The wars in Ukraine and Iran may not have merged but they certainly overlap: Iran first supplied Russia with drones to strike at Ukraine. Russian factories upgraded and enhanced the drones, which killed hundreds of Ukrainians. Then, on July 25, 2026, Ukrainian drones struck two Russian ships transporting military goods across the Caspian Sea, as well as a Russian escort. Ukrainian drone strikes are now growing commonplace as Kyiv attacks both Russia’s energy industry and the logistics hubs for Wildberries, Russia’s equivalent of Amazon.
As the wars begin to merge, Ukraine might consider a drone strike for justice by targeting former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
By rebuffing and now reversing Russian aggression, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has become the defender of the free world.
Assad ruled Syria for nearly a quarter-century until his December 2024 ouster. Many American officials sought to engage Assad. He was, after all, a Western-educated doctor, never mind that Haitian dictator François “Papa Doc” Duvalier’s public health education at the University of Michigan did not make him any less brutal. Assad, however, was a mass murderer. He was responsible for chemical weapons strikes in East Ghouta and the torture and execution of tens of thousands of Syrian prisoners during the civil war.
As Turkish-backed forces closed in on Damascus, Assad fled to Russia, where President Vladimir Putin ensconced his former client in both the penthouse of a luxury apartment building in Moscow and a nearby villa. For Assad, they are gilded prisons. He can sometimes shop in nearby high-end stores, but Russian intelligence controls visitor access and the former Syrian dictator. Assad reportedly spends his days playing video games.
By rebuffing and now reversing Russian aggression, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has become the defender of the free world. Ukraine has shown an ability to strike far afield at Russia’s interest, even reportedly running operations against Russian mercenaries in Africa. Zelenskyy should now add to that track record by transforming Assad’s penthouse into a death trap. With a Syrian court sentencing Assad to death in absentia for his crimes, Zelenskyy could simply send his precise killer-drones into Assad’s Moscow penthouse.
Eliminating Assad would also signal to would-be purveyors of atrocities that they will enjoy no golden off-ramp should their rule collapse.
While Assad might appear tangential, striking him would embarrass Putin and shake the air of invincibility that he seeks to construct. The Kremlin’s top diplomatic theme has always been consistency, while American administrations engage in whiplash diplomacy, embracing and rebuffing partners like Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Germany, depending on the administration. Russia, Putin’s diplomats repeat, always stands by its friends no matter how many people they kill. If Putin cannot protect those friends, Russia’s attraction to rogues declines.
Eliminating Assad would also signal to would-be purveyors of atrocities that they will enjoy no golden off-ramp should their rule collapse. While the drawback is that, absent immunity, a war criminal might never stand down, the advantage is that removing any illusion of safe haven might moderate behavior or block a decision cascade that leads to atrocity. Nor is consistency necessary. Zelenskyy might eliminate Assad just because it is possible, but allow former Ukrainian dictator Viktor Yanukovych, Assad’s near neighbor in Moscow, to remain. Likewise, targeting Assad need not mean that anyone need touch long-term Mauritanian dictator Maaouya Ould Sid’Ahmed Taya, who now lives in quiet exile in Qatar.
Anyone who has strolled the streets of Beirut or Kyiv knows the distinctive sound of drones overhead; they sound like a lawnmower that fades in and out, depending on the direction they fly. As Assad plays his video games, may that lawn mower rumble be the last sound the former Syrian dictator hears.
