Abstract
This article analyzes foreign policy behaviors of Syria under Bashar al-Assad in times of three crises: the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, Syria’s withdrawal from Lebanon in 2005 and the outbreak of Arab Spring in 2011. These three crises, which Bashar al-Assad has faced since he rose to power in 2000, have stemmed from international, regional, domestic environments respectively. The article posits that the Baath regime’s security and survival concerns rather than external factors have primarily shaped Syrian foreign policy conducts in times of crises. In the article, it is pointed out that Syria as a weak state has been able to survive these crises that seriously threatened the very existence of the Baath regime thanks to its foreign policy strategies. In this context, the article underlines that President Assad’s alignment policy helped Syria as a weak state survive despite domestic and external threats.
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