Allowing Bashar al-Assad to sign an international treaty on behalf of Syria further legitimises his brutal regime.
![Recognition by the international community allows Assad to seek military aid from other countries, contends Freedman [Getty Images]](https://aljazeeranews-3fuh52rgrl.edgeone.app/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/201392985947267734_20.jpeg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)

Joshua Meir Freedman is a PhD student in the Department of Political Science at Northwestern University.
Allowing Bashar al-Assad to sign an international treaty on behalf of Syria further legitimises his brutal regime.
![Recognition by the international community allows Assad to seek military aid from other countries, contends Freedman [Getty Images]](https://aljazeeranews-3fuh52rgrl.edgeone.app/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/201392985947267734_20.jpeg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)