Aligned Nations · The wars

Syria after Assad

⚔ The aggressor

Israel

When Assad fell in December 2024, Israel crossed the 1974 disengagement line, occupied the buffer zone and Mount Hermon, and has struck Damascus and the south since — without attack from Syria.

Backed by

  • The United States → IsraelIsrael's arms and its diplomatic cover; Washington is brokering the security talks rather than pressing withdrawal.

Their case: Israel says it holds the zone to protect its border and the Druze.

Syria · since December 2024 · updated 2026-10-12

Deaths: 10,672 from Assad's fall to September 2025, 8,180 of them civilians (SOHR)

Syria's transitional government has brought the Kurdish-led SDF into the army, but Suweida remains outside its control, the coastal and Suweida massacres await justice, and Israel occupies the south.

🇸🇾 Syria38%🇮🇱 Israelaggressor0%

Summary

Since Bashar al-Assad fell in December 2024, the government of Ahmed al-Sharaa has been rebuilding the state. Its record is mixed: the UN Commission of Inquiry found the March 2025 killings of Alawites on the coast widespread and systematic, and the July 2025 violence in Druze Suweida killed hundreds more. Syria's own inquiry has named suspects from government-aligned factions and former-regime groups, but the UN warns that 'selective justice' is not enough.

Israel has occupied the buffer zone and Mount Hermon since December 2024, makes near-daily incursions into Quneitra and Daraa, and has struck Damascus — in breach of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement, say Damascus and 45 states. In January 2026 the SDF agreed to integrate into the Syrian army, a deal the Security Council welcomed. About 5.5 million Syrians remain displaced, though millions have come home.

Where it stands: Government–Druze clashes flared in Suweida in late August 2026. Al-Sharaa asked Israel on 23 September to withdraw to the December 2024 lines; a US-brokered security pact expected that week was not signed. Elections under a new constitution are planned within the transition.

The parties

  • Syrian transitional government

    38%

    Defends its land and has chosen restraint and talks with Israel, but massacres by forces under its banner on the coast and in Suweida stain it.

    • March 2025 coastal violence against Alawites 'widespread and systematic' (UN Commission of Inquiry); 298 suspects from government-aligned factions named by its own inquiry.
    • Suweida, July 2025: hundreds killed, many in summary executions; 23 security personnel detained.
    • Has not answered Israeli strikes with force; seeks withdrawal through US mediation.

    🇸🇾 Syria in the nations ranking38%

  • Israel

    0%

    Seized a neighbour's land when it was weakest and strikes it at will, breaking a 50-year agreement.

    • Holds Mount Hermon and the buffer zone since December 2024; Netanyahu claims 'unprecedented control' (9 September 2026).
    • Struck Damascus and Suweida in July 2025 and again in March 2026.
    • Damascus and 45 states call the occupation a breach of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement.

    🇮🇱 Israel in the nations ranking0%

  • Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)

    Agreed to lay down a separate army and join the state — the peace Islam asks for — though its detention camps hold thousands without trial.

    • Signed the January 2026 integration deal with Damascus and withdrew from areas such as Deir ez-Zor.

    An armed group, not a nation — not scored in the ranking.

Articles

How each nation is scored — the ten principles of our policy reforms
  1. Justice (adl). No one's land, life, rights or wealth taken unjustly; justice upheld for everyone, even enemies, and what was wrongly taken given back. Economic, Financial, Political and National Policy Reform
  2. Protection of life (hifz al-nafs). Life is sacred: non-combatants never targeted, war only against real aggression, and no help given to another's aggression. Political Policy Reform; the objectives of the sharia (maqasid)
  3. Prohibition of usury and speculation (riba, gharar). Public and private finance built on shared risk and real assets, not interest-bearing debt or speculative bets. Economic, Financial, Political and National Policy Reform
  4. Circulation of wealth and zakat (tadawul al-mal). Wealth must not circulate only among the rich; zakat, endowments and fair wages meet every person's basic needs. Economic, Financial, Political and National Policy Reform
  5. Trust over common resources (amana). Water, energy, minerals and public assets belong to the whole community — not privatised, monopolised or signed away for private or foreign gain. Economic and Financial Policy Reform
  6. Accountability and truthfulness (muhasaba, sidq). Rulers, security forces and firms answer to law and to the public; no coups, state capture, bribery or concealment. Economic, Political and National Policy Reform
  7. Legitimate authority by consultation (shura). Rule rests on the community's consent, given through consultation and a free pledge — not inheritance, force or foreign backing. Political and National Policy Reform
  8. Kept covenants and peacemaking (wafa bil-ahd, sulh). Treaties, contracts and rulings honoured; an offer of peace met with peace; disputes ended by reconciliation. Economic, Financial and Political Policy Reform
  9. Independence and self-reliance (izza). No foreign power or creditor in control of the nation's revenues or decisions; its own strength, industry and knowledge built. Financial and Political Policy Reform
  10. Human dignity, privacy and freedom of worship (karama). Every person's dignity protected — citizen or migrant; no spying on private lives; faiths and places of worship free and safe. Economic, Financial, Political and National Policy Reform

These are the principles the Policy Reform pages draw from the expert opinions. Each nation is marked 0–5 on each from its record as a state — its economy, government and treatment of its people, and its conduct in its wars — drawn from UN bodies, the ICJ and ICC, human-rights monitors and the reporting under each war. The ten marks make the percentage; each war a nation started, provoked or joined against another people then takes 15 points off it, and an aggressor always ranks below every nation that started no war. The score judges a state's conduct, not its people or their faith.