Part 9/14:

What’s crucial to understand is that the Iraq invasion of 2003—initially justified by alleged links to terrorism—was driven by geopolitics rather than truth. It opened a Pandora’s box of chaos, transforming Iraq into a failed state and further destabilizing Syria.

The Syrian Civil War: A Product of Internal Failures and External Churn

The Syrian uprising in 2011 ignited a brutal civil war. Bashar al-Assad’s regime, built on sectarian and authoritarian foundations, responded with overwhelming violence. Mass massacres, such as the destruction of Hama in 1982 and recent pogroms, reveal a regime willing to unleash sectarian violence to retain power.

Key dynamics: