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Assad is nowhere as incompetent as Maduro and did some important reforms upon taking power. Syria's feudalization reflects its own lack of modernization, where surnames, connections and even tribes still matter, but mostly the immense strain the war placed on the structure of power. The army and police were overstretched, the state's ability to fund them collapsed and forces motivated by connections, ethnicity and religion proved to have far better morale than conscripts. So he had to rely on self-funding local militias of a sectarian character and his side became a lot like the rebels in the process. Of course he had a lot of responsibility for the war but without it he'd be in a much stronger position. His case isn't even the only in the region, with Yemen having an even worse power vacuum.
Maduro and Chavez, on the other hand, achieved all of this in peacetime within a relatively stable neighborhood.
> Russia and to some extent Iranians run the show
Russia was the gamechanger in the UN and from 2015 onwards but Iran was there earlier and has deeper connections and its own networks of influence and patronage within the country.