When Bashar al-Assad disappeared from Syria in early December, so too did all the norms, apparatus, charters, and institutions that made up the ‘Syrian state’ in the modern era.
In its long history, the Syrian state has witnessed numerous events that have caused the political system to collapse entirely. Yet, the structural framework of the state has always remained steadfast, healthy, and vital, adapting to each new political order.
In its early years, Syria experienced a French mandate, successive military coups, integration with another country (Egypt), and a fierce regional war (against Israel). Throughout, there were radical changes to the constitution, political orientation, and economic policies of the ruling authorities, but the core structure of the state endured.
The army did not collapse, judges continued their work, governors operated without constitutions, police stations remained open, and Syria’s central bank continued operating. Politicians may have fled or switched allegiances, and national symbols like the flag may have changed, but the state’s essential framework did not.
Irreparable rupture
Not so now. When Assad flew to Russia, all that disintegrated. When he disappeared, so too did Syria’s authoritarian system. This includes everything associated with the Syrian state—its army, police, judiciary, border guards, intelligence service, and civil service. It also includes Syria’s constitution, its public order, symbolic and material authority, and the social contract.
This represents a deep dismantling of the state’s institutional structure, which evaporated like ice flakes in boiling water. That iron-fisted police state, those rigid strategies, the resistance narratives—all were shown to be simply tools. Without Assad, they lost their meaning, value, authority, and credibility. Without him, they lacked definition, form, or independence. In other words, they were not built to last.
