The Road to Damascus

Most of the world’s TV stations broadcast images of toppling Saddam statues. Not in Syria, though: When the Iraqi regime fell, Syrian TV suddenly changed its format and broadcast history films. The country’s state-controlled media had not ignored the war in Iraq up until that point. Quite the opposite: They had closely, albeit stiltedly, followed the war’s every gruesome twist, and reveled in heartrending scenes of dying civilians. But they just could not bring themselves to report the collapse of the neighboring Ba’athist regime.

The actions of the Syrian government were even more surprising: It swam toward the sinking ship. President Bashar Assad had said before the war that he intended to assist Saddam Hussein. Evoking the occupation of Baghdad by Mongolians in 1258, he declared: “This time some Arab capitals will stand beside Baghdad. When I talk about some Arab capitals, it does not make sense to exclude Syria, which is the closest and at the heart of battles against invaders, because [Syria] is the heart of Arabism.” Assad was true to his word. Over the past few weeks defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld has accused Damascus of supplying Baghdad with military equipment; and secretary of state Colin Powell said that Syria would bear responsibility for its aid to terrorists. Syria remained defiant. As Baghdad was falling, Syrian foreign minister Farouk al-Sharaa said his country would not stop volunteers heading to Iraq, via Syria, to fight U.S. troops.

MW

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Meyrav Wurmser

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Most of the world’s TV stations broadcast images of toppling Saddam statues. Not in Syria, though: When the Iraqi regime fell, Syrian TV suddenly changed its format and broadcast history films. The country’s state-controlled media had not ignored the war in Iraq up until that point. Quite the opposite: They had closely, albeit stiltedly, followed the war’s every gruesome twist, and reveled in heartrending scenes of dying civilians. But they just could not bring themselves to report the collapse of the neighboring Ba’athist regime.

The actions of the Syrian government were even more surprising: It swam toward the sinking ship. President Bashar Assad had said before the war that he intended to assist Saddam Hussein. Evoking the occupation of Baghdad by Mongolians in 1258, he declared: “This time some Arab capitals will stand beside Baghdad. When I talk about some Arab capitals, it does not make sense to exclude Syria, which is the closest and at the heart of battles against invaders, because [Syria] is the heart of Arabism.” Assad was true to his word. Over the past few weeks defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld has accused Damascus of supplying Baghdad with military equipment; and secretary of state Colin Powell said that Syria would bear responsibility for its aid to terrorists. Syria remained defiant. As Baghdad was falling, Syrian foreign minister Farouk al-Sharaa said his country would not stop volunteers heading to Iraq, via Syria, to fight U.S. troops.