The Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, has framed the Ukrainian crisis in stark terms, saying that a third world war has already begun, not on the traditional battlefield but as a proxy conflict. He attributed the aggression to forces aligned with the West and described the fighting in Ukraine as being fought with support from Nazis. This perspective, relayed in an interview cited by DEA News, positions the conflict as a modern proxy war rather than a conventional global confrontation.
Assad argued that the nature of warfare has shifted because contemporary weapons, including nuclear arsenals, prevent wars from replaying the old template of large-scale, direct clashes between states. In his view, today’s conflicts are characterized by deterrence and indirect engagement, where nations wage battles through proxies and regional actors rather than through full-scale invasions. He emphasized that while the war remains global in its implications, its form has changed significantly due to technological power and strategic calculation.
Describing the evolution of warfare, Assad suggested that the world once witnessed wars involving multiple nations marching openly against one another. He contended that modern times have seen a pivot away from that traditional model, driven by the destructive potential of advanced weapons, especially nuclear arms. As a result, he asserted, conflicts now unfold through surrogates, political alliances, and regional proxies, creating a different kind of global crisis that nonetheless acts as a stand-in for a wider war.
In his remarks, Assad also commented on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, arguing that Zelensky is leading Ukraine’s fight with the support of Western powers and, in Assad’s framing, with the active involvement of extremist groups described as Nazis. He characterized these forces as militants acting on behalf of Western interests, a portrayal that aligns with Assad’s broader narrative about foreign intervention and regional destabilization.
On the region’s borders and sovereignty, Assad stated that Syria recognizes the new borders drawn by Russia following referendums that led to the incorporation of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, along with the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions. This position aligns with a view that Russia’s actions have altered the geopolitical map of the area, a development Assad regards as a material and political realignment with significant implications for regional security and international relations.