Writing contemporary history presents a significant challenge: the writer may face plot twists that must fundamentally change his account. This is the fate that faced Coughlin and his 2023 book titled Assad: The Triumph of Tyranny.
Coughlin, a skilled and reputable journalist with a well-written and fluent book, does a fine job of helping to understand the deeply incomprehensible story of Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s iron-fisted ruler from 2000 until his overthrow in December 2024. Unfortunately, some events, such as the account of Hafez’s death and Bashar’s appointment as his successor, lack the depth one would like.
Assad tackles three central questions: How did Bashar, the youngest and unfavored son of his father, Hafez al-Assad, Syria’s dictator from 1970 to 2000, become the heir following the death of his older brother Bassel in a car accident in January 1994? How did Bashar—along with his British-born wife, Asmaa al-Assad—the object of so much hope for change and reform, become a mass murderer following the outbreak of civil war in March 2011? How did he manage, with the help of Russia, Iran, and the Lebanese Hezbollah organization, to survive in power despite the catastrophe he brought upon his country?
The answer to this is Bashar’s success in projecting an image of a man who is committed to reform and change, which earned him support inside and outside Syria. The outbreak of the civil war revealed not only his commitment to the continuation of the dictatorship in Syria but also a brutality in his personality that he had managed to hide until then. However, Bashar’s allies—Russia, Iran, and Hezbollah—mobilized to fight on his side, while Western countries, led by the United States, refrained from any active involvement in the war in Syria even when the red lines they themselves had drawn were crossed—for example, the Bashar regime’s use of chemical weapons against its own people.
Coughlin could not take up a fourth and, especially, interesting question: How did Bashar’s regime collapse after the Hayʼat Tahrir al-Sham rebels, along with others, launched an attack on its forces and managed within twelve days to conquer Syria’s entire territory almost without a fight? Indeed, the Syrian regime proved itself weak and exhausted, lacking any support from home and abroad, more so than most anyone had estimated. Meanwhile, in Idlib province, in the country’s north, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, led by Abu Muhammad al-Julani, became again, without anyone noticing, a powerful organization with a strong military force.
One hopes this final chapter of the Bashar story will be included in an updated version of the book and also lead the author to critically review some of his earlier insights and conclusions.
Eyal Zisser
Vice Rector, Tel Aviv University
