The Islamic-led rebel forces announced overnight the conquest of Damascus and the “escape” of the “tyrant” Bashar al-Assad, referring to the president of Syria. Residents of the capital celebrated the fall of the regime in the streets after 50 years of Baath Party rule, while rebel groups heralded the beginning of a “new era” in Syria.
Meanwhile, from Washington the White House announced that the president of the United States, Joe Biden, is following “closely the extraordinary events” in Syria. After their entry into Damascus, opposition forces headed into the center of the city and took control of the public radio and television station. The rebels also ‘liberated’ the nearby Sednaya military prison, known as the ‘human slaughterhouse’, where “the doors were opened for thousands of detainees who were imprisoned by the security apparatus throughout the regime’s rule “, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.
The Syrian Prime Minister, Mohammed Ghazi Jalali, said he was ready to collaborate with the “leadership” that will be chosen by the people, while the head of the rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham – Abu Mohammed al-Jolani – ordered his forces to do not approach the public institutions of Damascus, “which will remain under the supervision of the former prime minister until they are officially handed over”, we read in a post published on X. Syrian Prime Minister Ghazi al-Jalalito whom the victorious rebel militias recognized a role of guarantee until the official change of power, then reiterated in an interview with the broadcaster Al Arabiya that Syria should now keep «free elections so that the people can choose who should lead them.” Al-Jalali had already said he had contacted the rebel commander, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, with whom he said he had agreed on the transition.
At the same time, the Syrian army and the country’s security forces abandoned the capital’s airport. Previously, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani said that his forces control the entire city of Homs, calling the victory “historical”https://gazzettadelsud.it/articoli/mondo/2024/12/08/siria-i-ribelli-conquistano-damasco-il-tiranno-assad-e-fuggito-a4be0118-035d-4b32-83f0-fa9c64e783bc /.”We are living the last moments of the liberation of the city of Homs, it is a historical event that will distinguish truth from lies,” the rebel leader said in a video posted on Telegram, using his real name, Ahmed al-Sharaa, instead of his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jolani.
Fatal hours surround the political destiny of Syria, overwhelmed by a world war that has been ongoing on its territory for almost 14 years, and which is preparing to write a new page in the book of its thousand-year history: President Bashar al Assadwho has been in power for a quarter of a century after inheriting it from his father Hafez for thirty years at the top of the regime, is widely referred to as a rais on the run. According to informed sources at Bloomberg, he is in Tehran, ready to negotiate for safe exile. “He is nowhere in the capital”, some US media have also reiterated, while some do not rule out the possibility that he may also be in Moscow.
Meanwhile, the long-awaited meeting took place in Doha, Qatar, attended by the foreign ministers of Russia, Iran and Türkiye. In the same hours, but before the American president-elect Donald Trump stated that it is not in Washington’s interest to get involved in the Syrian conflict, the quartet of Western countries very close to Israel met in the capital on the Gulf: United States, France, Great Britain and Germany. And according to sources present at the meeting, which was attended by EU representatives and the UN special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, the Western desire to start a political transition process in Geneva next week emerged from the meeting post-Assad that avoids new bloodshed and removes the specter of the collapse of the Syrian state (distinct from the regime) by putting all the parties involved at the same table: the exponents of the Assad system but not directly colluding with the president and with his brother Maher (head of the Praetorian guard and considered close to the Iranians) and the exponents of the vanguard of the military offensive, the armed group Hayat Tahrir ash Sham, led by the leader and former head of al Qaeda in Syria, Abu Muhammad at Jolani. Although HTS has been defined as a “terrorist group” by the United States, Canada, Great Britain and the European Union for years, exponents of smaller groups but in fact linked to Jolani could arrive in Switzerland, so as not to embarrass Western chancelleries.
Without Moscow’s support anymore, the military and political structure of Assad’s Syria has effectively melted away like snow in the sun. The last gasps of resistance along the Aleppo-Damascus axis were seen in Homs, the country’s crossroads and gateway to the coastal region, where Russia maintains the naval base of Tartus and the air base of Latakia, both on the Mediterranean. It is the same region in which the regime’s defectors, many of whom belong to the Shiite-Alawite clans originating from the coastal region, are sheltering in place awaiting negotiations.
Moscow and Tehran in retreat, a hard blow for Putin
“Political solution and dialogue between the Syrian government and the legitimate opposition”. The historical allies of Bashar Assad, in the hours in which Alawite Syria is evaporating in the face of the cavalcade of rebels, hide their weakness behind this request. Reality shows that Iran on the one hand and Russia on the other will hardly be able to save their main partner in the Middle East this time. Weakened by wars and rapidly declining economies, Moscow and Tehran appeared taken aback by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham advancethe Islamic organization that is leading the overthrow of the regime.
In Doha, in the afternoon, the foreign ministers of the so-called Astana format – Iran, Russia, Turkey, plus the UN envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen – met in an emergency meeting on the sidelines of the Forum organized in the Qatari capital . The meeting reiterated “the defense of the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria” underlining the need for a rapid return to stability.
“It is unacceptable to allow a terrorist group to take control of the territory in violation of existing agreements, starting from the UN Security Council resolution”, remarked Russian Foreign Minister Seghiei Lavrov. His Iranian colleague, Abbas Araghchi, instead underlined the need for “negotiations and dialogue” between the parties. On Friday, Araghchi himself met a delegation from the Syrian government in Baghdad, ensuring “close coordination” between Damascus and Tehran.