Syria’s outcast dictator returns to the Arab world
Bashar al-Assad’s warm welcome in the Emirates is a sign of America’s waning influence
BASHAR AL-ASSAD has few occasions to fish out his passport. The Syrian tyrant has been largely confined to his own country since 2011, when he set out to crush a string of peaceful protests calling for reform. As civic unrest turned into civil war, he became a pariah. His few foreign forays have been to Russia and Iran, wartime allies to whom he owes his survival.
This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “Springtime for a pariah”
From the March 26th 2022 edition
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