Syria After Assad (full documentary) | FRONTLINE

FRONTLINE examines Syria’s uncertain future, tracing jihadist-turned-statesman Ahmad al-Sharaa’s rise to power and investigating emerging threats to the country’s stability.

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Syria faces an uncertain trajectory in the wake of the toppling of President Bashar al-Assad after a nearly 14-year war that led to hundreds of thousands of deaths. The man who led the offensive to topple Assad — and now leads the fragile country — is Ahmad al-Sharaa, once known by his jihadist nom de guerre Abu Mohammad al-Jolani.

The geopolitical situation al-Sharaa is now shepherding Syria through is precarious. “Syria After Assad” examines how what happens in Syria under al-Sharaa’s rule could have consequential effects across the region and beyond, how al-Sharaa has wielded power so far and why the country is still deeply divided.

Although al-Sharaa has continually pledged unity and peace, members of the country’s minority groups — including the Kurds, the Druze and the Alawites — say they have been excluded and the latter fear retribution.

“The situation is very fluid; we just have to wait and see what happens,” Murhaf Jouejati, a Syrian academic and diplomat, says in the documentary. “We need to see this new administration be inclusive of all Syrians. We need to make sure that Syria will no longer be a center of terrorism.”

As “Syria After Assad” explores, the stakes are high for Syria’s people, the regional powers that have long engaged in deadly proxy battles in Syria, and the world.

James Jeffrey, a top diplomat in the region during the Bush, Obama and first Trump administrations, says, “What happens in Syria impacts all of the Middle East.”

”Syria After Assad” is a FRONTLINE production with Rain Media, Inc. The producers are Martin Smith, Brian Funck and Marcela Gaviria. The co-producers are Hoda Osman and Scott Anger. The writer and correspondent is Martin Smith. The editor-in-chief and executive producer of FRONTLINE is Raney Aronson-Rath.

Explore additional reporting on “Syria After Assad” on our website:

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FRONTLINE is produced at GBH in Boston and airs nationwide on PBS. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Additional support for FRONTLINE is provided by the Abrams Foundation, Park Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the FRONTLINE Journalism Fund, with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation, and additional support from Koo and Patricia Yuen.

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