The Battle of the Narratives Around Syria

The Russian and Iranian information manipulation apparati have been operating at full capacity, seeking to shape the narrative surrounding developments in Syria to compensate for their military, strategic, and geopolitical defeats in the swift toppling of Bashar al-Assad’s regime. As Russia focused on Ukraine and Iran’s attention turned to Israel, Lebanon, and Gaza, a coalition of rebels took over the country with Turkey’s support and swept away the Assad dynasty in just over ten days. Meanwhile, both nations turned to information warfare to attempt to retain control over the narrative and mitigate their loss of influence in the country and across the region, tying their defeat to a global confrontation with the transatlantic allies.[i] Although not always without grounds, Russian and Iranian propaganda machines distort and amplify Western missteps to facilitate undue generalizations that are easy for a variety of audiences to believe. Other claims are simply untrue.

In addition to providing military support, Russia and Iran spent years positioning Assad as the legitimate leader of Syria and a crucial ally in the fight against terrorism, while Western backing of opposition groups was portrayed as imperialism and illegitimate interference. This framing situated the Syrian conflict—the “first war waged on YouTube”, according to the Wall Street Journal—within a broader struggle between Western powers and the Russia-Iran-Syria axis. In addition to prolonging a war and a humanitarian tragedy, Russian and Iranian disinformation distorted the public’s perception of the Syrian conflict for years, including key audiences in the region and the “Global South”, straining international alliances by promoting divergent threat perceptions and policy approaches. And although al-Assad's reign of terror has ended, the stakes are still high: Russia may attempt to strike a deal with the rebels to retain its naval and air bases, and Iran may try either to lure them into its orbit or to embolden defeated factions. Accordingly, information operations will play a crucial role in shaping the future alliances and foes of the successor regime, including transatlantic actors, and their potential ripple effects across the region.

Since the rebels’ takeover of Aleppo on November 30 and as they advanced towards Damascus, Russian and Iranian claims focused on the responsibility of the United States, Israel, NATO, and even Ukraine in allegedly supporting and coordinating the groups that made up the rebel coalition, such as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). These sources, including PressTV and Russia Today, seized on inconsistencies in Western approaches to Islamist groups to delegitimize stabilization efforts. They highlighted a perceived hypocrisy in how Western media describes militant groups, accusing Hamas or the Taliban of terrorism but ostensibly rebranding those supposedly aligned with Western interests, such as HTS, as “armed” rather than “terrorist” groups. In any case, Russia itself has, since the fall of Damascus, switched to calling the rebels “Syria’s armed opposition” instead of a “terrorist group”. 

Russian-aligned storylines, including a Telegram post from journalist Vladimir Soloviev that has garnered over 200,000 views and almost 5,000 likes, went as far as to claim that the goal of the United States and its allies was to reduce European dependence on Russian energy by restoring Syrian oil and gas pipelines. There is, however, no substantiating evidence to support these claims. The United States, though energy self-sufficient, was specifically accused of exploiting resources in eastern regions where Kurdish separatists are reportedly backed with proceeds from stolen oil and grain.

In addition, Russian and Iranian outlets have criticized the White Helmets, a humanitarian and volunteer organization, which they consider a Western propaganda tool used allegedly to stage chemical attacks and blame Assad’s government for them, and to help rebels affiliated with HTS to carry out these attacks. This narrative has been a recurring element of Russian disinformation about Syria for years. It is interesting to note that al-Assad has since been offered asylum in Russia “out of humanitarian considerations”.

Furthermore, Iranian and Russian sources have described Syria as a strategic battleground where geopolitical rivalries play out and have accused other pro-Western actors of illegitimate meddling. PressTV and Sputnik Iran, for instance, accused Israel of funding and incentivizing rebel and terrorist activities as part of a broader American-Zionist agenda to destabilize the region. Repeated Israeli airstrikes and military incursions into Syrian territory after the fall of al-Assad’s regime risk validating these unfounded claims. Other accounts’ allegations have claimed that Uyghur and Ukrainian specialists were assisting HTS operatives, including providing training in drone operations. For instance, Sputnik News asserted, without credible evidence, that “terrorists of Tahrir al-Sham were able to capture Aleppo thanks to the assistance of Ukrainian advisers in training drones, as well as the use of advanced American technologies.”

Since the collapse of Syria’s regime on November 8, Iran and Russia have maintained a unified narrative emphasizing their opposition to Western interference, support for Syria’s sovereignty, and commitment to combating terrorism. Iranian sources continue to frame events in Syria as an "American-Zionist plot" against the so-called “Axis of Resistance”, while Russian sources describe it as part of NATO’s broader strategy of "controlled chaos" and Western hegemony. However, both nations now appear to recognize political dialogue as the only viable solution, warming up to the possibility of cooperation with the successor regime, provided it aligns with the principles of Western non-interference. 

Syria, the wider region, and other spheres where Iran and Russia aim to exert their influence are thus still exposed to information operations that seek to preserve their hold and provoke further mistrust in Western presence and interests, including support for Ukraine. Transatlantic allies have a historic opportunity to constructively shape Syria’s future by engaging with emerging leadership following the collapse of a pro-Russian and pro-Iranian regime. Yet, as Spanish writer and philosopher Miguel de Unamuno noted, it is not enough to overcome (vencer); one must also convince (convencer). Prioritizing the information space will be crucial to counter foreign information manipulation and interference, build regional and local trust in Western nations, and secure dominance in the battle of the narratives.