Tyrant to Tyrant?

The fall of Bashar al-Assad should feel like a victory for the people of Syria. His regime was brutal, a cold machine of torture, repression, and endless war. For decades, his government crushed dissent, silenced voices, and bled the country dry. So, yes, I get why so many Syrians are celebrating. They’ve been through hell and back, and watching such an oppressive figure be toppled must feel like justice finally showing up. But if we’re being honest, history tells us to hold our applause, because what comes next is often worse than what came before.

Just think about Iraq after Saddam Hussein or Libya after Gaddafi. Both dictators were ruthless, no doubt, but their removals didn’t bring peace or freedom. Instead, they left power vacuums that sucked in chaos: sectarian violence, endless militias, corrupt leaders grabbing at scraps. Ordinary people—the ones who were supposed to benefit from “liberation”—ended up buried in rubble or locked in endless civil wars. The hopeful promises of change were swapped out for deeper misery. In Syria, we’re seeing something similar. Assad’s fall didn’t come with a roadmap to democracy or stability. Instead, it seems to be handing power to extremists, the kind who burn books and crush the public under the weight of their so-called morality.

So while I want to believe this is a turning point for Syrians, I can’t help but feel uneasy. It’s not enough to overthrow a tyrant if the system that replaces him is just another brand of oppression. Sunnis, Alawites, Kurds, Christians—everyone deserves a Syria where they can live without fear. But instead of justice, it looks like the country is trading one nightmare for another.