Osamah Khalil, professor of history and chair of the International Relations Undergraduate Program, tells The Hill that steps taken by HTS must be “matched by the reality on the ground,” especially for elections. “Is this a free, fair election in which you have multi-parties? Is there equal access to polls? Does it cut across all Syrian society?” he says. “Because you could also see this taken the other way, where Syria becomes this arena for proxy conflicts.” 

In the U.S. News & World Report article, “How the Fall of Assad Will Reshape the Middle East,” Khalil says, “What you’ve seen is a real weakening of Hamas. You’ve seen Hezbollah has been downgraded. “And now you have kind of this key geographic link between Iran, Iraq and Lebanon [that’s also] gone. So from that perspective it’s a big blow to Iran. It’s a big blow to the quote, unquote ‘resistance axis.’”

Khalil was also interviewed on LiveNOW from Fox about what's next in Syria. “What really needs to happen here is for the Biden administration to work with and ensure—with its European allies, with its Arab allies—Syria's territorial integrity, ensure transition to a democratic government, and ensure that all Syrians will be protected,” says Khalil.

“And in fact, part of that is going to be about promising the relief of sanctions, for refugees that want to go home that they can go home, and of course, for Syria to be brought back into the family of nations politically, economically and culturally.”