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[VIDEOS] Rebels seize Syria as Bashar al-Assad leaves the country [Post Updated #49]

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Syria rebels launch major offensive in north-west and gain territory​


Rebel forces have launched a major offensive in north-western Syria, capturing territory from President Bashar al-Assad’s forces for the first time in years.

The Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and allied factions said they had seized control of a number of towns and villages in Aleppo and Idlib provinces since Wednesday.

The Syrian military said its forces were confronting a “large-scale” attack by “terrorists” and inflicting heavy losses on them.

A UK-based monitoring group said more than 180 combatants on both sides had been killed in the fighting. At least 19 civilians had also been killed in Syrian and Russian air strikes on opposition-held areas, it added.

More than half a million people have been killed in the civil war that erupted after the government cracked down violently on peaceful pro-democracy protests in 2011.

Idlib is the last remaining opposition stronghold and is home to more than 4 million people, many of whom have been displaced during the conflict and are living in dire conditions.

The enclave is mostly controlled by HTS, but Turkish-backed rebel factions operating under the banner of the Syrian National Army (SNA) and Turkish forces are also based there.

In 2020, Turkey and Russia - a staunch ally of Assad - brokered a ceasefire to halt a push by the government to retake Idlib. That led to an extended lull in violence, but sporadic clashes, air strikes and shelling continued.

Last month, the UN special envoy for Syria warned that the wars in Gaza and Lebanon appeared to be “catalysing conflict in north-west Syria in a dangerous manner”.

Geir Pedersen said HTS had carried out a significant raid into government-held areas, Russia had resumed air strikes for the first time in months, and pro-government forces had significantly accelerated drone strikes and shelling.

On Wednesday, HTS and its allies said they had launched their offensive to “deter aggression” and “thwart the enemy’s plans”, accusing the government and allied Iran-backed militias of escalation and aggression in north-west.

But it came as the Syrian government and its allies were preoccupied with other conflicts.

In neighbouring Lebanon, an Israeli military campaign has devastated the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, whose fighters helped turned the tide of the Syrian civil war.

Israel has also stepped up its air strikes inside Syria on targets linked to Iran, Hezbollah and other Iran-backed militia groups, while Russian forces are focused on the war in Ukraine.

By the end of the first day of the offensive, the rebels had advanced into the western Aleppo countryside, taking them within 10km (6 miles) from the outskirts of Aleppo city, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

It reported that they had seized the Syrian army 46th Regiment’s base and at least eight villages.

On Thursday, the monitoring group said the rebels had cut the M5 highway between Aleppo and the capital Damascus near Zarbah, 15km south-west of Aleppo city, and taken control of the interchange between the M5 and the M4 highway further south, near Saraqeb.

The SOHR said 121 rebels, most of them members of HTS, and 40 government troops and 21 militiamen had been killed over the past two days.

The rebels said in a Telegram statement that they had seized the town of Khan al-Assal, which is 5km west of Aleppo city, and had killed more than 200 members of pro-government forces.

A Syrian military statement put out on Thursday said its forces had “confronted the terrorist attack that is still ongoing with various weapons and in co-operation with friendly forces, leaving heavy losses in equipment and causalities among terrorists”.

It did not mention any losses among its forces, but Iranian news agencies said a senior commander in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards serving as a “military adviser” in Syria, Brig Gen Kioumars Pourhashemi, had been killed in Aleppo province.

Meanwhile, the Syria Civil Defence, whose first responders are known as the White Helmets, said on Thursday that Syrian and Russian warplanes had struck residential neighbourhoods and shops in the opposition-controlled town of Atareb, 20km west of Aleppo, killing 14 civilians, including three children and two women.

It also reported that four civilians had been killed Darat Izza, north of Atareb.

Another civilian was by a rocket attack on a camp for displaced people near the Bab al-Hawa crossing on the Turkish border on Wednesday, it said.

The UN’s Deputy Regional Humanitarian Co-ordinator for Syria, David Carden, said he was deeply alarmed by the impact of the escalating hostilities on civilians.

The International Rescue Committee said almost 7,000 families had been displaced and that some health facilities and schools had been forced to suspend services.

It appealed for an "immediate de-escalation" and called on all parties to ensure the protection of civilians, civilian infrastructure and humanitarian operations.

www.bbc.com

Syria rebels launch major offensive in north-west and gain territory

The rebels have reportedly taken several towns and villages in Aleppo and Idlib provinces since Wednesday.
www.bbc.com www.bbc.com
 
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Surprised that this conflict is still going on. It started with Arab Spring and it is still continuing.
 
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Syria’s military announces Aleppo troop withdrawal to prepare counteroffensive​


Syria’s military announced on Saturday a “temporary troop withdrawal” in Aleppo to prepare a counteroffensive against what it called “terrorists.”

The military said the withdrawal was part of a regrouping effort ahead of the arrival of reinforcements to launch the counterattack.

The military also added that dozens of soldiers had been killed or injured in fierce battles with opposition forces in Aleppo and Idlib over the past few days.

 
Russian and Syrian warplanes target insurgents in Aleppo

Russian and Syrian warplanes have targeted insurgents in an Aleppo suburb, according to Syrian military sources, after rebel fighters entered the heart of the city in a surprise attack on Friday.

The attack by the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham marks the most significant challenge in years to President Bashar al-Assad, reigniting tensions in the Syrian civil war that have largely been frozen since 2020.

The Syrian Civil Defence, a rescue service operating in opposition-held parts of Syria, said in a post on X that Syrian government and Russian aircraft carried out airstrikes on residential neighbourhoods, a petrol station and a school in rebel-held Idlib, killing four civilians and wounding six others.

Russia, which deployed its air force to Syria in 2015 to support Assad in the war, has promised Damascus extra military aid to thwart the rebels, which will start arriving in the next 72 hours, according to sources.

The insurgent force began its surprise offensive earlier this week, sweeping through government-held towns and reaching Aleppo nearly a decade after government forces backed by Russia and Iran drove rebels from the city.

Syrian authorities closed Aleppo airport as well as all roads leading into the city on Saturday. The Syrian army has been told to follow “safe withdrawal” orders from the main areas of the city that the rebels have entered, the three military sources said.

On Friday, Syrian state television denied that rebels had reached the city and said Russia was providing Syria’s military with air support. The Syrian military said on Friday it was fighting back against the attack and had inflicted heavy losses on the insurgents in the countryside of Aleppo and Idlib.

Also speaking on Friday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Moscow regarded the rebel attack as a violation of Syria’s sovereignty.

“We are in favour of the Syrian authorities bringing order to the area and restoring constitutional order as soon as possible,” he said.

The rebels began their incursion on Wednesday under the umbrella of an operations room, including groups backed by Turkey. On Friday, the operations room said its forces were sweeping through various neighbourhoods of Aleppo.

Assad recovered full control of Aleppo city from rebel forces in 2016, aided by Russian air power and Iranian-backed Shia militias, with the insurgents agreeing to withdraw after months of bombardment and siege.

Insurgents maintained a foothold near Aleppo in Idlib province and in areas north of the city at the Turkish border.

SOURCE:https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/30/aleppo-russian-and-syrian-warplanes-target-insurgents
 
Interesting that as soon as ceasefire is reached in Lebanon that things kick off in Syria, just as Israel says they are going to target Iran, and just as US is upping the ante against Russia before Trump.......
 
Iranian, Russian foreign ministers speak by phone about situation in Syria
Foreign ministers from Iran and Russia spoke by phone Saturday, expressing their support for Syria against rebel forces that have taken Aleppo.

In a post on Telegram, Iran's Abbas Araghchi said the pair also spoke about the "need for coordination" between Russia, Iran and Turkey on this issue.

He adds that this is to help "neutralise this dangerous plot."

The Russian foreign ministry says that the sides discussed "serious concerns" about the developing situation in Syria and agreed to coordinate their response.

BBC
 
Looks like it's over for syrian regime control

Turkey has backed the rebels with the offensive

Hezbollah has literally been demolished by the pager beeps

And assad has fled if rumours are to believed.


And Russia itself has destroyed its military manpower in ukraine and no troops or equipment to spare for another theater.


That's just leaves iran iraq and iranian backed shia groups in pakistan to make their move will they attack syria because I have a feeling this time turkey will get involved and directly fight iraq/iran since they have long been complaining about kurdish groups based there and syria.
 
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Always fighting.

So if Assad is gone, it’s going to be Islamists taking control of Syria. Amazing place.
 
sweep_shot said:
Surprised that this conflict is still going on. It started with Arab Spring and it is still continuing.
Click to expand...

In that part of the world, peace is the exception. If there was a 10-year period of peace, you should be surprised. Not the other way around.
 
Syrian troops withdraw from Aleppo as rebels advance

Syrian government forces have withdrawn from the city of Aleppo following an offensive by rebels opposed to the rule of President Bashar al-Assad.

The army acknowledged that rebels had entered "large parts" of the city, the country's second largest, but vowed to stage a counterattack.

The offensive marks the most significant fighting in Syria's civil war in recent years.

More than 300 people, including at least 20 civilians, have been killed since it began on Wednesday, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

Speaking on Saturday, President Assad vowed to "defend [Syria's] stability and territorial integrity in the face of all terrorists and their backers".

"[The country] is capable, with the help of its allies and friends, of defeating and eliminating them, no matter how intense their terrorist attacks are," his office quoted him as saying.

The civil war, which has left around half a million people dead, began in 2011 after the Assad government responded to pro-democracy protests with a brutal crackdown.

The conflict has been largely dormant since a ceasefire agreed in 2020, but opposition forces have maintained control of the north-western city of Idlib and much of the surrounding province.

Idlib sits just 55km (34 miles) from Aleppo, which itself was a rebel stronghold until it fell to government forces in 2016.

The latest offensive has been led by an Islamist militant group known at Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and allied factions backed by Turkey.

HTS was regarded as one of the most effective and deadly of the groups fighting the Assad government and was already the dominant force in Idlib.

The rebels have taken control of Aleppo's airport and dozens of nearby towns, according to the SOHR.

They also announced an overnight curfew which came into force at 17:00 local time (14:00 GMT).

The SOHR also said rebel fighters had pushed into several towns in the countryside near Syria's fourth largest city, Hama - south of Aleppo - and that Syrian army had withdrawn

But a military source quoted in Syrian state media disputed this claim.

The Syrian army said rebels had launched "a broad attack from multiple axes on the Aleppo and Idlib fronts" and that battles had taken place "over a strip exceeding 100km (60 miles)".

Dozens of its soldiers have been killed, it said.

The Russian air force, which played a significant role in keeping Assad in power during the peak of the civil war, carried out air strikes in Aleppo on Saturday.

The strikes marked the first Russia has staged in the city since helping Syrian government forces recapture it in 2016.

Later on Saturday, nine other Russian strikes were carried out on Idlib, SOHR said.

A US spokesperson said Syria's "reliance on Russia and Iran", along with its refusal to move forward with a 2015 UN Security Council peace plan, had "created the conditions now unfolding" in the country.

Pictures showed the roads leading out of Aleppo jammed with cars on Saturday as people tried to leave, and smoke rising out of the city's skyline.

BBC
 

Syrian militants expand offensive after taking Aleppo​


Thousands of Syrian militants took over most of Aleppo on Saturday, establishing positions in the country’s largest city and controlling its airport before expanding their shock offensive to a nearby province. They faced little to no resistance from government troops, according to fighters and activists.

A war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the insurgents led by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham seized control of Aleppo International airport, the first international airport to be controlled by insurgents. The fighters claimed they seized the airport and posted pictures from there.

Thousands of fighters also moved on, facing almost no opposition from government forces, to seize towns and villages in northern Hama, a province where they had a presence before being expelled by government troops in 2016. They claimed Saturday evening to have entered the city of Hama.

A huge embarrassment for Assad

The swift and surprise offensive is a huge embarrassment for Syria’s President Bashar Assad and raises questions about his armed forces’ preparedness. The insurgent offensive launched from their stronghold in the country’s northwest appeared to have been planned for years. It also comes at a time when Assad’s allies were preoccupied with their own conflicts.

In his first public comments since the start of the offensive, released by the state news agency Saturday evening, Assad said Syria will continue to “defend its stability and territorial integrity against terrorists and their supporters.” He added that Syria is able to defeat them no matter how much their attacks intensify.

Turkiye, a main backer of Syrian opposition groups, said its diplomatic efforts had failed to stop government attacks on opposition-held areas in recent weeks, which were in violation of a de-escalation agreement sponsored by Russia, Iran and Ankara. Turkish security officials said a limited offensive by the militants was planned to stop government attacks and allow civilians to return, but the offensive expanded as Syrian government forces began to retreat from their positions.

The insurgents, led by the Salafi militant group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham and including Turkiye-backed fighters, launched their shock offensive on Wednesday. They first staged a two-pronged attack in Aleppo and the Idlib countryside, entering Aleppo two days later and securing a strategic town that lies on the highway that links Syria’s largest city to the capital and the coast.

By Saturday evening, they seized at least four towns in the central Hama province and claimed to have entered the provincial capital. The insurgents staged an attempt to reclaim areas they controlled in Hama in 2017 but failed.

Preparing a counterattack

Syria’s armed forces said in a statement Saturday that to absorb the large attack on Aleppo and save lives, it redeployed troops and equipment and was preparing a counterattack. The statement acknowledged that insurgents entered large parts of the city but said they have not established bases or checkpoints. Later on Saturday, the armed forces sought to dispel what it said were lies in reference to reports about its forces retreating or defecting, saying the general command was carrying out its duties in “combatting terrorist organizations.”

The return of the insurgents to Aleppo was their first since 2016, following a grueling military campaign in which Assad’s forces were backed by Russia, Iran and its allied groups.

The 2016 battle for Aleppo was a turning point in the war between Syrian government forces and militant fighters after 2011 protests against Assad’s rule turned into an all-out war. After appearing to be losing control of the country to the militants, the Aleppo battle secured Assad’s hold on strategic areas of Syria, with opposition factions and their foreign backers controlling areas on the periphery.

The lightning offensive threatened to reignite the country’s civil war, which had been largely in a stalemate for years.

Late on Friday, witnesses said two airstrikes hit the edge of Aleppo city, targeting insurgent reinforcements and falling near residential areas. The Observatory said 20 fighters were killed.

Insurgents were filmed outside police headquarters, in the city center, and outside the Aleppo citadel, the medieval palace in the old city center, and one of the largest in the world. They tore down posters of Assad, stepping on some and burning others.

The push into Aleppo followed weeks of simmering low-level violence, including government attacks on opposition-held areas.

The offensive came as Iran-linked groups, primarily Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which has backed Syrian government forces since 2015, have been preoccupied with their own battles at home. A ceasefire in Hezbollah’s two-month war with Israel took effect Wednesday, the same day that Syrian opposition factions announced their offensive. Israel has also escalated its attacks against Hezbollah and Iran-linked targets in Syria during the last 70 days.

Insurgents raise flags over the Aleppo citadel

Speaking from the heart of the city in Saadallah Aljabri square, opposition fighter Mohammad Al-Abdo said it was his first time back in Aleppo in 13 years, when his older brother was killed at the start of the war.

“God willing, the rest of Aleppo province will be liberated” from government forces, he said.

There was light traffic in the city center on Saturday. Opposition fighters fired in the air in celebration but there was no sign of clashes or government troops present.

Journalists in the city filmed soldiers captured by the insurgents and the bodies of others killed in battle.

Abdulkafi Alhamdo, a teacher who fled Aleppo in 2016 and returned Friday night after hearing the insurgents were inside, described “mixed feelings of pain, sadness and old memories.”

“As I entered Aleppo, I kept telling myself this is impossible. How did this happen?”

Alhamdo said he strolled through the city at night visiting the Aleppo citadel, where the insurgents raised their flags, a major square and the university of Aleppo, as well as the last spot he was in before he was forced to leave for the countryside.

“I walked in (the empty) streets of Aleppo, shouting, ‘People, people of Aleppo. We are your sons,’” he told The Associated Press in a series of messages.

City’s hospitals are full

Aleppo residents reported hearing clashes and gunfire but most stayed indoors. Some fled the fighting.

Schools and government offices were closed Saturday as most people stayed indoors, according to Sham FM radio, a pro-government station. Bakeries were open. Witnesses said the insurgents deployed security forces around the city to prevent any acts of violence or looting.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Friday Aleppo’s two key public hospitals were reportedly full of patients while many private facilities closed.

In social media posts, the insurgents were pictured outside of the citadel, the medieval palace in the old city center, and one of the largest in the world. In cellphone videos, they recorded themselves having conversations with residents they visited at home, seeking to reassure them they will cause no harm.

The Syrian Kurdish-led administration in the country’s east said nearly 3,000 people, most of them students, had arrived in their region after fleeing the fighting in Aleppo, which has a sizeable Kurdish population.

State media reported that a number of “terrorists,” including sleeper cells, infiltrated parts of the city. Government troops chased them and arrested a number who posed for pictures near city landmarks, they said.

On a state TV morning show Saturday, commentators said army reinforcements and Russia’s assistance would repel the “terrorist groups,” blaming Turkiye for supporting the insurgents’ push into Aleppo and Idlib provinces.

Russia’s state news agency Tass quoted Oleg Ignasyuk, a Russian Defense Ministry official coordinating in Syria, as saying that Russian warplanes targeted and killed 200 militants who had launched the offensive in the northwest on Friday. It provided no further details.

 
Russia is not going to help Assad. Their hands are already full fighting Ukraine.

Its Sunni vs Shia all over again when they are not fighting their common enemy
 
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Syrian militants expand offensive after taking Aleppo​


Thousands of Syrian militants took over most of Aleppo on Saturday, establishing positions in the country’s largest city and controlling its airport before expanding their shock offensive to a nearby province. They faced little to no resistance from government troops, according to fighters and activists.

A war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the insurgents led by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham seized control of Aleppo International airport, the first international airport to be controlled by insurgents. The fighters claimed they seized the airport and posted pictures from there.

Thousands of fighters also moved on, facing almost no opposition from government forces, to seize towns and villages in northern Hama, a province where they had a presence before being expelled by government troops in 2016. They claimed Saturday evening to have entered the city of Hama.

A huge embarrassment for Assad

The swift and surprise offensive is a huge embarrassment for Syria’s President Bashar Assad and raises questions about his armed forces’ preparedness. The insurgent offensive launched from their stronghold in the country’s northwest appeared to have been planned for years. It also comes at a time when Assad’s allies were preoccupied with their own conflicts.

In his first public comments since the start of the offensive, released by the state news agency Saturday evening, Assad said Syria will continue to “defend its stability and territorial integrity against terrorists and their supporters.” He added that Syria is able to defeat them no matter how much their attacks intensify.

Turkiye, a main backer of Syrian opposition groups, said its diplomatic efforts had failed to stop government attacks on opposition-held areas in recent weeks, which were in violation of a de-escalation agreement sponsored by Russia, Iran and Ankara. Turkish security officials said a limited offensive by the militants was planned to stop government attacks and allow civilians to return, but the offensive expanded as Syrian government forces began to retreat from their positions.

The insurgents, led by the Salafi militant group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham and including Turkiye-backed fighters, launched their shock offensive on Wednesday. They first staged a two-pronged attack in Aleppo and the Idlib countryside, entering Aleppo two days later and securing a strategic town that lies on the highway that links Syria’s largest city to the capital and the coast.

By Saturday evening, they seized at least four towns in the central Hama province and claimed to have entered the provincial capital. The insurgents staged an attempt to reclaim areas they controlled in Hama in 2017 but failed.

Preparing a counterattack

Syria’s armed forces said in a statement Saturday that to absorb the large attack on Aleppo and save lives, it redeployed troops and equipment and was preparing a counterattack. The statement acknowledged that insurgents entered large parts of the city but said they have not established bases or checkpoints. Later on Saturday, the armed forces sought to dispel what it said were lies in reference to reports about its forces retreating or defecting, saying the general command was carrying out its duties in “combatting terrorist organizations.”

The return of the insurgents to Aleppo was their first since 2016, following a grueling military campaign in which Assad’s forces were backed by Russia, Iran and its allied groups.

The 2016 battle for Aleppo was a turning point in the war between Syrian government forces and militant fighters after 2011 protests against Assad’s rule turned into an all-out war. After appearing to be losing control of the country to the militants, the Aleppo battle secured Assad’s hold on strategic areas of Syria, with opposition factions and their foreign backers controlling areas on the periphery.

The lightning offensive threatened to reignite the country’s civil war, which had been largely in a stalemate for years.

Late on Friday, witnesses said two airstrikes hit the edge of Aleppo city, targeting insurgent reinforcements and falling near residential areas. The Observatory said 20 fighters were killed.

Insurgents were filmed outside police headquarters, in the city center, and outside the Aleppo citadel, the medieval palace in the old city center, and one of the largest in the world. They tore down posters of Assad, stepping on some and burning others.

The push into Aleppo followed weeks of simmering low-level violence, including government attacks on opposition-held areas.

The offensive came as Iran-linked groups, primarily Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which has backed Syrian government forces since 2015, have been preoccupied with their own battles at home. A ceasefire in Hezbollah’s two-month war with Israel took effect Wednesday, the same day that Syrian opposition factions announced their offensive. Israel has also escalated its attacks against Hezbollah and Iran-linked targets in Syria during the last 70 days.

Insurgents raise flags over the Aleppo citadel

Speaking from the heart of the city in Saadallah Aljabri square, opposition fighter Mohammad Al-Abdo said it was his first time back in Aleppo in 13 years, when his older brother was killed at the start of the war.

“God willing, the rest of Aleppo province will be liberated” from government forces, he said.

There was light traffic in the city center on Saturday. Opposition fighters fired in the air in celebration but there was no sign of clashes or government troops present.

Journalists in the city filmed soldiers captured by the insurgents and the bodies of others killed in battle.

Abdulkafi Alhamdo, a teacher who fled Aleppo in 2016 and returned Friday night after hearing the insurgents were inside, described “mixed feelings of pain, sadness and old memories.”

“As I entered Aleppo, I kept telling myself this is impossible. How did this happen?”

Alhamdo said he strolled through the city at night visiting the Aleppo citadel, where the insurgents raised their flags, a major square and the university of Aleppo, as well as the last spot he was in before he was forced to leave for the countryside.

“I walked in (the empty) streets of Aleppo, shouting, ‘People, people of Aleppo. We are your sons,’” he told The Associated Press in a series of messages.

City’s hospitals are full

Aleppo residents reported hearing clashes and gunfire but most stayed indoors. Some fled the fighting.

Schools and government offices were closed Saturday as most people stayed indoors, according to Sham FM radio, a pro-government station. Bakeries were open. Witnesses said the insurgents deployed security forces around the city to prevent any acts of violence or looting.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Friday Aleppo’s two key public hospitals were reportedly full of patients while many private facilities closed.

In social media posts, the insurgents were pictured outside of the citadel, the medieval palace in the old city center, and one of the largest in the world. In cellphone videos, they recorded themselves having conversations with residents they visited at home, seeking to reassure them they will cause no harm.

The Syrian Kurdish-led administration in the country’s east said nearly 3,000 people, most of them students, had arrived in their region after fleeing the fighting in Aleppo, which has a sizeable Kurdish population.

State media reported that a number of “terrorists,” including sleeper cells, infiltrated parts of the city. Government troops chased them and arrested a number who posed for pictures near city landmarks, they said.

On a state TV morning show Saturday, commentators said army reinforcements and Russia’s assistance would repel the “terrorist groups,” blaming Turkiye for supporting the insurgents’ push into Aleppo and Idlib provinces.

Russia’s state news agency Tass quoted Oleg Ignasyuk, a Russian Defense Ministry official coordinating in Syria, as saying that Russian warplanes targeted and killed 200 militants who had launched the offensive in the northwest on Friday. It provided no further details.

 
Iraqi fighters head to Syria to battle rebels but Lebanon's Hezbollah stays out, sources say

Hundreds of Iran-backed Iraqi fighters crossed into Syria on Monday to help the government fight rebels who seized Aleppo last week, but Lebanon's Hezbollah has no plans for now to join them, according to sources.

Iran's constellation of allied regional militia groups, aided by Russian air power, has been integral to the success of pro-government forces in subduing rebels in Syria who rose up against President Bashar al-Assad in 2011.

But that alliance faces a new test after last week's lightning advance by rebels in northwest Syria, with Russia focused on war in Ukraine and Hezbollah's leadership decimated by a war with Israel that ended in a ceasefire last week.

The rebel storm of Aleppo is the biggest success of anti-Assad fighters for years. Government forces had held complete control of Aleppo since capturing what was then Syria's largest city in a siege in 2016, one of the major turning points of a war that has killed hundreds of thousands of people.


 
Champ_Pal said:
Russia is not going to help Assad. Their hands are already full fighting Ukraine.

Its Sunni vs Shia all over again when they are not fighting their common enemy
Click to expand...


Thats why they are bombing the heck out of the terrorists now?

Your wishes and reality is different.
 
The Turks esp Erdogan is playing his people like clowns. Claiming to be some Islamic hero by turning a cathedral into a mosque, ranting about Israel while at the same time helping Israel with oil and helping it by attacking Syria.

There is a very strong theory Attaturk and his cronies were Zionist Jews. Very interesting read.
 
Turkey needs to come in if Iran and Iraq are coming in on sectarian grounds its only fair turkey protects its former sunni population of syria and keep a check on the kurdish separatists.
 
KingKhanWC said:
The Turks esp Erdogan is playing his people like clowns. Claiming to be some Islamic hero by turning a cathedral into a mosque, ranting about Israel while at the same time helping Israel with oil and helping it by attacking Syria.

There is a very strong theory Attaturk and his cronies were Zionist Jews. Very interesting read.
Click to expand...

Have you seen what those shia militias have done alongwith russian airpower to sunnis in Syria.
And iraqi militias did to sunnis in Iraq

Why do you think there are millions of refugees in Europe?
 
KingKhanWC said:
The Turks esp Erdogan is playing his people like clowns. Claiming to be some Islamic hero by turning a cathedral into a mosque, ranting about Israel while at the same time helping Israel with oil and helping it by attacking Syria.

There is a very strong theory Attaturk and his cronies were Zionist Jews. Very interesting read.
Click to expand...

And what have the ayatollahs done made hamas commit suicide and get gaza wiped of the map whilst offering only lip service support

And sametime got its hezbollah literally castrated and forced to sign a peace deal with them de militarising the area from the border of occupied palestine to the litany river .

And then you have your kufian Iraqis occupying northern Iraq asyyria which is a sunni area and originally governed from.damascus from the various caliphates same people tribes but artificially created by lawrence his band of bedouin and sykes picot all artificial countries.

There's a reason why russian army and hezbollah has been wiped out maybe the duas of those 100000s of dead Syrians was answered the people of sham who prophet made a special dua for .

I highly doubt russia with its cat ladies and low births and hezbollah are gonna be back in any numbers soon
 
mazkhan said:
ayatollahs made hamas commit suicide...
Click to expand...
Interesting. Tough sunni warriors as disciples of shia commanders.

This is what happens when you are a leaderless community.

Dodgy erdy, immy, naiki, jameeli, hari-pagri atari the only options you got.
 
mazkhan said:
Have you seen what those shia militias have done alongwith russian airpower to sunnis in Syria.
And iraqi militias did to sunnis in Iraq

Why do you think there are millions of refugees in Europe?
Click to expand...

You may be sectarian but Im not. It doesnt matter if they are sunni, shia or christian.

The current so called moderate rebels are backed by USA, Israel. This alone should be clear they are not Islamic but slaves of Zionists and extremists.

A genocide in Gaza but they havent even thrown a shoe at Israel. Not sure what more proof you want.

Russia and Syria will once again turn them into toast. Turkey is the biggest snake.
 
Health services across Idlib ‘no longer functioning’, say Syrian doctors

Health services are no longer functioning in the Syrian city of Idlib after a series of airstrikes on key hospitals damaged intensive care units and specialised services, doctors said.

At least two intensive care patients have died because of power and oxygen shortages caused by the airstrikes, according to the rescue group White Helmets, and hospitals have had to evacuate patients or move them into basements.

The healthcare services struck in the past few days include the Ibn Sina children’s hospital and the Maternity Children’s hospital run by medical charity Syrian American Medical Society (Sams). The White Helmets said Idlib University hospital, the National hospital and the health directorate were also hit.

Regime attacks on the city have intensified in the past week since rebels launched a surprise offensive that has allowed them to capture the entire Idlib province and the key city of Aleppo.

Dr Muhammad Firas Al-Hamdo, a paediatrician at the Maternity and Children’s hospital, said he could not see or hear after a large explosion shattered the hospital’s windows.

“I felt my way through the emergency exits to the ground floor, I was terrified,” said Hamdo. “[Staff and patients] gathered on the underground floors of the hospital, all of us with blurred vision.”

Hamdo said that the strike on the maternity hospital led to power being cut and the hospital’s equipment malfunctioning.

“This led to the death of two in the intensive care unit as a result of the power outage and oxygen outage,” he said.

Sams said a hospital it operated in Idlib was also hit by an airstrike on Monday, which caused structural damage but no injuries, as staff had been working underground since violence escalated last week.

Sams said it had to abandon all but emergency treatment at the nine facilities it worked at and had evacuated US volunteer medics.

“Hospitals, schools, and civilians are not targets of war. We all must stand up for common decency and prioritise the needs of the most vulnerable, regardless of which side of the frontline they find themselves,” said Sams’ president, Dr Mufaddal Hamadeh.

Dr Sidra Daboul, an anaesthesiologist at al-Shifa hospital, which specialises in treating heart conditions, also said that staff had to be evacuated after a nearby explosion shattered the windows.

“Today, we were put totally out of service. There are only emergency paramedic services to treat airstrike victims and evacuate them from the city,” she said.

Since the Syrian civil war began in 2011, the group Physicians for Human Rights has documented at least 604 attacks on healthcare facilities that have killed at least 949 workers. All but 60 were linked to Syrian regime or allied forces.

There were airstrikes across Idlib on Monday, killing at least 18 people, said the White Helmets.

SOURCE: https://www.theguardian.com/global-...dlib-no-longer-functioning-say-syrian-doctors
 

Syrian government forces and rebels battle outside key city of Hama​


Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces are reportedly engaged in fierce battles with rebels on the outskirts of the major city of Hama.

A monitoring group said on Tuesday evening that the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and its allies were “at the gates of Hama”, but on Wednesday it said the military had retaken several villages in a counter-attack backed by intense air strikes.

Syrian state media also said troops had pushed back the rebels north of the city, but the rebels denied losing any ground there.

Hama is 110km (70 miles) south of Aleppo, which the rebels captured last week after launching a surprise offensive from their stronghold in the north-west.

The state-run Sana news agency and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based monitoring group, both reported intense fighting on Wednesday morning around Jabal Zain al-Abadin, a hill about 5km (3 miles) north-east of Hama.

The SOHR said the clashes came after government forces launched a counter-attack, during which they were able to push the rebels back almost 10km from the city and recapture two villages near the hill.

A spokesman for the rebel’s "Military Operations Division" accused the military of spreading rumours to raise the morale of its troops and insisted rebels were still in control of all locations they had recently taken.

An affiliated news channel meanwhile said that five more villages east of Hama had been captured, as well as a base of the 25th Special Mission Forces Division.

On Tuesday, the SOHR reported that there had been “major displacement” from Hama, which is home to about 1 million people, after the rebels reached the city’s outskirts and several civilians were injured by their shellfire.

Wassim, a delivery driver who lives in the city, told AFP news agency: "The sounds were really terrifying, and the continuous bombing could be clearly heard”.

But he added: "I'll stay home because I have nowhere else to flee to.”

The SOHR has said that more than 600 people have been killed, including 107 civilians, and tens of thousands have been displaced since the start of the rebel offensive last Wednesday.

The United Nations has expressed alarm at the sudden escalation of Syria’s devastating, 13-year civil war and warned that the situation is “extremely fluid and dangerous”.

“If we do not see de-escalation and a rapid move to a serious political process, involving the Syrian parties and the key international players, then I fear we will see a deepening of the crisis," special envoy Geir Pedersen told the UN Security Council on Tuesday.

“Syria will be in grave danger of further division, deterioration, and destruction.”

President Assad has vowed to “crush” the rebels and accused Western powers of trying to redraw the map of the region, while his key allies Russia and Iran have offered their “unconditional support”.

Russian warplanes have intensified their strikes on rebel-held areas in recent days, Iran-backed militias have sent fighters to reinforce the government’s defensive lines around Hama, and Iran has said it is ready to send additional forces to Syria if asked.

Turkey, which supports the Syrian opposition but has denied reports that it is involved in the HTS-led offensive, has urged Assad to engage in a political process with the opposition to bring an end to Syria’s 13-year civil war.

Turkish-backed rebel factions have meanwhile capitalised on the government’s retreat in the north by launching a separate offensive on a pocket of territory near Aleppo that was controlled by a Kurdish-led militia alliance, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

More than half a million people have been killed since the civil war erupted in 2011 after Assad’s government cracked down violently on peaceful pro-democracy protests.

Before the start of the rebel offensive, the government had regained control of Syria’s main cities with the help of Russia, Iran and Iran-backed militias. However, large parts of the country remained out of its control.

The rebels’ last stronghold was in Aleppo and Idlib provinces, which border Turkey and where more than four million people were living, many of them displaced from government-held areas.

The enclave was dominated by HTS, which is designated as a terrorist organisation by the UN, US, Turkey and other countries because it was al-Qaeda's affiliate in Syria until it formally broke ties in 2016.

A number of allied rebel factions and jihadist groups were also based there, along with Turkish-backed SNA factions and Turkish forces.

In 2020, Turkey and Russia brokered a ceasefire to halt a push by the government to retake the region. That led to an extended lull in violence, but sporadic clashes, air strikes and shelling continued.

HTS and its allies said last Wednesday that they had launched an offensive to “deter aggression”, accusing the government and allied Iran-backed militias of escalating attacks on civilians in the north-west.

But it came at a time when the government’s allies were preoccupied with other conflicts.

The Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah, which was crucial in helping push back rebels in the early years of the war, has suffered recently from Israel’s offensive in Lebanon.

Israeli strikes have also eliminated Iranian military commanders in Syria and degraded supply lines to pro-government militias there.

Russia has also been also distracted by the war in Ukraine.

Mr Pedersen estimated that the rebels now had de facto control over territory containing an estimated 7 million people, including 2 million in Aleppo city.

www.bbc.com

Syrian government forces and rebels battle outside city of Hama

A government counter-attack reportedly pushed back the rebels after they reached Hama's outskirts.
www.bbc.com www.bbc.com
 
KingKhanWC said:
You may be sectarian but Im not. It doesnt matter if they are sunni, shia or christian.

The current so called moderate rebels are backed by USA, Israel. This alone should be clear they are not Islamic but slaves of Zionists and extremists.

A genocide in Gaza but they havent even thrown a shoe at Israel. Not sure what more proof you want.

Russia and Syria will once again turn them into toast. Turkey is the biggest snake.
Click to expand...

You are a sectarian because you support the party that promotes the other major portion of sectarianism what is fatimiyoun zainabyoun and various hezbollah outfits of the shia militias from Iraq Iran pakistan Afghanistan then ?

Their videos are there of sectarian nature being blessed with rituals and sectarian anthems nasheeds or whatever they are called

In syria you have a minority group who are not even shias and one family of that alawite minority controlling millions yet you harp on about ik and pakistan and democratic vote . Pakistan hasn't done what bashar al assads family has done they have committed war crimes and launched chemical weapons, barrel bombs and even used ballistic missiles on civilians in syria .
 
mazkhan said:
You are a sectarian because you support the party that promotes the other major portion of sectarianism what is fatimiyoun zainabyoun and various hezbollah outfits of the shia militias from Iraq Iran pakistan Afghanistan then ?

Their videos are there of sectarian nature being blessed with rituals and sectarian anthems nasheeds or whatever they are called

In syria you have a minority group who are not even shias and one family of that alawite minority controlling millions yet you harp on about ik and pakistan and democratic vote . Pakistan hasn't done what bashar al assads family has done they have committed war crimes and launched chemical weapons, barrel bombs and even used ballistic missiles on civilians in syria .
Click to expand...

I have no idea what this is and neither do you. lol
 
Syrian rebels surround strategic city of Hama after Aleppo takeover

Syrian rebels encircled the key central city of Hama “from three sides” on Wednesday, a war monitor said, despite a counteroffensive launched by government forces to retain control of the city.

Hama is strategically located in central Syria and, for the army of Bashar al-Assad, is crucial to safeguarding the capital and seat of power, Damascus. The fighting around Hama follows a lightning offensive by Islamist-led rebels who in a matter of days wrested swathes of territory, most significantly Syria’s second city, Aleppo, from the president’s grasp.

The rebels “have surrounded Hama city from three sides, and are now present at a distance of three to four kilometres (1.9 to 2.5 miles) from it”, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Britain-based Observatory, which relies on a network of sources in Syria, said the government forces were “left with only one exit towards Homs to the south”.

Key to the rebels’ successes since the start of the offensive last week was the takeover of Aleppo, which in more than a decade of war had never entirely fallen out of government hands.

The head of the Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, on Wednesday visited Aleppo’s landmark citadel.

Images posted on the rebels’ Telegram channel showed Jolani waving to supporters from an open-top car as he visited the historic fortress.

In Hama, 36-year-old delivery driver Wassim said the sounds were “really terrifying” and the continuous bombing was clearly audible.

“I’ll stay home because I have nowhere else to flee to,” he said.

While the advancing rebels found little resistance earlier in their offensive, the fighting around Hama has been especially fierce.

Assad ordered a 50% raise in career soldiers’ pay, state news agency Sana reported, seeking to bolster his forces for the counteroffensive.

A military source cited by Sana had earlier reported “fierce battles” against the rebels in northern Hama province since morning, adding that “joint Syrian-Russian warplanes” were part of the effort.

The Observatory said government forces brought “large military convoys to Hama” and its outskirts in the previous 24 hours.

“Dozens of trucks” loaded with tanks, weapons, ammunition and soldiers headed towards the city, it said, while “regime forces and pro-government fighters led by Russian and Iranian officers” repelled an attack north-west of Hama.

It said the fighting was close to an area mainly populated by Alawites, followers of the same offshoot of Shia Islam as the president.

German news agency DPA announced the killing of award-winning Syrian photographer Anas Alkharboutli in an airstrike near Hama.

The rebels launched their offensive on 27 November, the same day a ceasefire took effect in the war between Israel and Hezbollah in neighbouring Lebanon.

Both Hezbollah and Russia have been key backers of Assad’s government, but have been more recently mired in their own respective conflicts.

Russia, Iran and Turkey were in “close contact” over the conflict in Syria, Moscow said on Wednesday. While Russia and Iran both back Assad, Turkey has backed the opposition.

The UN on Wednesday said 115,000 people had been “newly displaced across Idlib and northern Aleppo” by the fighting.

The Observatory says the violence has killed 704 people, mostly combatants but also 110 civilians.

Human Rights Watch on Wednesday warned the fighting “raises concerns that civilians face a real risk of serious abuses at the hands of opposition armed groups and the Syrian government”.

Rights groups including HRW have since the start of the war documented violations of human rights on both sides, including what they say could amount to crimes against humanity by Syrian government forces.

Until last week the war in Syria had been mostly static for several years, but analysts have said violence was bound to flare up as it was never truly resolved.

Spearheading the rebel alliance is HTS, which is rooted in Syria’s al-Qaida branch.

“It’s very well organised, very ideologically driven,” said Rim Turkmani, director of the Syria conflict research programme at the London School of Economics.

“However, they spread very quickly and very thin. And I think very quickly they’re going to realise it’s beyond their capacity to maintain these areas and, most importantly, to govern them.”

SOURCE: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...-strategic-city-of-hama-after-aleppo-takeover
 

Syrian army says loses control of central city of Hama amid rebel offensive​


Islamist-led rebel forces captured the central Syrian city of Hama on Thursday, overrunning forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad only days after capturing Aleppo in a lightning offensive.

The rebels led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) stormed the city and, after fierce fighting, claimed to have seized its prison and released inmates.

After a night of violent clashes, the rebels entered Hama “from several sides” and were engaged in street fighting with Assad’s forces, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor.

By early Thursday afternoon, Syria’s army admitted it had lost control of the strategically located city seen as crucial in its efforts to protect the capital and seat of power, Damascus.


“Over the past few hours, with the intensification of confrontations between our soldiers and terrorist groups... these groups were able to breach a number of axes in the city and entered it,” the army said, adding units had redeployed outside the city.

The fall of Hama came despite shelling and strikes carried out by the Syrian and Russian air forces, as reported by state media late Wednesday.

Maya, a 22-year-old student who gave only her first name for security concerns, said she and her family were staying at home as the fighting rages outside.

“We have been hearing non-stop the sounds of explosions and shelling,” she told AFP by telephone from Hama.

“We don’t know what’s going on outside.”

www.france24.com

Syrian army says loses control of central city of Hama amid rebel offensive

The Syrian army on Thursday said it has lost control of the key central city of Hama and withdrawn its forces after rebels had broken through its defences. The rebels, who are led by the Islamist group…
www.france24.com www.france24.com
 
Its Islamists vs Islamists.

On one hand you have this HTS + Turkish backed Islamists. On the other hand you have Assad + Russian + Hezbollah.

United against Israel. Bitter enemies everywhere else.
 

Syrian Rebel Commander: Israel, Opposition ‘Fighting a Common Enemy’​

One of the commanders of Syrian rebel forces in Aleppo, known as Abu Abdo, gave a special interview with i24 News’ Matthias Inbar on Wednesday, revealing that, despite differences with Israel, “we are fighting against a common enemy.”

He said that Iran and its proxies, including Hezbollah and the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, are the criminal entities “dreaming of returning to the glory days of the historical Persian Empire, but it won’t happen if we all face them.”

A member of the former Free Syrian Army, now dubbed the Syrian National Army, he said the group’s members are “neither extremists nor terrorists.”

“I insist and tell all people in the region that we are activists for peace,” he said. “We are not murderous, warlike, and destructive activists. We defend ourselves from injustice and want to build our future Syrian state.”

“We look at Israel and the US, with the arrival of President Donald Trump, and we have a lot of respect and sympathy for them, for their actions against Iran — the country that leads terrorism in the region and all over the world.”

He said that his faction “looks forward to cooperate and eliminate this enemy and restoring stability.”

Source: Algemeiner
 
Rebels 'just 1km' from major city of Homs, says war monitor

Rebel fighters have taken control of al-Dar Al-Kaberah near Homs, according to UK-based war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

The town is just 1km from the military academy in Homs, which is the largest military academy in Syria.

At the same time, says SOHR, many officers and members of the 26th Division, an air-defence battalion, have withdrawn from Ter Maalah, north of Homs.

BBC
 
'Rapid rebel advance caught us unaware', says former US ambassador

The United States was "caught unaware" by the rapid advance of Syrian rebel forces, according to former ambassador James Jeffries.

"We were caught unaware. You only have so much in terms of intelligence assets... and we basically prioritise," he tells Reuters news agency.

Jeffries, who was the US representative to the Coalition to Defeat Islamic State under Donald Trump's previous administration, says the latest developments in Syria have everyone involved in the region concerned.

"Such a dramatic change in the balance of power in Syria makes everybody nervous because everybody has a chunk of Syria," he adds.

BBC
 

Jordan closes border crossing into Syria​


Jordan has closed its only passenger and commercial border crossing into Syria, the interior ministry said on Friday.

A Syrian army source told Reuters that armed groups had been firing at Syria’s Nassib border crossing into Jordan.

“Armed groups who infiltrated the crossing attacked Syrian army posts stationed there,” the source added.

He said dozens of trailers and passengers were now stranded near the area.

Jordan’s interior minister said Jordanians and Jordanian trucks would be allowed to return via the crossing, known as the Jaber crossing on the Jordanian side, while no one would be allowed to cross into Syria.

 
Syrian rebels close in on central city of Homs as thousands flee lightning advance

Syrian rebel forces are closing in on the central city of Homs as they push to take control of the country's third-largest city, according to pro-government media and an opposition war monitor.

Insurgents in the Middle Eastern country entered the towns of Rastan and Talbiseh the day after they captured Syria's fourth-largest city Hama.

It is part of a lightning offensive led by the jihadi group Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS), which said it will march on Homs and then the capital Damascus, where President Bashar al Assad has consolidated power.

Homs sits on a major crossroads in Syria, linking Damascus to the north and Syria's Mediterranean coast provinces of Latakia and Tartus, where the majority back Mr Assad and where his ally Russia has a naval base and air base.


news.sky.com

Syrian rebels close in on central city of Homs as thousands flee lightning advance

The offensive is being led by the jihadi group Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS), which said it will march on Homs and then the capital Damascus, where President Bashar al Assad has consolidated power.
news.sky.com news.sky.com
 
Local rebels take most of key southern Syrian region – reports

Rebel forces in southern Syria have reportedly captured most of the Deraa region - the birthplace of the 2011 uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.

A UK-based war monitor reports that the "local factions" were able to take control of many military sites there following "violent battles" with government forces.

According to Reuters news agency, rebel sources say they had reached a deal for the army to withdraw and for military officials to be given safe passage to the capital, Damascus - roughly 100km (62 miles) away.

The BBC has been unable to independently verify these reports, which come as Islamist-led rebels in northern Syria claimed to have reached the outskirts of the city of Homs.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based war monitor, said on Friday that the rebels in the south controlled more than 90% of the Deraa region and that only the Sanamayn area was still in government hands.

Deraa city has both strategic and symbolic importance. It is a provincial capital and is close to the main crossings on the Jordanian border, while also being where pro-democracy protests erupted in 2011 - sparking the country's ongoing civil war, in which more than half a million people have been killed.

Jordan's interior minister said the country had closed its side of the border as "a result of the surrounding security conditions in Syria's south".

Meanwhile, government officials in the city of Suweida - about 50km east of Deraa - are reported to have fled the city following clashes between security forces and militias from the minority Druze sect, which is predominant in the region.

Ryan Marouf, an activist and editor of news website Suwayda 24, told Reuters that "people are seeing what is happening in the rest of Syria as liberation of Syria and a chance to bring down the regime".

Elsewhere, Kurdish-led forces say they have taken the city of Deir Ezzor, the government's main foothold in the vast desert in east of the country.

It has been just over a week since rebels in the north launched their lightning offensive - the biggest against the Syrian government in years, which has exposed the weakness of the country's military.

At least 370,000 people are thought to have been displaced so far as a result of the rebel offensive, according to the UN, which has said the fighting is also "worsening an already horrific situation for civilians in the north of the country".

Some civilians are trapped in front-line areas unable to reach safer locations.

SOHR says more than 820 people, including 111 civilians, have been killed across the country since the Islamist-led rebels began their offensive last week.

They seized Hama, to the north of Homs, on Thursday - a second major blow to President Assad, who lost control of Aleppo last week.

The leader of the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani, told residents of Homs "your time has come".

The rebels have been advancing south, and Homs would be the next stop on the road to the Damascus.

"Our forces have liberated the last village on the outskirts of the city of Homs and are now on its walls," the Syrian faction leading the assault said on Telegram.

The BBC has not been able to verify these movements, but SOHR earlier reported that rebels were within a few kilometres of the city.

The SOHR said Russian warplanes had bombed a bridge in nearby Rastan to try and slow the rebel advance.

After the Syrian military lost control of Hama following days of fighting, it is not clear whether it will be able to defend Homs.

The defence ministry has denied claims it had withdrawn troops from the strategic city, which links the capital Damascus to the Alawite heartland on the Mediterranean coast.

The Alawites are a minority sect of Shia Muslims from which the Assad family originates.

They have long formed a major support base for Assad rule, and are key to the president's grip on power.

Assad has vowed to "crush" the rebels and accused Western powers of trying to redraw the map of the region.

But analysts say his forces are demoralised, dealing with low pay and corruption in the ranks. He announced a 50% pay rise in recent days, according to state news agency Sana.

Russia and Iran, the regime's most important allies, have declared continued support for Assad,

But they have not provided the kind of military assistance that so far has been propping up his rule, and Moscow is now urging Russian nationals to leave the country.

The US on Friday also advised its citizens to leave Syria "while commercial options remain available in Damascus".

The Kremlin is preoccupied with its war in Ukraine, and Iran has been weakened by Israel's punishing campaign against its most powerful allied militia, Lebanon's Hezbollah.

Hezbollah, whose fighters had been key to holding regime territory in Syria, are now largely absent from the battlefield, although reports in the Lebanese and Israeli press say small numbers have crossed the border to shore up Homs' defence.

Russian and Iranian officials are expected to meet with their Turkish counterparts at the weekend to discuss a response to this upsurge in Syria's civil war.

Turkey backs some of the rebel groups and its president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has for months pressed Mr Assad to reach a political solution with the opposition.

He has voiced support for the rebels' recent advances, and said the offensive would not have happened if Assad had responded to his calls.

Analysts say it almost certainly could not have happened without Ankara's knowledge and approval.

For his part, the leader of HTS, Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani, has been making public remarks to soften his image and reassure both Syrians and foreign leaders.

He has emphasized his split years ago from Islamic State and Al Qaeda, presenting himself as a nationalist opposed to attacks outside Syria, and promising protection for minority communities.

In an interview with CNN, al-Jawlani said the goal of the rebel forces was to overthrow the Assad regime and install a government that represents all Syrians.

Earlier, HTS fighters and their allies took over Hama and released inmates from its central prison amid fierce battles, while the military said it had redeployed troops outside the city.

Hama is home to one million people and is 110km south of Aleppo, which the rebels captured last week.

In Aleppo, a city of two million people, some public services and critical facilities - including hospitals, bakeries, power stations, water, internet and telecommunications - are disrupted or non-functional because of shortages of supplies and personnel.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged "all those with influence to do their part" to end the civil war.

BBC
 
Rebels say they are closing in on Damascus

Syrian rebels have said they are now around 30 miles (50km) from the capital Damascus - and are closing in.

That's after claiming Aleppo in the north, Hama in the centre, Deir el Zor in the east, Suweida, Quneitra and Deraa in the south.

According to army and rebel sources cited by Reuters, insurgents entered Homs from the north and east today.

Meanwhile, the rebels have extended their hold to almost the entire southwest, and have said they have taken Sanamayn on the main road from Damascus to Jordan.

Jonathan Landis, a Syria specialist at the University of Oklahoma, said Homs is the "key" - and rebels have said they are "at the walls" after seizing the last village north of the city.

Sky News
 
Assad still in the capital, his office says

The Syrian president's office has insisted Mr Assad is still in Damascus, calling reports he has left "false news".

Sky News asked Dr Neil Quilliam, associate fellow at Chatham House, whether Mr Assad could fall within the next 24 hours or whether there would be a brutal fight for Damascus.

He said: "If you’d asked me 48 hours ago I would have said the latter, but all signs are that Assad will go in the next day or so - and his community (Alawis) will continue to flee to the coast - their ancestral homeland - and hold up there hoping that the presence of the Russian naval base in Tartus will provide them with some security and leverage for negotiations."

Sky News
 
As despicable as Assad is.....the one last hostile regime to Israel in the Middle East about to be erased and with it all weapons and support to the one entity who has capacity to engage some damage to Israel: Hezbollah.

Iranians have been totally asleep while one by one their shield around the Middle East has been taken. After Syria, it'll be Iraq these 'rebels' will turn to. Mark my words.
 
Pakpak said:
As despicable as Assad is.....the one last hostile regime to Israel in the Middle East about to be erased and with it all weapons and support to the one entity who has capacity to engage some damage to Israel: Hezbollah.

Iranians have been totally asleep while one by one their shield around the Middle East has been taken. After Syria, it'll be Iraq these 'rebels' will turn to. Mark my words.
Click to expand...

It's inevitable turkey will have to enter northern syria and Iraqi kurdistan because there's no way they are going to tolerate a kurdish entity on its borders.
 
Worked with a couple of Syrians this year who fled to the UK. Had nothing but positive interactions. Sad for what's happened to their country.

No sympathy for Assad who like so many Arab despots (like his father) are soaked in the blood of their own people and didn't make even minor political concesions.

However it's fair to have genuine concerns Syria will become another anarchic, militia run failed state like Libya. This rebel leader Jolani was linked with Al-Qaeda only a few years ago.

What I'm not concerned about is the future of resistance to Israel. It existed before Assad sr, and will survive beyond Assad jr if Israel continues to behave as a violent ethno-nationalist state that subjugates millions of people against their will.
 

Fall of the regime within sight’: Armed opposition leader​

HTS chief Abu Mohammed al-Julani says rebel fighters are on the edge of Damascus and Homs and the government’s collapse is near.

“You are on the edges of Homs and Damascus, and the fall of the regime is within sight,” al-Julani said in a message to opposition fighters.

“I renew my call to you, my brothers, to be merciful and gentle when dealing with our people in the cities and villages that you enter.”

He also reiterated his promise of amnesty for government forces to defect and lay down their weapons.

Al-Julani recently started to sign his statements with his legal name Ahmed al-Sharaa in an apparent effort to distance himself from his past association with al-Qaeda.

Source: Al Jazeera
 
There's a reason ik was deposed because he wanted to be a putin and iranian stooge and that usually ends in disaster as we saw with hamas , hezbollah and now the syrian regime . You can never rely on russia and iran youve just seen the russian and iranian military machine and empire collapse without even the west going into a direct war with them.
 

Rebels seize Damascus as Assad flees Syrian capital​


Rebel fighters have captured the Syrian capital of Damascus, effectively toppling the Assad regime that has been in power in the country since 1971.

Forces led by opposition group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) entered the city in the early hours of Sunday morning, before appearing on state television to declare Syria to now be "free".

The whereabouts of Bashar al-Assad, the nation's erstwhile president, are unknown. He is believed to have fled the capital on a plane.

The rebels - who made a lightning advance over the past fortnight, taking key cities on the road to Damascus - were greeted with celebrations in the streets as they entered the city.

"We all feel like we have been underwater literally for 13 years and we just took a breath," Rania Kataf, a 39-year-old researcher in Syrian cultural heritage in Damascus, told the BBC.

"Overwhelmed is not even a word [that can describe this]."

Another resident said: "For the very first time, there is a true feeling of freedom."

Ahead of the rebel takeover, though, others expressed uncertainty about the future, fearing instability and violence in a city that had been relatively unscathed by Syria's decade-long civil war.

Assad had been in power since 2000, when he assumed the presidency from his father, Hafez. The regime was marked by repression, censorship and human rights violations.

Following the Arab Spring, a number of factions opposed to Assad formed - among them HTS, which was established in 2011 as an affiliate of al-Qaeda and had early involvement from the leader of Islamic State. It is still proscribed a terrorist group by the UN, the US and others.

The leader of the Islamist group, Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani, has attempted to reform its image, breaking with al-Qaeda and pledging tolerance for Syria's minorities.

Many of HTS's statements in the past few days have cast it as a movement for all Syrians, while Jawlani told CNN on Friday: "No one has the right to erase another group. These sects have coexisted in this region for hundreds of years, and no one has the right to eliminate them."

In the last fortnight, HTS launched a surprise offensive from the north, quickly seizing the cities of Aleppo and Hama.

Its progress in the face of limited government resistance also sparked an uprising by allied rebels in the southern region of Daraa, who pushed towards Damascus from the south.

On Saturday night, HTS retook the strategically important city of Homs as government forces retreated, freeing more than 3,500 prisoners from a military prison there.

Despite claims from the interior ministry that there was a "very strong" military cordon around Damascus, a few hours later it was in rebel hands.

There have been early signs of an orchestrated transition of power that largely avoids violence.

Syria's Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi al-Jalali said that he remains in Damascus and had been in contact with HTS's leadership.

HTS said it was "strictly forbidden" for rebels to attack public institutions, which would remain under Jalali's supervision until formally handed over.

But with the common cause of Syria's rebel factions now achieved, there remains a risk that the country could go the way of Libya and descend into years of competing armed factions and instability.

As for Assad, Jalali told Al-Arabiya that he had last heard from him on Saturday evening, and had no information about his whereabouts.

Russia - a long-term ally of Assad - said he had left his post as president and fled the country as a result of negotiations with "other participants in the armed conflict".

But there has been speculation that a plane thought to be carrying the deposed leader had been shot down, after flight tracking data suggested it made an abrupt U-turn before disappearing off the map.

www.bbc.com

Syria: Rebels seize Damascus as Assad flees capital

As opposition fighters take control of Syria's capital, the whereabouts of deposed ruler Bashar al-Assad are unknown.
www.bbc.com www.bbc.com
 
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Israel has promptly invaded Syrian territory, claiming to set up a buffer zone. Let's see if these 'rebels' have a bit of bottle. Assad didn't by the end.
 

Iranian embassy stormed in Damascus​


Iran's embassy in the Syrian capital was stormed by unknown gunmen on Sunday following the capture of Damascus by Syrian rebels and the fall of Iran-allied Bashar al-Assad, Iranian state TV reported.

"It is said that the Iranian embassy was stormed alongside nearby stores by an armed group different from the group now controlling [most of] Syria," Iranian state TV said, referring to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) which spearheaded the rebel advances across western Syria.

Arab and Iranian media have shared footage from inside the embassy's premises, where assailants rummaged through furniture and documents inside the building and damaged some windows.

Reuters could not verify the videos.

On Saturday, Iran said it was pulling out embassy families but denied a report by the New York Times that it was pulling out military personnel.

On the same day, Iran's ambassador to Syria Hossein Akbari spoke to state TV to say the embassy was still open with five to six diplomats and was carrying out high-level meetings to follow-up with the overall situation.

Iran's state TV said HTS had guaranteed there would be no disturbance to the Sayeda Zeinab and Sayeda Ruqqaya shrines in Damascus.

Sayeda Zeinab - the granddaughter of the Prophet Mohammad - is venerated by Shi'ites and her shrine is a site of mass pilgrimage for Shi'ites from across the world. It has also been a magnet for Shi'ite militiamen in Syria.

HTS was formerly an al Qaeda affiliate known as the Nusra Front until its leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani, severed ties with the global jihadist movement in 2016.

 
Last edited:
BouncerGuy said:

Rebels seize Damascus as Assad flees Syrian capital​


Rebel fighters have captured the Syrian capital of Damascus, effectively toppling the Assad regime that has been in power in the country since 1971.

Forces led by opposition group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) entered the city in the early hours of Sunday morning, before appearing on state television to declare Syria to now be "free".

The whereabouts of Bashar al-Assad, the nation's erstwhile president, are unknown. He is believed to have fled the capital on a plane.

The rebels - who made a lightning advance over the past fortnight, taking key cities on the road to Damascus - were greeted with celebrations in the streets as they entered the city.

"We all feel like we have been underwater literally for 13 years and we just took a breath," Rania Kataf, a 39-year-old researcher in Syrian cultural heritage in Damascus, told the BBC.

"Overwhelmed is not even a word [that can describe this]."

Another resident said: "For the very first time, there is a true feeling of freedom."

Ahead of the rebel takeover, though, others expressed uncertainty about the future, fearing instability and violence in a city that had been relatively unscathed by Syria's decade-long civil war.

Assad had been in power since 2000, when he assumed the presidency from his father, Hafez. The regime was marked by repression, censorship and human rights violations.

Following the Arab Spring, a number of factions opposed to Assad formed - among them HTS, which was established in 2011 as an affiliate of al-Qaeda and had early involvement from the leader of Islamic State. It is still proscribed a terrorist group by the UN, the US and others.

The leader of the Islamist group, Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani, has attempted to reform its image, breaking with al-Qaeda and pledging tolerance for Syria's minorities.

Many of HTS's statements in the past few days have cast it as a movement for all Syrians, while Jawlani told CNN on Friday: "No one has the right to erase another group. These sects have coexisted in this region for hundreds of years, and no one has the right to eliminate them."

In the last fortnight, HTS launched a surprise offensive from the north, quickly seizing the cities of Aleppo and Hama.

Its progress in the face of limited government resistance also sparked an uprising by allied rebels in the southern region of Daraa, who pushed towards Damascus from the south.

On Saturday night, HTS retook the strategically important city of Homs as government forces retreated, freeing more than 3,500 prisoners from a military prison there.

Despite claims from the interior ministry that there was a "very strong" military cordon around Damascus, a few hours later it was in rebel hands.

There have been early signs of an orchestrated transition of power that largely avoids violence.

Syria's Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi al-Jalali said that he remains in Damascus and had been in contact with HTS's leadership.

HTS said it was "strictly forbidden" for rebels to attack public institutions, which would remain under Jalali's supervision until formally handed over.

But with the common cause of Syria's rebel factions now achieved, there remains a risk that the country could go the way of Libya and descend into years of competing armed factions and instability.

As for Assad, Jalali told Al-Arabiya that he had last heard from him on Saturday evening, and had no information about his whereabouts.

Russia - a long-term ally of Assad - said he had left his post as president and fled the country as a result of negotiations with "other participants in the armed conflict".

But there has been speculation that a plane thought to be carrying the deposed leader had been shot down, after flight tracking data suggested it made an abrupt U-turn before disappearing off the map.

www.bbc.com

Syria: Rebels seize Damascus as Assad flees capital

As opposition fighters take control of Syria's capital, the whereabouts of deposed ruler Bashar al-Assad are unknown.
www.bbc.com www.bbc.com
Click to expand...
Russia says Assad has left Syria after negotiations with 'a number of participants in the conflict'

We're now getting the first official statement from Moscow since the Assad regime was toppled.

The Russian foreign ministry said it is following the events in Syria with "extreme concern".

It said Syrian President Bashar al Assad has stepped down and left the country after negotiations with "a number of participants in the armed conflict".

Mr Assad gave "instructions to transfer power peacefully", the foreign ministry said.

Russia said it did not participate in negotiations around this.

Moscow has been a strong ally of Mr Assad's regime, stepping in to keep him in power in 2015.

It's unclear how Russia will be involved moving forward, given its support of the Assad regime, but the foreign ministry said it is "in contact with all groups of the Syrian opposition".

It added that it is taking measures to ensure the safety of Russian citizens in Syria, saying its military bases in the country are on high alert.

Sky News
 
'The future is ours', says rebel leader

A statement from the leader of the rebel forces has been read out on Syrian state TV, declaring that "the future is ours".

Abu Muhammed al Jolani, commander of Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS), said there is "no room for turning back" and his group is "determined" to continue on the path it started in 2011.

The rebel group has previously been linked to al Qaeda but cut ties in 2016 and has since positioned itself as attempting to overthrow the Assad regime.

Sky News
 
Iran 'monitoring developments in Syria closely'

We've just got the first official statement from Iran since the fall of Assad's regime.

The Iranian foreign ministry said it is monitoring the situation in Syria and the region closely.

Tehran, which had helped to prop up President Bashar al Assad's regime, said it respects Syria's unity and national sovereignty and that its future decision making "rests solely with the people of Syria".

It added that the "long-standing and friendly relations" between Iran and Syria are expected to continue.

Sky News
 

Syria crisis leaves 250 Pakistani pilgrims stranded​


Approximately 250 Pakistani pilgrims remain stranded in Syria amid escalating unrest triggered by a swift rebel offensive that led to the ousting of President Bashar al-Assad.

Tariq Samiullah, Country Head of Cham Wings, confirmed that rebels have shut down the airport, effectively grounding all outbound flights.

"Our flight scheduled for Lahore today has been cancelled," he said, adding that another flight destined for Karachi on December 11 has also been cancelled.

Pilgrims reported uncertainty regarding Cham Wings’ flight schedule for the day, with no clear updates provided. Meanwhile, the situation in Damascus remains tense, with firing in the Sayyidah Zaynab area creating widespread panic and fear among those present in the vicinity.

Syrian rebels declared this morning that they had taken Damascus, sending President Assad fleeing and ending five decades of Baath rule in the war-wrecked country.

The swift takeover after more than 13 years of civil war took the world by surprise, marking a seismic moment for the Middle East.

Syria's army command also notified officers on Sunday that Assad's regime had ended, a Syrian officer who was informed of the move told Reuters.

Witnesses reported thousands gathering in a main square in the capital, chanting "Freedom" as rebels declared the end of Assad's regime.

Amid the chaos, the Sednaya prison — notorious for detaining thousands of political prisoners — has reportedly been liberated, with rebels celebrating the release of detainees.

In light of the deteriorating situation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) announced earlier today that it has has activated its Crisis Management Unit (CMU) to assist Pakistani nationals stranded in Syria.

www.thenews.com.pk

Syria crisis leaves 250 Pakistani pilgrims stranded

KARACHI: Approximately 250 Pakistani pilgrims remain stranded in Syria amid escalating unrest triggered by a swift rebel offensive that led to the ousting of President Bashar al-Assad.Tariq...
www.thenews.com.pk www.thenews.com.pk
 
Pakpak said:
Israel has promptly invaded Syrian territory, claiming to set up a buffer zone. Let's see if these 'rebels' have a bit of bottle. Assad didn't by the end.
Click to expand...

Israel already mapping out greater Israel within Syria & now bombing in Damascus . They have stopped the resistance moving into golan & Lebanon. They will now want their untidy bearded soldiers to eventually go into Iraq & then Iran . Turkey talks a good game v Israel but in reality is their ally .

Assad was no good guy but Syria 20 years ago was the most diverse & safe place for people of all faiths . Let’s hope the Christians aren’t massacred.
 
FearlessRoar said:
Iran 'monitoring developments in Syria closely'

We've just got the first official statement from Iran since the fall of Assad's regime.

The Iranian foreign ministry said it is monitoring the situation in Syria and the region closely.

Tehran, which had helped to prop up President Bashar al Assad's regime, said it respects Syria's unity and national sovereignty and that its future decision making "rests solely with the people of Syria".

It added that the "long-standing and friendly relations" between Iran and Syria are expected to continue.

Sky News
Click to expand...
Iran can only monitor. Just like an average joe on his laptop reading News. The fact is, Iran's proxies are already half dead in their war against Israel.
In their hate for Israel, they supported Sunni Hamas and paid a heavy toll for that support. Now they realized that the Sunnis are taking over in Syria and tried to help their Shia brothers. With a broken back, they could not do much.

Iran got played badly in this whole game and the regime in Iran has never looked so listless and powerless. Turkey is another winner in all of this chaos. Well played Erdogan.

Over 600,000 people were killed since the start of Syrian civil war. Not a single protest or condemnation from anyone in the West or in the subcontinent bleeding hearts.
 
One thing is that Russia is busy with war against Ukraine, Iran and Hezbollah are weakned. But it's still verys strange to see how quickly this happend. Are USA and Israel involved here?
 
IAJ said:
One thing is that Russia is busy with war against Ukraine, Iran and Hezbollah are weakned. But it's still verys strange to see how quickly this happend. Are USA and Israel involved here?
Click to expand...
Russia lost a huge strategic warm water port.

USA and Turkey were defintiely supporting the so called Sunni Rebels. Russia + Assad + Hezbollah got taken by surprise.

I am sure Israel knew of this surprise Sunni attack on Assad's regime. They just grabbed popcorn to watch both sides tear each other apart. Definitely a win for Israel.
 
Champ_Pal said:
Russia lost a huge strategic warm water port.

USA and Turkey were defintiely supporting the so called Sunni Rebels. Russia + Assad + Hezbollah got taken by surprise.

I am sure Israel knew of this surprise Sunni attack on Assad's regime. They just grabbed popcorn to watch both sides tear each other apart. Definitely a win for Israel.
Click to expand...

Depends on what bigger vision the gulf states and Turkey have for Syria. If they can isolate Iran and their end goal is stabilisation for the region, then it might be better for the whole region if they can bring an end to the sectarian wars which has suited Israel's purposes.
 
IAJ said:
One thing is that Russia is busy with war against Ukraine, Iran and Hezbollah are weakned. But it's still verys strange to see how quickly this happend. Are USA and Israel involved here?
Click to expand...
Definitely. Russia had stopped supporting Syria since last couple of years as the mercenaries they had used to keep control in Syria were diverted to Ukraine. With Hezbollah being taken down by the pager bombs, it was writing on the wall that Assad was on his own & time was ripe for the rebels to step up. Very cleverly played by US + Israel, but surprised by Turkey’s role in all of this!
 
KingKhanWC said:
Israel already mapping out greater Israel within Syria & now bombing in Damascus . They have stopped the resistance moving into golan & Lebanon. They will now want their untidy bearded soldiers to eventually go into Iraq & then Iran . Turkey talks a good game v Israel but in reality is their ally .

Assad was no good guy but Syria 20 years ago was the most diverse & safe place for people of all faiths . Let’s hope the Christians aren’t massacred.
Click to expand...

Have anything to say of the video of our syrian sisters and toddlers being freed from the underground dungeons .

Very diverse regime wasn't it imprisoning women and children in dungeons
 
Syrian army was always pathetic they were gonners without russian airpower and hezbollah and shia militias from Iraq and other parts of Asia they were gone a long time ago.

Iran and Russia don't have the resources to mount a counter attack and hezbollah has been more or less neutralised . Iranians have lost all their air defence systems and their ballistic missile facilities have been heavily damaged in recent strikes.

Iraqi militias sent one last hoorah and obviously the usa isn't going to watch a massacre and millions more getting displaced heading to Europe so they did they bit with some sound strafing runs via the warthogs that put the Iraqi sectarians in their place and they closed the borders.
Besides the anti iranian moqtada al sadr told Iraqis not to enter the syrian theatre so that nipped any counter operation in the bud the Iraqi authorities were wise and closed the borders.

We now 250 of our own shias stranded In damascus so hopefully the pakistan goverment can get these pilgrims out and there isn't some reprisal
 
mazkhan said:
Have anything to say of the video of our syrian sisters and toddlers being freed from the underground dungeons .

Very diverse regime wasn't it imprisoning women and children in dungeons
Click to expand...

These so called rebels didn’t come to free women from jails lol

They have openly said they want good relations with israel, they don’t care for hundreds of women in Zionist jails or the thousands of children murdered in Gaza .

You like all these so called salafi Muslms know they are backed , financed & supported with military by USA & Israel . Maybe it’s such who actually don’t care for the Palestinians, women, men , children & babies
 
this is the most convoluted and layered conflict in the region, anyone who claims to have any idea how this will pan out is talking out of their proverbial. the only known outcomes so far is that this is a massive loss for Iran and the shia axis in the northern arab peninsula.

turkey has gained a strategic foothold in arguably the most sensitive region to its self interests, selling the incumbent ruling party to the US and Israel will be very important, however im not sure how Saudi will react given its essentially turkish geopolitical expansionism in their back yard. perhaps a case of lesser of two evils given the ouster of the proxy shia forces.

my two cents is that saudi, with help from Israel and the US will continue to destrabilise the theatre, simply to keep turkey occupied without being able to leverage the position, and from the US and Israel pov reduce the likelihood of any sunni forces getting a meaningful stronghold.
 
ElRaja said:
this is the most convoluted and layered conflict in the region, anyone who claims to have any idea how this will pan out is talking out of their proverbial. the only known outcomes so far is that this is a massive loss for Iran and the shia axis in the northern arab peninsula.

turkey has gained a strategic foothold in arguably the most sensitive region to its self interests, selling the incumbent ruling party to the US and Israel will be very important, however im not sure how Saudi will react given its essentially turkish geopolitical expansionism in their back yard. perhaps a case of lesser of two evils given the ouster of the proxy shia forces.

my two cents is that saudi, with help from Israel and the US will continue to destrabilise the theatre, simply to keep turkey occupied without being able to leverage the position, and from the US and Israel pov reduce the likelihood of any sunni forces getting a meaningful stronghold.
Click to expand...
It's all games. No concerns for millions of innocent civilians and perilous future for them.
 
ElRaja said:
this is the most convoluted and layered conflict in the region, anyone who claims to have any idea how this will pan out is talking out of their proverbial. the only known outcomes so far is that this is a massive loss for Iran and the shia axis in the northern arab peninsula.

turkey has gained a strategic foothold in arguably the most sensitive region to its self interests, selling the incumbent ruling party to the US and Israel will be very important, however im not sure how Saudi will react given its essentially turkish geopolitical expansionism in their back yard. perhaps a case of lesser of two evils given the ouster of the proxy shia forces.

my two cents is that saudi, with help from Israel and the US will continue to destrabilise the theatre, simply to keep turkey occupied without being able to leverage the position, and from the US and Israel pov reduce the likelihood of any sunni forces getting a meaningful stronghold.
Click to expand...
Well said - good analysis.

Although I'm not 100% sure if it's a a big loss for Iran. I think they decided to cut their losses.
 
Ousted Syrian president Assad 'granted asylum' in Moscow - as world leaders hail end of 'barbaric' regime

Syria's ousted President Bashar al Assad has arrived in Moscow, Russian state media has confirmed.

Mr Assad and members of his family arrived in the city on Sunday, a Kremlin source told the TASS news agency.

The source added: "Russia, for humanitarian reasons, has granted them asylum."

Mr Assad's location was confirmed as Russian news agencies said Moscow had struck a deal with Syrian opposition leaders. A source said the rebels have guaranteed the safety of Russian military bases and diplomatic institutions in Syria.

Mr Assad left the Syrian capital of Damascus after his government fell following a lightning offensive by anti-regime forces across the country - bringing his 24-year rule to an end.

His whereabouts, as well as those of his wife Asma and their two children, were initially unknown. Russia said Mr Assad had left Syria after negotiations with the rebel groups.



news.sky.com

Ousted Syrian president Assad 'granted asylum' in Moscow - as rebels 'guarantee safety' of Russian military bases

President Bashar al Assad left office on Sunday after his government fell following a lightning offensive. As he fled, Syrians celebrated in the streets and ransacked presidential residences.
news.sky.com news.sky.com
 

China calls for ‘political solution’ to Syrian crisis​


China’s foreign ministry on Monday called for the restoration of stability and order in Syria and the search for a “political solution” as soon as possible, after the armed opposition forces seized the Syrian capital over the weekend and its president fled to Russia.

As Syria looks for a political solution, China hopes that all the parties concerned would be guided by the long-term interests of the Syrian people, Mao Ning, spokesperson at the Chinese foreign ministry, said at a regular news conference.

 

Israel watching Syria closely after 'historic' fall of Assad​


Israel has watched the rapid overthrow of the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with a mixture of hope and concern as officials weigh the consequences of one of the most significant strategic shifts in the Middle East in years.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the ousting of Assad as an "historic day" that followed the blows delivered by Israel against Assad's supporters Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon that had created a chain reaction throughout the region.

"This of course creates new, very important opportunities for the State of Israel. But it is also not without risks," he said on a visit to the border area on Sunday.

Israel has pushed tanks over the border into the buffer zone with Syria to prevent a spillover from the turmoil there, but has declared its intention of staying out of the conflict engulfing its neighbour.

Netanyahu said Israel was working on a policy of "good neighbourliness" and would "extend a hand of peace" to Druze, Kurds, Christians and Muslims.

"We will closely follow developments. We will do what is necessary to protect our border and protect our security," he said in a filmed statement.

The lightning advance of Syrian rebel forces since their seizure of Aleppo last week has thrown further turmoil into a region already reeling from the shocks of the war in Gaza and Israel's subsequent campaign against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement in Lebanon.

"At the moment, if we aren't attacked we will just retain the current situation," Israel's Consul General in New York Ofir Akunis told Reuters.

"Nobody should think that this threat of the Shiite-Iranian axis of evil has been eliminated entirely, there are changes but we need everyone... to be even more vigilant about this," said Akunis.

Overnight, the Israeli military said it was not interfering with internal events in Syria but would "operate as long as necessary in order to preserve the buffer zone and defend Israel and its civilians."

The rapid collapse of the Syrian government has presented Israel with a mix of problems and opportunity, said Dina Lisnyansky, a specialist in regional politics at Tel Aviv University.

Iran's inability to protect its long-time ally Assad has underlined the weakness laid bare by Israel's devastating campaign against Hezbollah, which left the long-time Iranian proxy reeling, its long-feared missile arsenal largely destroyed and most of its top leadership dead.

But the advance of a disparate group of rebel forces with roots in the Islamist ideology of Al Qaeda risks re-igniting chaos in Syria and creating a new security threat on Israel's borders.

"It really depends on what happens next in Syria," Lisnyansky said. "We need to know if it goes to the peaceful side of events or perhaps whether a new civil war could occur in Syria, which would of course endanger our borders," she said.

 
EU urges Syria actors to ‘reject all forms of extremism’

The EU’s European Council has released a new statement on the situation in Syria, calling for actors to “avoid any further violence”, protect civilians and engage in a “peaceful and inclusive” transition.

It emphasised the need to protect minorities and diplomatic representatives still in the country.

“Today we stand with all Syrians, both in the country and in the diaspora, who are full of hope, but also those who fear an uncertain future,” said the EU statement. “All must have an opportunity to reunify, stabilise and rebuild their country, restore justice and ensure accountability.”

The statement added: “It is critical to preserve the territorial integrity of Syria and to respect its independence, its sovereignty, as well as state institutions, and to reject all forms of extremism.”

Source: Al Jazeera
 
LOL this was always on the cards, people still fall for it every single time. Libya is the biggest example. Very soon Syria will be a failed state with terror all over the place. One has to be really dumb to say Syria is ''free'' now.
 
sweep_shot said:
Would be interesting to see how things pan out now.

End of an era.
Click to expand...
Nothing interesting. This new guy Golani is a hardcore Islamist with shady past. He is just another self styled Caliph with dreams of grandeur. Give it a few months and Syrian people will be praying for the death of this Golani guy. Its a circus. Every time there is regime change, thousands die.

So far in the Syrian war, over 600k+ people died. You hear crickets from all the bleeding hearts around the world.
 
Whenever a “tyrant” dictator in these type of countries falls, why is it that the immediate alternative seems to be ISIS, Taliban, Al-Qaeda type “social service” organizations. On top of that I see people calling this as “freedom”. Maybe my sensibilities are totally different. I don’t doubt this Assad guy was a brutal leader though but calling this as freedom is hilarious.
 
Local.Dada said:
Whenever a “tyrant” dictator in these type of countries falls, why is it that the immediate alternative seems to be ISIS, Taliban, Al-Qaeda type “social service” organizations. On top of that I see people calling this as “freedom”. Maybe my sensibilities are totally different. I don’t doubt this Assad guy was a brutal leader though but calling this as freedom is hilarious.
Click to expand...
These Tyrant dictators are the ones keeping the Terrorist outfits at bay in those Middle East and North African countries. Once those Tyrants are out, these snakes crawl out to fill the void in power. Everyone stakes claim to rule the land.
Just wait and watch all these various terrorist factions fight it out in the open to gain power.

Its a game. Replace one Tyrant with a bunch of Terror outfits. The outfits fight among each other and eventually another Tyrant comes to power. Then the Tyrant gets thrown out and the Terror outfits gain power again. Its a musical chairs game.

Among all these power struggles there will be a genocide of the common people who do not follow the same sect as the ruling terror outfits or the dictator. Sunni regime kills Shia and Shia regimes kill sunnis. But the world totally ignores all this as both the killer and the killed are Muslims.
 
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