![Demonstrators trample a carpet with a design showing president Bashar al-Assad during a protest outside the Syrian consulate in Istanbul. Photo: Kemal Aslan/AFP/Getty](https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/GettyImages-2188260145-e1733832490815.jpg)
Syria
The end of a dictatorship
Assad’s survival was Putin’s way of showing he was still a global player. When the collapse came, he was powerless to prevent it
Syria