Syria’s Assad toppled, Algerian regime freaks out

Syrian rebels put an end to 53 years of the Assad family’s rule declaring the end of the Bashar Assad regime after a bloody 14 year-war. The news of freed political prisoners and refugees jubilating to go home triggered emotions of joy, except in the Algerian political class where the news was met with the grief to see an authoritarian ally fall so spectacularly fast.

The grief is also shared in Iran and Russia which both maintained troop deployment for years as well as proxies in the Syrian battle ground, perpetrating war crimes against the will of the Syrian people.

Now, that the Assad regime has fallen, the Algerian regime is in dire diplomatic condition after years of backing Bashar in diplomatic forums against his own people.

Algeria has for years opposed Arab initiatives to arm the Syrian opposition and worked to break the isolation of Bashar Assad. Meanwhile, it mistreated Syrian refugees at home abandoning them in desert borders as was cited in a Human Rights Watch report in 2017.

Algeria has also backed the Assad regime in the UN against any attempt that would lead to a political solution or improve the lives of refugees waiting to go back home.

Sugarcoating its pro-Bashar Assad position as a stand against foreign intervention, Algerian officials stood steadfast in support of the status-quo in Syria, and never condemned the presence of Iranian troops and Hezbollah proxies or Russian soldiers.

Reports shared on social media showed Syrian rebels capturing Algerian nationals believed to have fought for Assad amid the Blitzkrieg on Aleppo.

The Algerian regime has said it was repatriating nationals without specifying what exactly they were doing in a war zone.

The Algerian regime has been on the side of Bashar Assad since the onset of what started as a peaceful revolution against the backdrop of the Arab Spring. Protesters demanded a clean break with the Assad regime who responded with repression, killing civilians, and triggering a civil war that forced millions to displacement in neighboring countries.

Algeria never condemned Assad for his crimes and was a staunch ally of the brutal Syrian regime, on the footsteps of its Russian arms supplier and its Iranian ally.

In defending Assad, the military regime in Algeria was rather defending its own model of military authoritarianism.

The fall of Assad should serve as a reminder to the Algerian regime to start listening to the Algerian people and the demands of the disenchanted youth for democracy and better social and economic prospects or else face a similar fate.

The new Syria that will emerge from the rubble of the war will remember the Algerian regime’s position in support of Assad crimes against civilians.