Syria Since 1990: Dimensions Of Conflict

• Published date: 04 November 2022
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.13169/arabstudquar.44.3-4.0181
• Pages: 181-195
• Date: 04 November 2022
• Author: Rami Siklawi
• Subject Matter: Syria,Syrian Conflict,Bilad al-Sham,Palestine,Middle East,US

ASQ 44.3 & 4 Produced and distributed by Pluto Journals

SYRIA SINCE 1990: DIMENSIONS OF CONFLICT

Rami Siklawi

Abstract: This article addresses Syria’s political economic development since 1990 with

its domestic and regional dimensions; it also examines Syria’s geopolitical importance

to Bilad al-Sham. The article illustrates how the US imperial wars and plans impacted

Syria and the wider Middle East region; furthermore, the article examines the motives

behind the US imperialist plans to destroy Syria. It argues that the collapse of the USSR

in 1990 facilitated US supremacy in the world and enabled it to expand even more. The

article tackles the following questions: Why is Syria regarded as central to the Middle East

region? What is the US plan for Syria? Does the US Syria policy have anything to do with

the Palestine issue? Has the ongoing Syrian crisis (since 2011) changed Syria’s political

orientation?

Keywords: Syria, Syrian Conflict, Bilad al-Sham, Palestine, Middle East, US

Introduction

Syria is regarded as the center of Bilad al-Sham, which made it the target for

many imperial powers. Historically, Syria has been the target for colonial powers,

especially the French and the British that divided Bilad al-Sham between them

according to the Sykes–Picot agreement of 1916.1 The French colonial occupation

of Syria and Lebanon was the main driving force in setting the sectarian seeds and

divisions in this region. Similarly, the British colonial occupation of Iraq, Jordan,

and Palestine was the driving force behind the spread of the Zionist settlements

in Palestine and the creation of the Zionist entity in 1948.2 However, the decline

of European colonial occupation post WWII was soon replaced by the US impe-

rial presence in the Arab region, especially after the failed tripartite invasion of

Egypt in 1956, but the most dangerous stage is associated with the collapse of the

USSR in 1990, which afforded the United States an opportunity to take advantage

of this new situation and to tighten its grip over the oil-rich Middle East region.3

In fact, the fall of the USSR elevated the US role to the only supreme power in

the world, both economically and militarily.4 Thus, the most effective and per-

haps only method for the US to achieve its global hegemony would be through

spreading its full and direct control over the world’s resources and mainly over the

Assistant editor of Arab Studies Quarterly and an independent scholar, Beirut, Lebanon.

DOI:10.13169/arabstudquar.44.3 & 4 0181