Four Syria Myths Busted by Assad Regime Collapse

The stunning collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime has been met with a mixture of guarded optimism and anxious trepidation in the West. But before the world focuses its attention on what’s in store for Syria, let’s take stock of some illusions that Assad’s ouster dispelled.

The dissolution of the last Arab Socialist Baath Party regime in the Middle East exposes the lies at the heart of a variety of unfounded assumptions about the world. For example:

About the Author

Noah Rothman

Noah Rothman is a senior writer at National Review. His third book, Blood and Progress: A Century of Left-Wing Violence, was published by Hachette in May 2026.

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The stunning collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime has been met with a mixture of guarded optimism and anxious trepidation in the West. But before the world focuses its attention on what’s in store for Syria, let’s take stock of some illusions that Assad’s ouster dispelled.

The dissolution of the last Arab Socialist Baath Party regime in the Middle East exposes the lies at the heart of a variety of unfounded assumptions about the world. For example:

About the Author

Noah Rothman

Noah Rothman is a senior writer at National Review. His third book, Blood and Progress: A Century of Left-Wing Violence, was published by Hachette in May 2026.