While the long-overdue overthrow of Bashar al-Assad has been a cause for celebration for the vast majority of Syrians, there are some groups—most notably the Kurds—who will have legitimate concerns over what the future might hold for them.
Even though al-Assad managed to survive in power after Syria’s decade-long civil war—not least because of the support he received from Russia and Iran—he only succeeded in retaining control of limited amounts of territory.
At the time of his dramatic overthrow, the Assad regime’s authority only extended to little more than half the territory of pre-war Syria. Even though the regime managed to recapture most of the major cities, significant areas of the country remained under the control of rebel groups, not least in the north of the country.
Islamist rebel groups such as Hayat Tahir al-Sham (HTS), the Islamist group that led the uprising which succeeded in overthrowing al-Assad, were centred around the north-west Idlib region, while in the north-east rebel Syrian Kurds had essentially succeeded in creating their own independent fiefdom.
The Kurds, who played a prominent role in the US-led coalition’s military campaign to destroy Islamic State’s so-called Caliphate in Raqqa, were rewarded by being able to establish their own autonomous region in northern and eastern Syria known as Rojava.
Even though the Kurdish enclave has the backing of an estimated 1,000-strong US troops, whose presence is aimed at preventing any resurgence of IS remnants as well as supporting the Kurds, its existence is bitterly resented by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who makes no secret of his desire to see it dismantled.
