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By Brendan Cole
Senior Reporter
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Images shared on social media have illustrated the anger that Syrian rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad feel toward his ally Vladimir Putin.
The Russian leader has been indispensable in propping up Assad's regime during the brutal Syrian civil war that started in 2011 but has been essentially frozen over the last four years. Russia's bombardment of Aleppo in 2016 kept the northern city in the hands of the Syrian government until the capture of its ancient citadel last week by rebels led by the Sunni Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
However, images that have emerged since the rebellion began show the extent that the rebels consider the Russian president to be inextricably linked with the Assad regime in Syria's capital, Damascus. Newsweek has emailed the Russian Foreign Ministry for comment.
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The journalist Thomas van Linge posted on X, formerly Twitter, a video he said was from Western Aleppo of an image of the Russian and Syrian leaders being taken down from a residence and stomped on. "A portrait of dictator Assad, and his facilitator Putin, meets the boot of a Syrian rebel," said the post.
As well as toppling a statue of Assad's late brother, separate images published by British newspaper The Sun also showed rebels tearing and burning a Russian flag in Basel Square, Aleppo, in an apparent warning to Putin.
In another sign of solidarity with his ally, Putin has stepped into the fray again with Russian airstrikes targeting Aleppo, and parts of Idlib and Hama provinces.
However, much has changed in the years since Putin's intervention in Syria's civil war. The Russian president's invasion of Ukraine is nearly three years old, and Israel's war against Hamas, as well as its targeting of Hezbollah and Assad's ally Iran, adds to the complications.
"The Assad regime will attempt to persuade the Russians to provide backing that will be key in the regime's counteroffensive against the latest rebel advances in northern Syria," said Rateb Atassi, senior associate at geopolitical and cyber risk consultancy S-RM, "but the Russians will be stretched thin."
"Invested resources in backing the Assad regime now will come at the expense of Russia's offensive in Ukraine," Atassi told Newsweek. "With all parties waiting for Trump's presidency, and his plan to end the war in one day, the Russians might be more inclined to focus on maximizing their wins in Ukraine."
The Syrian insurgents launched attacks in the central province of Hama on Tuesday, which threatened to cut off government troops from a route linking Damascus with Aleppo.
Buğra Süsler, visiting fellow at LSE IDEAS in London, England, told Newsweek that support from Russia—as well as Iran—is critical for Assad to push back against the rebels.
"However, Russia's focus on the Ukraine war and the conflict in the wider Middle East involving Iran might complicate their ability to provide the same level of support as before," Süsler said.
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Update 12/03/24, 4:30 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with the quote about Trump's presidency placed to clarify it was made by Rateb Atassi.
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