Conversations about Syria in the media are always stunted in part by hushed whispers warning, “The walls have ears.”
This deep psychological indoctrination among Syrians is a powerful and much underestimated tool that serves the Assad regime well in keeping up appearances. It helps conceal the truth about the regime’s despotic abuses from the outside world by intimidating people living either in Syria or among the diaspora into silence. Even Syrians who live on the other side of the world are reluctant to publicly call out their government’s atrocities and corruption out of fear that their words will result in harm for their loved ones who still live over there.
There has been a concerted effort in recent years by the Assad regime to whitewash their image by drowning out anti-Assad voices with a deluge of soft pro-Assad propaganda, exemplified by their invitation of Western travel vloggers to take sanitized trips to Syria led by pro-regime tour guides. These attempts to rehabilitate Assad’s image abroad coincide with the outside world’s increasing disinterest and fatigue with news stories about Syria and the suffering of Syrian people due to poverty, hunger, torture, and massacres.
The term ‘Syria fatigue’, reflects a multitude of factors ranging from the prolonged nature of the revolution to deliberate strategies employed by the regime to control narratives and suppress information on the war crimes they have committed.
Of course, there is the natural fatigue that comes with a 13-year-long bloody revolution–the normalization of violence creates a thriving atmosphere for lack of empathy. This inherently molds a desensitized political atmosphere and the urgency of humanitarian matters is downplayed, making it less newsworthy. However, there are also more sinister reasons for the lack of attention to the ongoing war crimes against Syrian civilians.
The Assad regime's strategic exploitation of media fatigue and further utilization of it aids in shaping international perceptions and diminishing scrutiny of its actions. Through disinformation campaigns, cyber and psychological warfare, and strategic engagement with geopolitics and diplomacy, Assad consolidates his grip on power while perpetuating a humanitarian catastrophe.
The utilization of significant world events of any capacity as a diversion by the Assad regime ensures no there is no room for their crimes against humanity to show up the headlines. To further reinforce this idea that Syrians are no longer under threat by the regime, significant figures both Syrian and not have been tools in propagating ideas that Syria is ‘healed’ and that there is ‘no war or destruction’. Government officials from Damascus to Denmark can be heard making the demonstrably false claim that “Syria is safe, now.”
The very use of the phrase, ‘civil war’ in a very apparent dictatorship is a deliberate use to undermine the victims of Assad and deny the existence of a totalitarian regime. This has led to the push for the deportation of all Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Turkey back to an incredibly unsafe and unstable country. The scapegoating of Syrians as the root of so much of the financial, social, and political situation poses a significant risk for Syrian refugees.
The specialty of the Assad regime is cyber and psychological warfare for the main reason that the psychological effects are often irreversible. Even this far into the revolution, terms such as, “The walls have ears” and “Mukhabarat” (Syrian intelligence forces) still strike fear into the hearts of many Syrians. The psychological effects persist even in those who have left the country and sought refuge in a safer place. While the voices of the revolution were much louder in the beginning, the very same voices have been inclined to keep quiet for their safety and that of those around them.
Diversion tactics and propaganda
The exploitation of all sorts of global events serves as a diversion for the Assad regime to continue their crimes against Syrian civilians, to maintain a facade of stability and diminish scrutiny on the regime. The Assad regime and Russia have strategically capitalized on international focus on the genocide in Gaza to deflect attention from their actions in Syria and potentially commit war crimes with less scrutiny.
Since October 7th, the attacks in northern Syria have increased substantially. The Assad regime and Russia have taken this opportunity to drop barrel bombs on civilians in Idlib, Aleppo, and Hama on multiple occasions. Exploitation of the Palestinian genocide furthers Assad's dual objectives of maintaining a pretense of fighting Israel while also targeting so-called “terrorists” in rebel-held areas, all of which tends to be accepted without question by pro-Palestine Westerners. This method centers on the fallacy that making comparisons between Palestine and Syria should be discouraged so as not to take any media attention away from a more critical and current situation.
In reality, while there are differences between the two, Palestinian and Syrian people both face urgently severe humanitarian disasters exacerbated by ongoing warfare and atrocities targeting civilians.
New Year's Day: On the morning of January 1st, the Russian and regime forces shelled the city of Darat Azza killing 5 civilians. Meanwhile, celebrations from the night before were still commencing and filling the streets and occupying media headlines . This fits a broader pattern of Assad loyalists and Russian forces targeting residential neighborhoods, marketplaces, refugee camps, and other places filled with non-combatants. Any time crowds of civilians gather for any reason in rebel-held territory comes with a heightened risk for war crimes perpetrated by pro-regime forces and their foreign allies.
Earthquakes in Syria and Turkey also presented an opportunity for Assad to deflect his history of violence against his people and pose as a legitimate head of state. The acquisition of funds by international aid groups such as the UN Relief and refusing to allow entry into the rebel-held territory, only to then pin the blame on international sanctions somehow did not raise as many eyebrows as it should have. The many lives lost at the expense of Bashar al-Assad glamorizing his image by visiting victims in the regime-controlled areas while pocketing the extra money is tantamount to indiscriminate murder. The regime must be held accountable for not allowing more advanced machinery into those areas and waiting for days on end with only the White Helmets working to retrieve victims from under the rubble.
The regime’s numerous lies and incessant gaslighting about their own acts of mass-murder are not limited to the 2020s, they have been a constant of Assadism since the early 2010s.
The 2013 Chemical attacks on Ghouta: The Assad regime shifted all blame onto opposition groups without providing a shred of evidence to support their claims that the chemical attacks that killed more than a thousand people in a single day were a false-flag operation by the rebels. The constantly-repeated and completely unevidenced narrative that “terrorist groups” carried out the heinous crime has truly been enough to sway many people across the world.
By strategically timing military offensives, engaging in narrative manipulation, and taking advantage of global geopolitical shifts, Assad and his allies have managed to evade accountability and maintain control amidst international crises. Addressing these challenges requires continuous international scrutiny, independent reporting, and efforts to hold all parties accountable for their war crimes and crimes against humanity against the Syrian people.
Psychological Warfare Tactics Used by the Assad Regime
Assad’s preferred model of provoking compliance through fear centers itself around psychological warfare, especially over the Internet. Although cyberterrorism is considered a form of “non-kinetic” warfare, the outcomes of the constant psychological offensives may very likely manifest into physical stress and illnesses. Almost all documented instances of cyber warfare are forms of psychological warfare.
Assad's government has long employed fear tactics through arbitrary arrests, disappearances, and widespread torture. These brutal measures instill a climate of fear and silence dissent, making it risky for Syrians to speak out or provide information to journalists or international human rights organizations. With over 300 journalists' political arrests, and up to 700 killed in targeted airstrikes or executions, the decline in journalists on the ground has undoubtedly affected the fatigue of Syria in the media. These attacks also serve as examples to those with ideas of rebelling against the regime and what will inevitably happen to them if they do.
In 2022 a law supposedly “cracking down” on cybercrime was introduced–the real purpose this new law is for the heavy online monitoring of all Syrian citizens by the government to weed out those indulging in any number violations of the law. The implementation of this new law is meant to ensure the security of citizens and protect the “prestige of the state,” according to the Minister of Communications, Iyad Khatib.
It is no secret that Assad has a long history of cyber warfare targeting anyone going against the dictatorial regime with the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA), a state-sponsored hacking group who target opponents of the regime. Those who have been tracked down through their social media or accidentally downloaded malware through specific links used by the SEA and the government have suffered fates of political imprisonment, political disappearances, and death.
The Assad regime tightly controls traditional media outlets within Syria, censoring information that challenges or fails to praise its official narrative. Independent journalists face harassment, wrongful imprisonment, and death, which leads to self-censorship and limited coverage of sensitive issues. This control extends to international media operating within Syria, constraining their ability to report freely on the ground.
The Narrative the Syrian public figures have solidified
In an attempt to shift public opinion, recognizable Syrian figures are used to propagate the idea of stability in Syria and an unmoving love and loyalty to the president. In the line of directly defending Bashar Al Assad, Bassem Yakhoor becomes defensive and hostile while in an interview with Ali Yaseen on Aljadeed TV.
Heavily defending Assad and his regime, Yakhoor exclaims, “No one comes near the topic of the president around me,” and “I am the son of the regime.”
Bashar Al Assad even goes as far as to procure a group of recognizable A-list Syrian actors, directors, and producers for a public meeting. Among those recognizable faces are Bassem Yakhoor, Qusai Khouly, Bassam Kousa, and Tayim Hassan and they discuss plans for the Syrian TV scene, pitching ideas to the president.
This public show is intended to provide comfort for the financial future of Syria and to garner the fans of the celebrities. The history of the Assad regime's horrific crimes become more normalized and the idea of him being a war criminal becomes forgotten. These efforts to maintain control, suppress dissent, and manage international perceptions are proving effective. These declarations help legitimize the regime's narrative of stability while diverting attention from ongoing war crimes and humanitarian crises.
Public figures may promote a sense of stability by proclaiming Syria's healing, and recovery, and encouraging Syrians to focus on rebuilding their lives and communities. This diversion of attention from ongoing conflict and humanitarian crises helps the regime downplay its culpability in and responsibility for the country's devastation. Assad uses public figures' endorsements to discredit opposition groups, activists, and international critics who continue to highlight ongoing abuses and atrocities.
The regime undermines efforts to hold it accountable for war crimes and human rights violations by portraying Syria as stable and safe while a low-intensity conflict against “terrorists” persists in remote corners of the country far away from areas where tourists are allowed.
Conclusion
We, as Syrians in the diaspora, cannot afford to let the war crimes and crises faced by Syrians in Syria at the hands of the regime and widespread denialism abroad deter us from exposing the regime’s true nature. The livelihoods of so many are still very much heavily affected, whether it be at the brunt of the financial crisis, the earthquake, or the constant threat of the Assad regime.
The collective prolonged exposure to images and stories of violence and humanitarian suffering in Syria has led to a strong numbness in the international community, leading many to view us as being mere statistics rather than flesh-and-blood human beings. This directly affects the victims of the regime's perceived urgency in reporting the ongoing atrocities which in turn allows the narrative that Assad presents to become more widespread. A climate of intimidation, in turn, stifles global discourse and leads to a decline in the open conversations surrounding the matters in Syria.
Studies by Human Rights Watch also break down how misinformation campaigns led by pro-Assad supporters have influenced public opinion, fueling resentment towards Syrian refugees and calls for their deportation. This has created a hostile environment for the refugees, who face increasing public hostility and barriers to basic rights and services. This creates a domino effect that seemingly starts at the line of declining media coverage and widespread ignorance.
Understanding and breaking down Assad's tools of psychological warfare in a manner that truly encapsulates the last decade’s horrors to evoke empathy and understanding requires calling out the public figures and influencers who propagate misleading narratives. The regime uses these people to spread the fiction that the war has ended, despite ongoing violence and human rights abuses perpetrated by his regime.
To counter the Assadist propaganda, lessen the effects of media fatigue, and support the long-term well-being of Syrians impacted by the dictatorial regime, the international community must act on the following issues: to seek justice for all victims and ensure that everyone who stands accused of war crimes is brought to trial.
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