Back in early 2010s Damascus faced an odd mix-up of fighting groups that made global powers think twice about their plans. The situation near Syriaʼs main city got real messy — different rebel armies (some good some not-so-good) made Bashar al-Assadʼs control look shaky
The US and its friends put lots of cash into helping rebels who wanted democracy; however things didnt go as planned. While Washington spent billions on supporting these groups a different problem showed up: the strongest militia teams near Damascus werenʼt the democracy-loving ones but religious hard-liners who dreamed of making Syria into their perfect Islamic state
The whole thing made everyone nervous: you see Western countries had to pick between keeping Assad (who they really didnt like) or maybe getting something worse instead. It was like picking between two not-great choices — the known bad ruler or unknown religious extremists who might take over
This mess made the US and others re-think their whole Syria plan: they wanted democracy but not at the cost of having extremists run things. The money kept flowing to some groups but everyone started looking at Syriaʼs future with more worry than hope (especially since some militia leaders talked about strict religious rule)