Syria: fall of Assad a blow for Iran’s ‘Shia crescent’ – here are its foreign policy options in the new-look Middle East

By Ali Bilgic, Professor of International Relations and Middle East Politics, Loughborough University

When Hafez al-Assad, an Alawite minority member, seized control of the Ba'ath Party in Syria in 1970, he faced a significant backlash. The Syrian Constitution stipulated that only Muslims could hold the presidency, and the Alawites were deemed non-Muslim by many Sunni groups.

In this critical moment, the Iranian mullahs salvaged Assad’s presidency by declaring the Alawites a branch of Shia Islam. This marked the beginning of a partnership that would shape the Middle East…

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