Introduction

Abstract

The Syria crisis had repercussions that extended beyond the national boundaries of the country. It affected regional and international relations. It allowed Russia to reassert itself as an important geopolitical player, taking advantage of the American retrenchment from the region that was manifested in the Syrian crisis. The crisis also revealed China’s active role which saw in the Syrian uprising a possible fundamentalist threat at home and tried to balance between its interests in Iran and the Arab Gulf. The inter-Gulf rivalry also played out in the Syrian crisis as Qatar and Saudi funded competing factions which diluted the opposition. Both Turkey and Iran saw in the crisis an opportunity as well as a threat. The Kurdish emancipation in Syria gave an alarming signal to Turkey. Nevertheless, the crisis gave Turkey the opportunity to play a major regional role. Similarly for Iran, uprooting the Assad regime meant losing influence in the Levant, namely the bridge to Hezbollah. On the other hand, it was an occasion to challenge the US. Those regional and international interferences complicated the crisis and led to the prolongation of the suffering of the Syrian people.