascus court sentenced Syria’s former president Bashar al-Assad to death on Tuesday, convicting him of murder, torture, and incitement to murder. This landmark ruling by the transitional authorities arrives as Syria's new government under interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa navigates the recent withdrawal of US forces and declares its position on the broader regional conflict, including the “Israeli-US war on Iran.”
The court also sentenced Assad’s brother Maher and former security official Atef Najib to death. Najib, a cousin of Assad, was tried in person, convicted of crimes including murder, “the intentional killing of children under 15,” and “torture leading to death.” Bashar and Maher Assad were tried in absentia.
Bashar al-Assad fled with his family to Moscow in December 2024, now in his second year since armed opposition forces closed in on Damascus. The interim government began prosecuting figures from the former government this year, both in person and in absentia, marking the first ruling under these new authorities.
Assad, who became president 26 years ago in 2000, maintained his family’s rule and the dominance of the Alawite sect. His government kept Syria aligned with Iran and hostile towards both Israel and the United States. This historical alignment shaped much of the regional dynamics for decades.
US Intervention and Withdrawal
The US military presence in Syria, which began in 2015, concluded this year. In April, the last remaining US troops left their base in Hasakah, ending a 10-year presence in the country. The Syrian military subsequently entered the Qasrak base, which included an airstrip, previously under American control.
Washington, which now backs President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s new government, previously maintained around 1,000 US troops in Syria. American forces also withdrew from two other major American bases: southern al-Tanf and al-Shaddadi in the northeast. The Syrian foreign ministry welcomed “the completed handover of military sites where United States forces were previously present in Syria to the Syrian government.”
Earlier this year, the US facilitated an agreement between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a longtime US partner, and Damascus. Under this agreement, the Syrian government agreed to take the lead in combating militant groups like the Islamic State group. The SDF also consented to hand over control of large swathes of territory, including Raqqa and Deir Ezzor, to Damascus.
Regional Alignments and Internal Strife
Interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa, whose Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham seized Damascus on 8 December 2024, ousting Assad in his second year, has since embraced world leaders. During a visit to London in April, Sharaa stated that Damascus would stay out of the “Israeli-US war on Iran” unless his country came under direct attack. This declaration signals a cautious approach to regional conflicts.
On Monday, Syria also reached a memorandum of understanding with Russia to scale back Moscow’s military presence on Syria’s Mediterranean coast. This agreement concluded 18 months of negotiations over the future of the Hmeimim airbase and Tartus naval facility.
The 14-year civil war, which began 15 years ago in March 2011 with the violent suppression of Arab Spring protests, devastated civilian infrastructure and displaced millions. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed. Human rights abuses were widely reported, with the Assad government accused of widespread arbitrary detention, torture, enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and attacks on civilians. A UN investigative mechanism cited evidence of systematic torture, sexual violence, and enforced disappearances across more than 100 government detention facilities.
Despite the political transition, rights concerns persist, with UN experts reporting allegations of summary executions, forced displacement, and other abuses against civilians. Meanwhile, tensions between the new government and the Alawite community remain high. Last year, armed attacks by suspected Assad loyalists in the coastal Alawite heartland of Latakia escalated into brutal sectarian bloodshed, killing at least 1,500 Alawites. A Reuters investigation traced much of this violence back to security officials in Damascus.
Sharaa has initiated economic reforms and promised to pursue former government personnel implicated in war crimes. He has also appeared in Western media, speaking of Syria’s “diversity as a strength” and of “unifying the country,” though some question the sustainability of his transformation and note his lack of public apology for past actions.