Syrians look back on one year since the fall of Bashar al-Assad
The World
PRX
4.6 • 943 Ratings
🗓️ 8 December 2025
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today marks one year since the regime of longtime dictator Bashar al-Assad was overthrown in Syria. The World caught up with Syrians to hear their perspectives as they reflect on the past. Also, the 2025 US National Security Strategy, unveiled late Thursday, has reignited fears of US ‘gunboat diplomacy’ in Latin America. And, despite aggressive immigration enforcement activities in the US — both in courts and on the streets — applications for asylum are at an all-time high. Plus, an ancient boat discovered off the coast of Alexandria matches descriptions of what were known in Queen Cleopatra's time as “pleasure boats.”
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| 0:00.0 | In Syria, 12 months since the fall of the Assad family, people are still pinching themselves. |
| 0:10.4 | Who would have believed as a Syrian a year ago that in one year, we would have a country |
| 0:15.3 | recognized by the international community. We would have a country at peace with everybody. |
| 0:21.6 | Syrians take stock of their new country. I'm Marco Werman. |
| 0:24.7 | And I'm Carolyn Beeler. Also today, how the Trump administration's new national security strategy |
| 0:29.6 | is being received abroad. In black and white, it does seem a fundamental shift in U.S. |
| 0:36.5 | Strategic Priorities. How that shift looks from.S. Geostrategic priorities. |
| 0:38.0 | How that shift looks from Latin America. |
| 0:40.9 | And airline passengers across India thrown into chaos. |
| 0:44.8 | Man, come on someone. |
| 0:47.5 | That's the world. |
| 0:52.4 | That's today on the world. |
| 0:57.1 | This is the world. |
| 0:58.4 | I'm Marco Werman. |
| 0:59.5 | And I'm Carolyn Beeler. |
| 1:00.7 | Thank you for being here today. |
| 1:02.5 | We begin with celebrations in Syria. |
| 1:08.4 | In town squares across the country, people gathered to mark one year since the fall of the Assad regime. |
| 1:14.8 | Many were proudly waving the new Syrian flag. |
| 1:20.4 | It was this time last year that the sudden and dramatic change took place. |
| 1:24.3 | On this program, we'd been giving daily updates as Syrian rebels overtook one |
| 1:28.8 | city after another, the momentum building until the surprising capture of Damascus on December 8th, |
... |
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