ATHENS, GREECE – July 13, 2025 – In a quiet corner of Athens, far from the tumult of a transformed homeland, Ammar Bakdash, the last leader of a once-influential political force in Syria, passed away at the age of 71. His death, in July 2025, not only marks the end of a personal journey shaped by ideology and conflict but also signifies the definitive twilight of the Syrian Communist Party (SCP), a party that for decades navigated the treacherous currents of Syrian politics.
Bakdash's leadership of the SCP, which began in 2010, concluded amidst a landscape dramatically reshaped by the 2024 fall of the Assad regime and the subsequent rise of Al-Sharaa’s forces. For a party that traced its origins back to the 1944 split from the Syrian-Lebanese Communist Party, and which had for years maintained an uneasy, often compromised, alliance with the Ba’athist government, the recent upheaval proved to be its ultimate undoing. In January 2025, the Syrian Communist Party was formally dissolved, its assets reportedly confiscated by the new authorities, a stark and symbolic act underscoring the rapid decline of leftist influence in a country now grappling with an entirely new political order.
Ammar Bakdash's final years were characterized by a lesser-known, yet deeply personal, consequence of Syria's dramatic shift: political exile. Under pressure and persecution from Al-Sharaa’s forces, Bakdash was compelled to seek refuge outside his homeland. His relocation to Athens highlights a quiet wave of displacement that followed the collapse of the long-standing regime, as individuals associated with the former political structure found themselves vulnerable to the new power dynamics.
In Athens, Bakdash found a measure of solace and, notably, a rare display of international communist solidarity. The Communist Party of Greece (KKE), with whom the SCP shared ideological and historical ties, extended support to Bakdash. This fraternal assistance was rooted in a shared intellectual heritage, exemplified by Bakdash's own academic background, having studied economics at the prestigious Plekhanov University in Moscow. His education in the Soviet Union had not only shaped his political convictions but also forged connections that would ultimately provide a lifeline in his final days.
The dissolution of the Syrian Communist Party in January 2025 and the confiscation of its assets by the new regime represent more than just an administrative act; they symbolize the eradication of a political memory and a specific ideological current from the Syrian public sphere. For a party that once held a legislative presence, with Bakdash himself serving in the People’s Assembly until June 2024, its sudden disappearance from the political stage marks a sharp decline in the influence of organized leftist movements in Syria.
Ammar Bakdash's life was intertwined with the fortunes of the Syrian Communist Party, a party that, despite its internal divisions and external pressures, persisted through decades of turbulent Syrian history. His passing in exile, just months after the formal dismantling of the party he led, serves as a poignant reminder of the profound and often brutal shifts in power that continue to redefine Syria’s destiny. The legacy of the Syrian Communist Party, and of Bakdash himself, will now be assessed not in the halls of power, but in the annals of a nation forever changed.