On the fateful 28th of February, the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, a leader who made it his life’s mission to destroy Israel, had his morning plans interrupted when Israeli fighter aircraft dropped heavy munitions on his office. Since then, a full-scale air war has ensued in the Middle East. American and Israeli air forces have pummeled Iran, hitting air defense sites, ballistic missile launchers and storage facilities, defense factories, IRGC institutions, and regime symbols.

Once elevated under the Assad regime, Syria’s Alawite community now bears the burden of revenge killings driven by decades of sectarian tension. However, nothing happens in a vacuum; Syria’s neighbours watch carefully whether the nation will rise from the ashes or collapse into violence again. Will Ahmed al Shaara’s administration divide or unite Syria?