Syrian government appears to have fallen in stunning end to 50-year rule of Assad family

[FakeNoose]

Source: AP News

By BASSEM MROUE and ZEINA KARAM
Updated 11:36 PM EST, December 7, 2024

BEIRUT (AP) — The Syrian government appeared to have fallen early Sunday in a stunning end to the 50-year rule of the Assad family after a lightning rebel offensive. The head of a Syrian opposition war monitor said President Bashar Assad had left the country for an undisclosed location, fleeing ahead of insurgents who said they had entered Damascus after a remarkably swift advance across the country.

Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi Jalali said the government was ready to “extend its hand” to the opposition and hand over its functions to a transitional government.

“I am in my house and I have not left, and this is because of my belonging to this country,” Jalili said in a video statement. He said he would go to his office to continue work in the morning and called on Syrian citizens not to deface public property. He did not address reports that Assad had left the country.

Rami Abdurrahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told The Associated Press that Assad took a flight Sunday from Damascus.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/syria-assad-sweida-daraa-homs-hts-qatar-7f65823bbf0a7bd331109e8dff419430

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More Here:
https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-gaza-lebanon-news-7-december-2024-53419e23991cfc14a7857c82f49eb26f
Middle East latest: Syria’s government appears to fall after lightning offensive by insurgents

[msongs]

1. will tulsi gabbard be in deepest mourning? nt

[Initech]

2. All tyrants fall. Trump and Putin should take note.

[Farmer-Rick]

26. Exactly and they don't last even as long

As American Democracy had lasted.

[yaesu]

3. Seeing his plane was downed, that would mean the end if true. nt

[Aussie105]

6. If true . . .

Could be!
https://www.freepressjournal.in/world/syrian-president-bashar-al-assads-plane-shot-down-say-unconfirmed-reports

A dictator's plane going down 'accidentally'?

Not the first time, really.

[cstanleytech]

8. Reminds me of that guy in Russia who's plane *accidently* exploded recently.

[onetexan]

23. Yevgeny Prigozhin - putin's chef

[duncang]

10. If it's confirmed his plane went down.

I don’t know if it actually means he was in it. It would be easier to go into hiding if everyone thought he was dead.

[onetexan]

24. That's what i'm thinking - the tracking device was deactivated

[LudwigPastorius]

4. Khamenei probably has a furnished apartment all ready for Assad.

[Sneederbunk]

5. Assad's Assad is Grassad.

[TalenaGor]

14. lol i see what you did there

[calimary]

29. I did, too, but it took me a minute.

[ColinC]

7. Not really a good thing considering the insurgents are much worse

Generally speaking...

[JoseBalow]

9. Adios, fucko!

[duncang]

11. Watching some videos from over there.

Customs at an airport had already deserted their posts. Looked like a last flight was getting ready to leave and people scrambling to it hoping to get on. Those people along with others who already left were likely government officials or employees and their families.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

12. Assad's plane may be down

Last edited Sun Dec 8, 2024, 12:13 PM - Edit history (1)

Link to tweet

[LeftInTX]

16. Yikes

[calimary]

33. No kidding!

[FakeNoose]

30. 1 PM Sunday update - BBC reports that Assad is in Moscow

His plane made it to Moscow, and Assad is given asylum by Putin. Lots going on over there.
Here's a current link to BBC live broadcast:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world/middle_east

[C Moon]

13. Glad to see putin was hurt by this, but Abu Mohammad al-Jolani sounds pretty scary.

[rubbersole]

15. Doesn't look very promising.

Shits about to get real. The 'rebels' appear to be reasonable if news reports are correct.

[PortTack]

17. Let's hope...those rebels are hezbollah

[muriel_volestrangler]

19. Huh? No, Hezbollah supported Assad. They're both Shia. HTS is Sunni, an Al Qaeda offshoot

It's Hezbollah's weakness after the Lebanon fighting with Israel that has opened up the chance for HTS to do this so quickly.

What everyone's trying to figure out is what HTS and its leader really are like, after the split with Al Qaeda. Was that meaningful, or just a strategic rebranding as "Syrian nationalist"?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8j99447gj1o

The founder of HTS, Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, was once a participant in the Iraqi insurgency against the US as a member of the group that eventually became Islamic State.

In its former incarnation as Jabhat al-Nusra or the Al-Nusra front, HTS later declared allegiance to al-Qaida. It eventually publicly broke those ties in 2016 and rebranded as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, or Organization for the Liberation of the Levant.

HTS is now the most powerful rebel faction in Syria.

It is designated as a terrorist group by the US and there are serious human rights concerns in the area it controls, including executions for those accused of affiliation with rival groups and over allegations of blasphemy and adultery.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/08/who-are-the-syrian-rebels-who-have-captured-damascus-explained-in-30-seconds

Note that, confusingly, the "Syrian National Army" is a Turkish-backed militia, not Assad's forces.

[FakeNoose]

27. K & R! Thanks for this background information

I can't follow all this without a good cheat sheet.

[PortTack]

18. This is really bad for putin. Syria was his only ally in the ME, and he loses his only Mediterranean shipping port..

[onetexan]

25. Bad for Iran as well. It cuts off their access to Hezbolla in Lebanon.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

20. The insurgents are on a roll. I wonder if they'll stop at current borders, ...

... or keep going to re-take the Golan Heights area from Israel. And after that, ...

[MarineCombatEngineer]

22. They can try to take the Golan Heights area from Israel,

but they'd lose big time.

[Elessar Zappa]

31. Israel actually just captured Syrian territory on their side of the Golan Heights.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

32. Who did they capture it from? Were the rebels in the area? Or remnants of Assad's army?

Or did they just establish outposts near the border? I think Israel is calling it a "buffer zone".

However, Israeli buffer zones seem to attract developers to build settlements on the vacant land. Israel may have just opened another front on this war.

[Mike 03]

21. BBC World Service is doing remarkable extended

coverage if anyone is interested.

I think this is the fourth hour.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/live:bbc_world_service

[Blue_Tires]

28. Snowden, Assange and Greenwald were unavailable for comment