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ArcticStones's avatar

SYRIA: Al-Jazeera has excellent minute-by-minute coverage of the developments in Syra, something you will be hard-pressed to find in other online written sources.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/12/7/syria-war-live-news-govt-says-president-al-assad-has-not-fled-damascus

For example, 11 minutes ago:

. "State of panic as gov’t troops reportedly leave positions around Damascus"

Local sources in Syria told Al Jazeera that a state of panic has spread as army troops withdraw from their positions around Damascus.

They also confirmed that opposition forces had advanced in the western Damascus countryside and the withdrawal of army forces from cities and towns in Eastern Ghouta.

There was a rush for food items in markets in the capital.

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Ethan (KingofSpades)'s avatar

Iranian proxies were the keystone keeping Al-Assad secure for years.

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hilltopper's avatar

Here is another good minute by minute site. https://syria.liveuamap.com/

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sacman701's avatar

Looks like there may be a deal to turn Damascus over to HTS. Hopefully there's a broader deal to be made between HTS, the Turk-aligned groups, and the Kurds. Maybe some assistance for HTS and the Turk proxies in exchange for guarantees that they (and the Turks themselves) leave each other and the Kurds alone?

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Henrik's avatar

I’d imagine a lot of SAA officers see the writing on the wall and don’t want to die for Assad

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sacman701's avatar

That seems to be the calculation the junior commanders in charge of cities north of Damascus have already made.

I think the key here is that Hezbollah borked itself by going so hard at Israel. If they hadn't been engaged there and gotten wrecked, they might have been able to prop Assad up. Russia has also been in no position to help since 2022, and I assume they'll stay out of it unless HTS demands that they leave their base (which could end up as their equivalent of Guantanamo).

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Henrik's avatar

Hezbollah had a real opportunity to consolidate themselves in southern Lebanon with Israel otherwise occupied and didn’t take it

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TheDude415's avatar

Sounds like Assad may get to experience the less fun part of being a brutal dictator.

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ArcticStones's avatar

Could be echoing propaganda but, if not, this is impressively fast:

. "Syrian army officers in Damascus discharged"

(BBC 8:44pm ET) UK-based war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reports that hundreds of members of the Syrian army and security forces have been seen taking off their military uniforms after being told that they were being discharged as the regime had fallen.

Orders had reportedly been issued to them to withdraw from Damascus International Airport following the departure of a private plane.

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/cwy8xzxe0w7t

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TheDude415's avatar

At this point I'm just living vicariously through Syrian and South Korea as a way of coping with our own democratic backsliding.

That's healthy, right?

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Henrik's avatar

Do what you gotta do

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ArcticStones's avatar

And Ghana. Romania redo coming up.

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TheDude415's avatar

Isn't Ghana legitimately democratic though?

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ArcticStones's avatar

My impression is that Ghana has been a fairly stable democracy for about three decades or so. Which probably is why the country isn’t in the news so much. In that regards, I guess it’s similar to Botswana and Costa Rica: islands of longtime stability.

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michaelflutist's avatar

Botswana and Costa Rica have had uninterrupted democracy for much longer than that, though.

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