DAMASCUS Syria is set to hold parliamentary elections on Oct. 5 for the first time since the fall of the country’s longtime autocratic leader, Bashar al-Assad, who was unseated in a rebel offensive in December 2024. Under the 50-year rule of the Assad dynasty, Syria held regular elections in which all Syrian citizens could vote. But in practice, the Assad-led Baath Party always dominated the parliament, and the votes were widely regarded as sham elections. The elections to be held on Oct. 5,