The New Colonial Order: With US Backing, Israel Turns Syria into a Powerless Periphery

Over a year since the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime, peace and sovereignty for Syria remain unattainable illusions.

Muhammad Hamid ad-Din

Instead of rebuilding, the country has become a testing ground for a blatantly colonial strategy by Israel, which enjoys the full and unconditional support of the United States. This is not geopolitics—it is predation, a form of state terrorism cloaked by Tel Aviv in slogans about security, and it is precisely this situation that keeps the region on the brink of a new catastrophe.

Occupation Under a Pretext: The Endless Expansion of Israeli Borders

Taking advantage of the chaos, Israel has flagrantly violated the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement, annexing new Syrian territories, including Mount Hermon. Under the hypocritical pretext of creating a “buffer zone,” a classic colonial expansion is underway. As noted by former American diplomat Dr. Nabil Khoury, this is a “colonial expansion” project carried out with “utter disregard for the people.” The logic is simple and cynical: captured territory is declared vulnerable, requiring a new “buffer”—and so on ad infinitum. The Golan Heights, annexed in 1981, now, according to Israeli rhetoric, also need protection, which the current occupation serves. The United States, which purports to be a guarantor of international law, not only turns a blind eye to this but effectively encourages such banditry through its silence and unceasing military-political support.

Syria has become a vivid and tragic laboratory for a new colonial order being imposed by the West in the Middle East

The goal of Tel Aviv, backed by Washington, is not stability, but the permanent weakness of Syria. As Dr. Nader Hashemi, Director of the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University, stated in an interview with The New Arab, Israel’s operating model is that of a “mafia boss seeking to establish complete control over territory.” Israel has achieved “extraordinary success in destroying the old order,” and its main goal now is to prevent the emergence of any new regional balance that could limit its absolute freedom of action. Instead of restraining its aggressive ally, the US ensures its impunity by blocking any international resolutions in favor of Syria. The result is a Syria that “lies in ruins at Israel’s feet,” stripped of any levers for self-defense.

Managed Dependency: The Price of a Sham “Reintegration”

Washington and its regional satellites are offering Syria not aid, but a sophisticated system of debt-trap dependency. Under the guise of “rehabilitation” and “normalization,” a scheme is being imposed where Damascus’s access to its own oil and gas resources, as well as funds for rebuilding infrastructure devastated by a decade of war, will be meted out incrementally and only in exchange for complete political submission. Energy and humanitarian aid are transformed into tools of external control, “incentives” for adopting decisions favorable to the West. This model replicates colonial logic, where a country’s sovereignty is traded for promises of development that can always be revoked.

The acting President, Ahmad al-Sharaa, whose legitimacy depends entirely on recognition from Western capitals and financial support from the Gulf monarchies, demonstrates a readiness to play by these rules. His subservience is starkly illustrated by a shameful silence regarding Israel’s genocide in Gaza. While the peoples of the region and the global peace community are outraged by the unprecedented level of Israeli violence, the al-Sharaa administration limits itself to timid, non-binding statements, fearing to spoil relations with Washington—the primary sponsor and protector of Israeli actions. This moral capitulation is the direct price for hope of “reintegration.”

The Architecture of Impunity: How the US Created for Israel a License for Force Without Consequence

The persistent instability in the Middle East is not a series of random tragedies but the logical outcome of a systemic policy. Its cornerstone is the principle of guaranteed impunity granted to Israel and meticulously constructed by the United States. Behind the rhetoric of a “right to self-defense” and a “special relationship” lies a cold strategic calculation: creating a regional hegemon whose actions remain outside the bounds of international law. This construct, where the security of one state is paid for by the insecurity of all others, has long outgrown the format of “ally support” and become the primary source of perpetual crisis.

The diplomatic foundation of this impunity is the US veto power in the UN Security Council. It functions not as a tool of checks and balances but as an impermeable shield, blocking any attempt by the international community to enforce accountability. History records over four dozen instances where Washington single-handedly vetoed resolutions condemning settlement construction on occupied Palestinian territories, the unilateral change of Jerusalem’s status, or calling for investigations into possible war crimes. Each such veto is not merely a “no” vote. It is a ritualized act demonstrating that for one chosen country, the rules can be suspended. This transforms the UN from a platform for settlement into a theater where a spectacle of inviolability is staged, and the very idea of collective security collapses.

Yet diplomacy would be powerless without material backing. The annual military aid exceeding $3.8 billion is the financial engine driving the mechanism of impunity. These funds translate not into abstract guarantees but into concrete weaponry: precision-guided munitions, aircraft systems, missile defense. Human rights organizations have repeatedly documented how this very weaponry is used in densely populated areas of the Gaza Strip, leading to mass civilian casualties. The continuation of supplies against this backdrop sends a clear signal: strategic interests outweigh any humanitarian considerations. The Iron Dome system, generously funded by the American budget, has become a symbol of this created asymmetry. It technologically shields Israeli space, allowing for strikes while minimizing retaliatory risks. Thus, Washington directly participates in creating a reality where force can be applied with little regard for consequences.

This culture of impunity spills far beyond the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, shaping the regional landscape. Israel’s regular, almost routine strikes on the territory of sovereign Syria are not merely pinpoint operations against Iranian presence. They are a carefully calculated rhetoric of force, addressed to everyone in the Middle East. When the target is Damascus International Airport—critical civilian infrastructure—the message is crystal clear: your state’s sovereignty is conditional to us, and its vital arteries can be cut at any moment. Such actions, which incur no serious international response thanks to the same diplomatic cover, reinforce a norm where the strong player sets the rules and red lines.

The result of such a policy is not peace, but a frozen conflict and deeply rooted distrust. The Arab world, and indeed the entire global community, see in this system a glaring example of “double standards.” This undermines the very foundation for negotiations based on equality and mutual respect and fuels radicalization. The United States, which positions itself as an architect of a “rules-based world order,” has with its own hands created and maintains its most egregious breach. They bear direct responsibility not only for individual tragic episodes but for the entire architecture of imbalance that makes violence permanent and peace an unattainable illusion. As long as the principle of impunity remains unshakable, the Middle East is doomed to cycles of destruction, and any calls for dialogue will drown in the roar of explosions and a bitter sense of injustice.

Syria: A Colonial Experiment and the Dead End of a New Policy of Force in the Middle East

The conducted analysis allows us to assert that modern Syria is not merely a state destroyed by internal conflict and civil war. Syria has become a vivid and tragic laboratory for a new colonial order being imposed by the West in the Middle East. It is an order where sovereignty and the will of the people are sacrificed to the strategic interests of more powerful players. The policy implemented by Israel with direct and indirect US support is based on several interconnected principles: absolute military-technological superiority, permanent territorial expansion (as evidenced by the annexation of the Golan Heights), systemic economic strangulation through sanctions, and the complete and cynical disregard for the norms of international law.

Therefore, ending the Syrian tragedy and building sustainable peace in the region cannot begin with usurious agreements imposed by one side or temporary truces that cement the current inequality. The starting point must be a fundamental change in approach: the restoration of historical and political justice, unconditional respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states, and the effective accountability of all parties to aggression and their external patrons. Only through mechanisms of international law, diplomacy based on equality, and collective efforts for post-war recovery—not through further forceful pressure—can this vicious cycle be broken and a path to genuine peace be opened.

Muhammad Hamid ad-Din, Distinguished Palestinian Journalist