The decades-long rule of the Assad family in Syria has come to an end. On Sunday, Islamic rebel groups overthrew Bashar al-Assad, after which he was forced to flee to Russia along with his family. Former Indian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Talmeez Ahmed has termed the fall of Assad as a conspiracy by Israel, Türkiye and America. Talmeez Ahmed said in an interview, ‘There is no such concrete news yet but I believe that this is a joint conspiracy of Israel, Turkey and America. All these countries had their own reasons for removing Assad from power. Türkiye was keeping a close eye on the Assad regime and had also deployed military forces to keep an eye on the Kurds in northern Syria. Israel wanted to remove Iran from Syria. The US was seeing this as an attempt to isolate Iran geopolitically and wanted to remove Russia from the Syrian port of Tartus. In an interview given to ‘The Wire’, Talmiz Ahmed said that the Syrian army laid down its arms before the rebel groups because the army had understood that now is the time to lay down its arms, this is not the time to fight. Related news: Giving the example of Iraq, the former ambassador said, ‘You may remember that something similar happened in Iraq too, when elements of ISIS reached Mosul city, then 20 thousand Iraqi soldiers suddenly disappeared. I think when soldiers see that there is no point in losing their lives because they will lose. I am sure that Israel and America must have warned the Syrian soldiers in advance that if they tried to fight, they would be killed in airstrikes as happened in Iraq. Assad did not accept the deal and a coup happened! Talmiz Ahmed claimed that he is absolutely sure that America, Israel and Turkey are behind the fall of Assad’s power. He said, ‘A few days ago news came that UAE is being asked to send a message to Assad that if he ends his relations with Iran, arrangements will be made for his rehabilitation. But Assad did not accept this. I believe that Assad’s overthrow was done with very good planning by Israel, Türkiye and America for their own benefit. How worrying is the fall of Assad for India? The fall of Bashar al-Assad’s power in Syria can also be a matter of concern for India. The fall of Assad may lead to the re-emergence of extremist groups in Syria, which may affect the Middle East as well as India. HTS leader al-Jolani comes from the background of ISIS and in such a situation, if extremist groups become active again due to the void in Syrian leadership, then terrorist groups like ISIS can pose a challenge to India. Talmiz Ahmed says, ‘Political instability may persist in Syria for a long time. For the time being, India’s interests have not been directly affected; our relations with Israel are also fine. But what India should be concerned about is the issue of Iran. Israel wants to attack Iran along with America and if this happens then the region will be trapped in a long conflict which will also affect India. The former ambassador said that India should take diplomatic initiative to convince Israel not to attack Iran. He said that for its own benefit, India should stop Israel from escalating the conflict by attacking Iran. On the current situation in Syria, the Foreign Ministry has issued a statement calling for peace. The Foreign Ministry said in a statement, ‘We are keeping an eye on the situation in Syria in view of the ongoing developments there. We urge all parties to work towards maintaining the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria.
