On 7 December last year, Bahrain hosted its customary round of the Manama Dialogue. On stage, speeches centred on Gulf security, the Red Sea, and Washington's regional role. Yet, during the summit, attention was firmly fixed on Damascus. A lightning offensive by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham had taken Syria by storm, and participants were following the developments in real-time via phones, calls, apps, breaking news alerts.
Images streamed in from the streets, accompanied by initial reports of the collapse of a regime that had ruled the country for almost six decades—a period peppered by war and isolation. The moment felt almost too big to comprehend. In the seeming blink of an eye, one chapter of history had closed and another had begun, undefined and lacking clear contours. That night in Manama was long, fluid, and charged with emotion.
Inside the hall, discussions centred on regional power balances, yet in our hands, phones buzzed with updates from Idlib, Aleppo, Hama, Homs, and Damascus. No one yet knew what shape Syria would take, but by the following day, 8 December, it was clear to all present that these developments would help redraw the map of the Middle East, and that after 7 December, nothing would be the same.
At that moment, it became clear that the Middle East had entered a new phase and that the fall of the Assad regime would reshape the regional landscape. Almost a year later, a comment made by a speaker at the same conference spoke volumes: "Assad fell last December, and today, Syria's foreign minister addresses us in Manama." On the surface, it was a matter-of-fact remark, but in actuality, it was hugely significant. It encapsulated Syria's lightning leap from obscurity to prominence, stepping out from the cold of isolation to the heat of the spotlight.
Yesterday, on 2 November, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani appeared on a panel at the Manama Dialogue discussing "political transition in the Middle East," alongside ministers and representatives from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Palestine. His very presence signalled Damascus's return to the Arab fold, speaking for itself, no longer on behalf of its patrons. With striking confidence, he asked: "Is there a more pressing topic than the political transition underway in the Middle East?"
