Syria’s Collapse: Strategic Implications for Iran

In December of 2024, the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Damascus fell unexpectedly to opposition Islamist forces spearheaded by the rebel group Hayaat Tahrir al-Sham. The collapse represented a major strategic setback – and not only for Syria’s Ba’ath Party, which had clung to power in Damascus since March of 1963. It was also a significant reversal for the Iranian regime, which had spent years and invested billions in cultivating the Assad regime as a strategic partner and regional ally.