How Syria’s war of disinformation reshaped the world

It is possible to trace a line between Assad’s chemical weapons attacks and the hordes who stormed the US Capitol in January, writes Borzou Daragahi

Anti-Syrian government protesters in Idlib mark 10 years since the start of a popular uprising against Assad (AP)

Ten years ago, ordinary Syrians took to the streets. They peacefully and honourably protested against the brutal, decades-long dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad and his father, Hafez.

They paid an unimaginable price. Over the last decade, their country has been destroyed. Their cherished communities have been obliterated by war. They have lost loved ones in extraordinarily high numbers – perhaps as many as 594,000 killed, including thousands of children. Fully half of the nation of 21 million has been displaced, with six million now living as refugees abroad.

But the world, too, has paid a price for allowing the Syria conflict to unfold as it did. The machinery of lies that fuelled the conflict, and the carte blanche handed to Assad, his foreign patrons, and their western enablers, have reshaped the world. In fact, one can trace a line between the barrage of Assad’s chemical weapons that struck the Damascus suburb of eastern Ghouta in 2013 and the hordes of American fascists who stormed the United States Capitol on 6 January.