The one place over there where a female could marry, travel, good a job, get a divorce, dance on Latakia beach while drinking Syrian wine. And we had to ruin it and unleash Isis.
‘If Homs falls, Assad is in deep trouble as Damascus, the seat of his power, will be encircled. It may be too late for Assad’s key allies, Russia and Iran, to come to his rescue, as they did in the past. Assad turned the tide of the war with the support of Russia’s formidable air power, Iranian advisers and fighters from Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese movement.
The Syrian military, demoralised, underpaid and exhausted after years of fighting, is unable – and, parts of it, unwilling – to stop the rebels. In some areas, soldiers seem to be defecting or abandoning their positions, contributing to the offensive’s spectacular advance.
Bassar Al Assad has been in power since 2000. Before him, his father, Hafez, ruled for 29 years - and, very much like his son, with an iron fist. The end of the Assad rule may not be a distant reality.’
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cwy8xzxe0w7t