Syrian rebels say they have toppled Assad in state television announcement

.

Syria is already experiencing food insecurity and this incursion compounds the food crisis as the UN expects @ 1.5 million people displaced.

There are no winners.

I’m curious to see how all those “Russia never loses a war” commenters are going to spin this one.

Damascus falls. Assad flees to Iran. Putin withdraws.

Wow for 50 years the Assad family have ruined with an iron fist.

Stunning they have crumbled in a week.

Assad suffering the same date as Ozymandias.

Same fate, I meant

Will outside occupation forces be allowed to steal the country’s oil if a new puppet regime is installed?

It is interesting that the story says "rebels" until one gets down to the bottom to learn that the rebels are Jihadists. Syria is going from the pan into the fire.

The leader of the rebels, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, has been a member of both Al-Qaeda and ISIS.

Not a good guy.

It is interesting that the story says "rebels" until one gets down to the bottom to learn that the rebels are Jihadists.

Yes, CIA-backed and mainly foreign fighters.

Assad suffering the same fate as Ozymandias.

Actually old Ozzie did well enough. If you're referring to Shelly's poem, it was his statue that collapsed and was buried by sand, many eons after the death of the pharoah.

The US, Israel, and Turkey are happy. As are the radical Sunnis in he country. As for the Alevite, Christian, and Druze minorities in Syria who enjoyed protection under the secular Alevite regime of Assad, lets see how they enjoy radical Sunni Shariah law.

Europe should get ready for another massive wave of Syrian refugees.

proxy

The leader of the rebels, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, has been a member of both Al-Qaeda and ISIS.

Not a good guy.

Yep, that is the American-supported "moderate rebels" for you. Remember how wonderfully humanitarian that recipe worked in Libya?

rainyday

I’m curious to see how all those “Russia never loses a war” commenters are going to spin this one.

Can you name these "'Russia never loses a war' commentators"? Honestly curious what you have seen or imagine to have seen.

I watched an interview with this guy, "Abu Mohammad al-Jolani", whos position has shifted to a much more moderate and compromising one that is inclusive and centers around the creation of national institutions to ensure all get a say and all are treated with respect.

This apparent change has allowed the rebels to gather in disparate elements and train together, plan together. They used the establishment of new institutions to allow the new cooperation to quickly end efficiently follow the battle plans that have seen them capture city after city with great precision and speed.

"The troops all trained together and follow orders exactly" he said. "They stop when ordered to stop, withdraw when ordered to withdraw, they do not go off script and are very disciplined now."

So lets see how the new situation unfolds. The people are happy to see the end of Asaad, judging by the dancing in the streets. Time will tell if a democracy emerges or a new dictator will.

Yep, that is the American-supported "moderate rebels" for you. Remember how wonderfully humanitarian that recipe worked in Libya?

HTS is was designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the US in 2014. Not only is the US not sponsoring them but it would be a major crime for anyone or any agency in the US to do so. Where you come up with some of this nonsense is beyond me.

I don't know yet which capabilities those are, but again, like also 9.11, taliban, IS, Hamas and Hisbollah et al have shown, those rebels or terrorists or whoever they are, have alarming and quickly overwhelming military success, far beyond U.S., Russia, Europe, the West in general, although having all nukes and highly sophisticated technology and weaponry, but obviously useless and only extremely expensive garbage. No wins for the biggest powers in Afghanistan, no decisive win so far for the tank, airforce and drone warriors in Russia or Ukraine, and now this case here, again the bigger and more famous involved players completely losing within a few days. Something must happen in all our Western countries, otherwise such or similar hordes or whatever groups stand in our capitals one day, faster than we can learn to spell their names. I don't care much about that big no-go region and Syria there, but the West's losing streak everywhere, that is surely something very much concerning.

I watched an interview with this guy, "Abu Mohammad al-Jolani", whos position has shifted to a much more moderate and compromising one that is inclusive and centers around the creation of national institutions to ensure all get a say and all are treated with respect.

So lets see how the new situation unfolds. The people are happy to see the end of Asaad, judging by the dancing in the streets. Time will tell if a democracy emerges or a new dictator will.

All one has to do is study how al-Jolani has governed Idlib while under HTS control. Syria is just trading one tyrant for another. He puts on a nice face for the press but he is an Islamist to the core and his organization considers Shiites and Alawis to be heretics.

I bet the Kurdish forces the US supports are not paid in food like it seems Assad was reduced to. Will be interesting to see what happens if they are in conflict with HTS.

HercolobusToday 12:40 pm JST

Will outside occupation forces be allowed to steal the country’s oil if a new puppet regime is installed?

Depends whether they are just as scummy as Assad and don't deserve one drop. Also, it is not US forces that took Damascus. The puppet is the one that fled to Iran.

The US, Israel, and Turkey are happy. 

Turkiye perhaps but not the US or Israel. Neither of those last two would be happy to see Syria become an Islamic Republic. That is not an outcome anyone in the US or Israel wants.

I think even Turkiye at this point is not pleased. They wanted to force Assad to negotiate and have been making overtures to this end for some time now hoping to work a deal with Assad that would end Kurdish autonomy in northeast Syria in exchange for concessions from Turkiye in Syria's north. I don't think even the Turks expected HTS to sweep into Damascus this quickly. Now it looks like the Kurds took advantage of the situation, expanded the territory under their control and there is no guarantee HTS will move against them.

Wick's pencilToday 12:54 pm JST

It is interesting that the story says "rebels" until one gets down to the bottom to learn that the rebels are Jihadists.

Yes, CIA-backed and mainly foreign fighters.

Yes, the CIA backed insurgency that defeated the local government with a few million dollars and no CIA personnel. I guess this is what passes for truth in China/russia.

ZaphodToday 12:58 pm JST

The US, Israel, and Turkey are happy.

Yes I am happy that russia and Iran are once again defeated and the 50 year reign of the Assads is over. If they turn out to be sponsors of foreign terror they will make easy targets. Also they are not friends of Iran's ring of fire so it ends that terrorism.

The leader of the rebels, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, has been a member of both Al-Qaeda and ISIS.

Not a good guy.

Are we once about to see more proxy wars and perhaps even another the latest version of recurring historical theme, ‘the enemy of my enemy is my (for now) friend’.

Chaotic times. Hard to keep up.

Sven AsaiToday 01:19 pm JST

I don't care much about that big no-go region and Syria there, but the West's losing streak everywhere, that is surely something very much concerning.

This is russia's loss but I suspect most European countries can defend themselves from technicals and AK-47s. They would have to get through Turkey anyways.

The US, Israel, and Turkey are happy. 

For sure those US lobbies in Wall Street are happy. They will orde the White House to shipping more weapons, hence generate more profits out of death and desperation of more people in Middle East, as if Gaza an d Lebanon is not enough. You can see already investors are happy :)

Trump likes his Abraham accords. Well now there is a new country to expand that into. Is he too much of a baby to handle a challenge?

FosToday 01:37 pm JST

The US, Israel, and Turkey are happy. 

For sure those US lobbies in Wall Street are happy. They will orde the White House to shipping more weapons, hence generate more profits out of death and desperation of more people in Middle East, as if Gaza an d Lebanon is not enough. You can see already investors are happy :)

Destinations of US weapons in Syria not specified. So much copy pasta so little time.

Israel has initiated a military operation in Syria as rebel forces take Damascus, and Bashar Al-Assad's plane may have crashed near Homs.

semperfi

Syria is already experiencing food insecurity and this incursion compounds the food crisis as the UN expects @ 1.5 million people displaced. There are no winners.

If you are a shrewd investor in the US stock market you are a winner. Wall Street, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite, rose to new records. The top 5 weapons manufacturers in the world are all American.

The USA remained by far the largest spender in the world, allocating 3.1 times more to the military than the second largest spender, China. Syria is just another lucrative market before the next one

wallaceToday 01:43 pm JST

Bashar Al-Assad's plane may have crashed near Homs.

Wouldn't that be justice :)

Israel has initiated a military operation in Syria as rebel forces take Damascus...

And then you wonder where Israel gets the ammunitions from..... (the White House has shipped $20 billions of lethal weapons to Tel Aviv in the course of 2024 alone). Talking about who is the winner. Go figure. American investors already celebrating Christmas :)

Desert Tortoise

Turkiye perhaps but not the US or Israel. Neither of those last two would be happy to see Syria become an Islamic Republic. That is not an outcome anyone in the US or Israel wants.

Have you been living under a rock? Assad was an Iranian client, and Israel has been desperate for your years to remove the secular Assad regime. From Israels perspective, they can live with a stone-age islamist Sunni regime next door, but not with Assad, who increasingly allowed Iranian Shia forces to become a threat to Israel. As for the US, they supported the "moderate rebels" before, in Syria as well as in Libya. So what changed?

The Syrian rebels are not friendly to the West and will build another Islamic state.

Yep, that is the American-supported "moderate rebels" for you. Remember how wonderfully humanitarian that recipe worked in Libya?

Absolutely, another humanitarian tragedy unfolding, as the departing and most irrelevant American SoS and SoF of history go to Bruxelles and Japan to seal more weapons deals, after the huge catastrophes this US administration has generated in Ukraine and Gaza.

TaiwanIsNotChina

I bet the Kurdish forces the US supports are not paid in food like it seems Assad was reduced to. Will be interesting to see what happens if they are in conflict with HTS.

The Kurds are Sunni so can work out something out with the HTS islamists. However, for the time being, Erdogan will make quick work with Kurdish separatists around his borders. Which are always one of Turkeys main concerns. Erdogan is not complaining.

If feel sorry for the Alevites, Shia, and Druzes in Syria. Not the mention the gaggle of remaining Jews who were allowed to exist under the secular Assad regime.

Can you name these "'Russia never loses a war' commentators"? Honestly curious what you have seen or imagine to have seen.

JT doesn’t have an easy way to search for past comments more than a few days old, but I’ve had back and forths with a few on here over the past 3 years who are operating from the premise that WW2 and Napoleon’s invasion are the only wars that exist in Russian history and the only lesson from history is Russian invincibility. When I point out WW1, the Russo-Japanese War, the Crimean War, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the first Chechen War and many other examples they tend not to respond.

Now we can add the Syrian War to the list.

Goodbye, Asad. Goodbye, Putin.

Russia is out of money, troops, and weapons and can no longer fight.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has said the U.S. should not be involved in the conflict and should "let it play out".

That's why the powers that be in US realized now is their last chance to overthrow Syria.

Assad is finally gone, now that's over, will peace ever come over that country? Probably not with all the factions in play, but that is for Russia and Iran to figure out.

Russia and Iran are defeated and will have no say in the future of Syria. The current government will remain until elections can be held.

bass4funkToday 03:27 pm JST

Assad is finally gone, now that's over, will peace ever come over that country? Probably not with all the factions in play, but that is for Russia and Iran to figure out.

Russia and iran are not peacemakers. Thankfully they are out of the picture.

FosToday 02:02 pm JST

Yep, that is the American-supported "moderate rebels" for you. Remember how wonderfully humanitarian that recipe worked in Libya?

Absolutely, another humanitarian tragedy unfolding, as the departing and most irrelevant American SoS and SoF of history go to Bruxelles and Japan to seal more weapons deals, after the huge catastrophes this US administration has generated in Ukraine and Gaza.

Still Putin's War

wallace:

The Syrian rebels are not friendly to the West and will build another Islamic state.

Yes, but Hayat Tahrir al-Sham seems to be focused solely on Syrian matters, unlike Al Qaeda or IS, which export terrorism to international stages. That is good news for the international communities. Whether a liberal democracy movement can emerge within their regime remains to be seen. I would say almost definitively that we will see such a movement sooner or later, because the urge for freedom is not a Western idea but a fundamental part of human nature.

That's why the powers that be in US realized now is their last chance to overthrow Syria.

Nothing to do with the US. This is different groups of Syrian opposition freeing the nation from Assad, finally.

Russia and iran are not peacemakers.

I never claimed they were. I’m just saying let Russia and Iran sort it out.

Thankfully they are out of the picture.

Well, it’s their problem, best of luck to them.

Russia and Iran are defeated and will have no say in the future of Syria.

I disagree

The current government will remain until elections can be held.

If it even comes to that.

bass4funk

Russia and Iran are no longer part of it. The Russians have left.

There are US troops. Nearly 1,000 as well as an unknown number of private contractors. What will happen to them?

There are US troops. Nearly 1,000 as well as an unknown number of private contractors. What will happen to them?

It seems like a lot will be leaving.

What will happen to the Kurds?

What will happen to the Kurds?

They need to figure that out. Either way, Trump just announced that he will NOT get involved in that conflict so....

bass4funk

What will happen to the Kurds?

They need to figure that out. Either way, Trump just announced that he will NOT get involved in that conflict so....

The Kurds are unable to protect themselves against the Turks.

24-year authoritarian rule

Some kings lasted less.

bass4funkToday 03:54 pm JST

Russia and iran are not peacemakers.

I never claimed they were. I’m just saying let Russia and Iran sort it out.

They aren't going to have a role.

Russia and Iran are defeated and will have no say in the future of Syria.

I disagree

Why? Because you love yourself some Putin?

There are US troops. Nearly 1,000 as well as an unknown number of private contractors. What will happen to them?

It seems like a lot will be leaving.

You see, a patriot doesn't just assume his country and its interests will be defeated. The kurds might prove to be a lot better fighters than Assad's conscripted rabble.

Trump just announced that he will NOT get involved in that conflict so....

Trump announces a lot of things, but like any dishonest piece of stuffing, we need to pay attention to his actions and not his words.

Assad probably making his way to Russia or Iran as we speak. Big blow to both those countries. Russia will lose its bases and it will be harder for Iran to support Hezbollah. So far it seems the rebels have been well behaved

Thousands in cars and on foot congregated at a main square in Damascus waving and chanting "Freedom" from the long Assad family rule, witnesses said.

So much analysis and deep knowledge of the despicable hated dictator. Are us westerners already deciding that a new syrian elected Gov should be frowned upon because it may not comply with our impeccable western standards?. Afghnistan did not occur so rapidly 'cos it was a minority movement, Iraq massive US money. Yep US papers will be printing what US readers are willing to pay for. Already so many negative comments about asian islamic communities above, mmmh so why is Xin Jiang such a popular islamic project to the western media? I thought the crusades were done and finished in the 13th century, and that mankind globally was more broad minded and educated by now.

This should be celebrated like when the Iranians overthrew the Shah

Russia couldn't help Assad because Russia is too preoccupied with their invasion of Ukraine. Russia couldn't afford to spare any troops or equipment - Russia even needs to import North Korean troops and Iranian equipment, so they have nothing left for Assad. So this is an effect of Russia's foray into Ukraine

lostrune2Today 05:12 pm JST

This should be celebrated like when the Iranians overthrew the Shah

Uh, one could hope this doesn't usher in 45 years of grievance.

lostrune2

This should be celebrated like when the Iranians overthrew the Shah

You are spot on there. The secular Shah regime, where women had equal rights and minorities were protected was replaced by a theocratic dictatorship who put women under the headscarf, punished adultery with stoning and homosexuality with hanging, among other Sharia niceties, plus declared an open-ended jihad against Israel.

The people who celebrated that are now celebrating the overthrow of the Alevite Assad regime.

You do not say if you belong to that camp, but your point is valid.

They aren't going to have a role.

And neither will we.

Why? Because you love yourself some Putin?

No, because I love that Trump is prioritizing the U.S. first.

You see, a patriot doesn't just assume his country and its interests will be defeated.

What interests?

The kurds might prove to be a lot better fighters than Assad's conscripted rabble.

I wish them all the best.

Trump announces a lot of things, but like any dishonest piece of stuffing,

Dishonest, only when the Dems and the establishment blocked him.

we need to pay attention to his actions and not his words.

You mean like with Biden or Both Bush’s and Clinton and Obama?

Yes, we should pay attention.

Russia, Iran, and America failed in Syria.

Israel is an ally of the US and an enemy of Syria.

IDF deploys in the Golan buffer zone with Syria, girding for post-Assad regime chaos

https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-deploys-in-golan-buffer-zone-with-syria-girding-for-post-assad-regime-chaos/

Congratulations Suria,

Freedom at last, Freedom at Last, Thanks God all mighty Freedom at last.

Al Qaeda, ISIS and HST are all the same thing: Salafi Jihadi - extreme fundamentalists who consider the Koran to be an instruction booklet to be taken literally.

Their ultimate aim is to establish a global caliphate.

Good riddance. One less murdering dictator.

Roll up your sleeves and start the rebuilding process, bring home your refugees and start the healing process.

I will never forget the photo of the Syrian child body may be 4 or 6 years old that washed up off the shores of Greece, he drowned when an overloaded escape boat capsized and several people could not swim including the child, several children were lost at sea from accidents similar to this one.

Wick's pencil:

Yes, CIA-backed and mainly foreign fighters.

Not only foreigners, but Uighur terrorists, no doubt funded by USA. Remember, ETIM is now no longer classified as a terrorist group by USA. They're not terrorists if they're useful to the Empire.

proxy:

It is interesting that the story says "rebels" until one gets down to the bottom to learn that the rebels are Jihadists. Syria is going from the pan into the fire.

Indeed. Funded by those 3-letter organizations. So, USA no longer occupies a third of Syria, but now occupies most of Syria. Makes stealing their oil a lot easier now.

Iraq and Libya all over again. Let's see how the people of Syria fare and whether they'll get fed, or whether there'll be more refugees heading to Europe. Europe helps USA to destroy these countries and are then baffled as to why there are so many migrants knocking on their doors. Hello?

lostrune2:

Russia even needs to import North Korean troops 

You mean these North Korean troops?

https://asiatimes.com/2024/12/fake-story-fake-photo-of-alleged-north-korean-women-in-kursk/

This should be celebrated like when the Iranians overthrew the Shah

That would be funny if it weren’t so tragic.

The reconstruction of Syria, Lebanon, and Gaza will take decades and $billions.

""The pace of events has stunned Arab capitals and raised fears of a new wave of regional instability.""

Yes, and I hope it continues so People in the Middle East can live FREE with DIGNITY.

Russia, Iran, and America failed in Syria. 

Your point?

Israel is an ally of the US and an enemy of Syria.

Yes, well the Assad regime, but now that threat is gone, so let’s see what comes from the ashes.

The reconstruction of Syria, Lebanon, and Gaza will take decades and $billions.

Well, China and Russia should have deep pockets.

The West has won this battle, but at what cost? The Russians have abandoned Hmeymim (possibly why that plane pulled a U-turn) and are about to lose their only port in the Mediterranean.

I hope it continues so People in the Middle East can live FREE with DIGNITY.

Under Salafi Jihadi? Unlikely.

The naysayers got it wrong. Assad left because this is an organized transfer of power. There were no real battles.

The two main Russian military bases are intact and functioning. Authorities there are in contact

...with all Syrian opposition groups. Moscow has urged all sides for refrain from violence.

Looks like Russia will get a say after all.

Think about it: the geographic locality of the enclave where Russian bases are, the specific locals most likely want some assistance. Various other factions may be interested too.

Not at all. Moscow has been searching for a political compromise in Syria for some time.

Suspect many quarters (including govts) see eye to eye on not wanting this transition to be taken advantage of by unsavory elements.

Important to observe the rebel advance went south on the M5. They didn't turn off and push west along the M1 to the coastal provinces, where Russia's bases are, for many obvious reasons.

Hopefully 2254 can be implemented.

News outlets are showing videos of children as young as 3 and 4 years old being held in prisons with their mothers by the Assad secret police in Damascus .

"Syrians ransack Assad's abandoned palace dressing rooms taking huge Louis Vuitton boxes before breaking into his supercar-filled garage - while others loot bags of CASH from central bank"

Effectively, Syria will be controlled by the Al Nusra Front, which is basically Al Qaeda (though they deny it), and we have fools like Angela Rayner celebrating Assad's downfall. The west, in their usual ignorance, will yet again have to learn that the enemy of my enemy is not necessarily my friend.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council_Resolution_2254

This is the roadmap forward. All permanent members voted for it in 2015 with none abstaining of non-permanents.

Largely crafted by Russia with positive input from others surprisingly or unsurprisingly.

Russians have been given 48 hours to leave their Med bases, and rumors say that Assad's plane may have been shot down by a Russian S-400 system, either deliberately or by mistake.

... 49 hours to leave the warm-water port of Tartus. (Russian sources).

More regional instability rarely results in 'paradise', rather the doom loop is picking up speed, as terrorists play fast and lose, no long game, strictly opportunists for hire.

Syria seems heading towards the Yemen social 'model'

Bad week for the Soviets. Record casualties in Ukraine, Ruble turning to rubbish, Georgians had enough of them and now gonna get thrown out of Syria.

Rebuilding a crappy failed empire has its bad days I suppose.

What this forum misses is a bit of depth to put events into context as they unfold, and mainly knowledge of history.

But thanks to you what it doesn't miss is America being blamed for any stone in anybodys shoe.

If Putin wasn't smashing his useless army to bits in Ukraine he could have prevented this.

Sorry Vatniks, seems you can't have Syria and Ukraine at the same time, you just aren't as competent at invading as you thought you used to be.

Assad was murderous filth. He may pop up in Moscow courtesy of his looted fortune. Hopefully he is dead. A pity he didn't suffer the slow, painful fate of so many of his tortured victims. It is easier than you might think to get rid of any regime. Just don't be stupid and go head to head against a superior armed force. Target the leadership and be covert in your approach.

jsa

and of course Israel have to involve with this too. 

Are you joking? Israel has always been involved, as Israel has been the target of Iranian backed jihadis for years, Syria was an Iranian client, and Syria has an ongoing claim to the Golan heights??

Regime change in Syria has long been on the agenda for Israel (something I disagree with, but I can see the Israeli position).

Supporting the Sunni jihadis in Syria has always been joint USA/Israeli policy. Are you seriously unaware of that?

GBR48

Assad was murderous filth. He may pop up in Moscow courtesy of his looted fortune. 

Pretty safe to say he is in Teheran, and not Moscow. Yes, the regime change in Damascus is a blow to Moscow, but it comes on with its own problems for the US/Israel pro Sunni alliance, and it is not an existential problem for Moscow such as the Nato (aka USA) encroachment in Ukraine is. This is political chess, not tic-tac-to.

I guess that, like the Egyptian military, which overthrew the democratically elected government there and returned the country to a corrupt dictatorship that the US favors and supports, the members of the Syrian military who helped this overthrow of democracy in Syria will be heavily rewarded by America taxpayers, and given the complete impunity to crush the population in any and every way without much media attention by us.

Oh, and any attempt to restore the legitimate, internationally recognized government to Syria will be deemed an invasion...unlike the efforts to crush the population of Yemen and restore the foreign backed regime there has been.

obviously, we need a new deck of cards to discern the good guys from the bad guys.

the cia is good at making them, shuffling them and dealing them out. raison d'être.

hold on, somebody’s at the door…

bass4funkDec. 8 06:25 pm JST

They aren't going to have a role.

And neither will we.

You don't know that. A patriot doesn't make assumptions his country will fail.

Why? Because you love yourself some Putin?

No, because I love that Trump is prioritizing the U.S. first.

Surrender is never putting the US first. You are just spouting the latest missive from Truth Social and will change on a dime when that changes.

You see, a patriot doesn't just assume his country and its interests will be defeated.

What interests?

That's a question I keep asking you about Israel but you seem to think it does something for the US.

Trump announces a lot of things, but like any dishonest piece of stuffing,

Dishonest, only when the Dems and the establishment blocked him.

Right. Only a complete liar to the enemy I see. Sounds like something from Islamic political theory.

we need to pay attention to his actions and not his words.

You mean like with Biden or Both Bush’s and Clinton and Obama?

All of whom might be vindicated now as having defeated Assad. We shall see.

Russian sources claim Assad and his family are now in Moscow. Putin calling for a UN meeting to discuss the safety of their Syrian bases.

Sounds like the Butcher of Damascus is going to live with his old pal the Butcher of Moscow. These two deserve each other.

wallaceToday 03:05 am JST

Putin calling for a UN meeting to discuss the safety of their Syrian bases.

The UN should be calling for the safe removal of the russian bases.

2254, which Washinton endorsed (voted for), does not call for the removal of any Russian bases. Control of the ports and the only functioning airbase is real.

Latest:

Leaders of the armed Syrian opposition have guaranteed the security of Russian military bases and diplomatic institutions on Syrian territory

This was a transfer of power. Dignified and bloodless. And yes, Assad is in Moscow with his London wife and kids.

Russia does hold the only air force in that land. Make no mistake about that.

'You gotta go, domino!' - GENESIS

Man, Asaad fell pretty quick, didn't he? Just like I remember when Marcos fell and Baby Doc too.

Honecker, Ceausescu, the fall of the Iron Curtain.

And Mobutu in Zaire and Mugabe in Zimbabwe.

And Milosevic 'the Son of a B****' (a nickname for him at my university) in 2000.

And Qaddafy, but that took nearly a year and his overthrow was an ugly one.

Who's next in line? trump? His Master Putin?

They'd better watch out, they'd better not cry. They'd not pout.....

'They all fall down. Like toy soldiers. Ah-hah-hah, ah-hah-hah, ah-hah-hah, ah-hah-hah, ...' - MARTIKA

JJEToday 03:44 am JST

2254, which Washinton endorsed (voted for), does not call for the removal of any Russian bases. Control of the ports and the only functioning airbase is real.

I see no such language in there.

Leaders of the armed Syrian opposition have guaranteed the security of Russian military bases and diplomatic institutions on Syrian territory

Well you better play real nice then with the forces removing Iranian proxies then. I don't imagine russia wants another land war and they would probably lose.

JJEToday 03:44 am JST

2254, which Washinton endorsed (voted for), does not call for the removal of any Russian bases. Control of the ports and the only functioning airbase is real.

Oh, because it doesn't say anything about the bases it endorses them? Hilarious.

Asad is gone. Putin is gone. Now Iran is gone.

Let the Syrians rule Syria. No more Russians. No more Iranians.

proxyDec. 8  12:44 pm JST

It is interesting that the story says "rebels" until one gets down to the bottom to learn that the rebels are Jihadists. Syria is going from the pan into the fire.

Between a rock and a hard place. Syria's dictatorship had been using chem weapons on the populous, and that civil war has been raging for about 10 years now.

> proxyDec. 8  12:54 pm JST

The leader of the rebels, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, has been a member of both Al-Qaeda and ISIS.

Not a good guy.

He says he's moderated his view now. Time will tell.

Pres. Obama said about 10 years ago that Assad must go. That was before ISIS emerged and started their gross genocidal activity. Many Syrians have fled from all the mayhem but trumpPutin imposed that ban because he's an uncouth fascist bigot.

And now the Russians are leaving with their tails between their legs. Motormouth Mussolini Spanky Don needs to stop his screaming too. If there are any US forces in the area they should exit too.

socrateosToday  04:48 am JST

Asad is gone. Putin is gone. Now Iran is gone.

Let the Syrians rule Syria. No more Russians. No more Iranians.

Let them rebuild their nation into something they can be proud of. Syrians know their nation and history better than anyone else.

Viva Syria! Down Assads!

Zaphod:

Pretty safe to say he (Asad) is in Teheran, and not Moscow...

He is in Moscow.

After fleeing Damascus ahead of a rebel advance, Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad and his family have arrived in Moscow and been granted political asylum, according to Russia state media. (CNN)

The guy with the beard on CNN, charming everyone with his vows of diversity, and previous youthful offences like DUI, joining Laden (twice), then ISIS, joining AQ again, pretending he didn't join them again, and now pretending he is a "reformist", while he refers to himself as the "2nd Emir of Tahrir al-Sham".

Sounds like an inclusive democrat of sorts.

Attention all people of the Syrian Federation.

Attention all people of the Syrian Federation.

Attention all people of the Syrian Federation.

We have assumed control.

We have assumed control.

We have assumed control.

2254 was voted for by US. Means RFOR was voted for.

The new Syrian government doesn't need to attack the Russian bases - they can just later pass a law annulling the base agreement, thus forcing the Russians to leave. It's their decision

JJEToday 05:09 am JST

2254 was voted for by US. Means RFOR was voted for.

Still bent out of shape about KFOR, huh? Good to know I can reach the russian.