The Syrian rebels taking Damascus and toppling the country’s President Bashar al-Assad is a “momentous moment” for the Middle East, Firas Maksad, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, told CNN Sunday.
“This is a regime that, for over 50 years, under the mantra of freedom, unity and socialism, oppressed, tortured and disappeared many millions in Syria,” Maksad said. The regime also oppressed Lebanese and Palestinian people when the Assad regime occupied Lebanon for several years, he said.
“There’s no doubt that this is a joyous moment for many at a human level,” he said, but it could also be a “moment of potential peril” for minority communities in the country, including religious groups like Alawites, Ismailis, Druze and Christians.
“There are concerns about the more Islamist jihadi elements of this rebel force,” he said, particularly when it comes to Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), the main group driving the country’s armed opposition, which has been designated a terrorist group by the US and many other countries.
