Posted on 12/06/2024 2:07:07 AM PST by RandFan
Tens of thousands of people are fleeing Syria's third-largest city Homs in fear that Islamist-led rebels will continue to advance towards the capital, Damascus.
The rebels seized Hama to the north on Thursday, a second major blow to President Bashar al Assad who lost control of Aleppo last week.
The leader of the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani, told residents of Homs "your time has come".
Syrian rebels launched a surprise offensive against the government last week and have so far captured two major cities.
They have been advancing south - and Homs is the next city on the road from Aleppo to Damascus.
Terrified members of President Assad's Alawite minority community are leaving Homs, with video footage showing roads jammed with cars.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
Oh no...dey messin wid de Homies in da hood...
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They’re all crapweasels.
It’s all a dog’s breakfast.
Assad is backed by the Rooskies and Iranians, but protects the Christians and other minorities, the “rebels” are a mix of ISIS, al-Qeada, and other muslims, some of which are backed by Turkey, and the Kurds are protected by the US, even though the commie Kurd faction, the PKK, is a target of our NATO ally Turkey. Then there’s the Shia/Sunni conflict in eastern Syria, which is a proxy war between Iran and some Iraqis. And Israel tosses in a few bombs every now and then just for fun, and to kill whoever doesn’t like them. Very Game of Thrones.
It’s a no-one-wins situation, and hundreds of thousands of non-fighters will die, and even if one side does eventually win, it will all start over again soon after that.
The religion of peace.
British media has lost all credibility, in all things.
We seem to be neutral on HTS.
Did Bashir Assad’s father have a tighter grip on the warring factions when he was alive and in power? I don’t recall so much constant turmoil then.
https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/could-syrias-rebels-take-damascus/
Wishful thinking about HTS??
They’ve taken some key cities (or about to) so I don’t know
It seems ominous.
I am sure some of the weapons Chomo Joe gave the Taliban are in Syria.
I might add that the US and Israel might not be opposed to a split 3-ways Syria. HTS might be “content” to leave the Kurds in the NE with US support as a block of Iranian aid to Damascus and / or Hezbollah. The Kurds do not seem to be interested in trying to rule Alawite-majority areas. Whether that is true of HTS as regards the Alawite-majority areas remains to be seen. Another sticking point would seem to be the Kurdish areas in the NW, but I’m not sure how many Kurds are still there anyway, or will be, soon? If they are allowed to flee to the NE, the point may be moot? The Alawites are unlikely to give up on ruling all of Syria, but, they may not have the means to do much about it. Much depends on Russia...
The above is much too simplistic, but, I don’t have all day to write about it. Nor would I likely be right — people who have studied the region for decades have been taken by surprise by recent events.
That said, I’ve thought for a while now that countries like Syria were perhaps never really stable to begin with. “Capped” might be a better description, but with the catalyst of modern communications added, the bottles were sure to blow sooner or later, and, except maybe for timing, regardless of outside actors. Deeper discussion for a later date, perhaps...
More interesting (if likely biased) info.:
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/syrian-rebels-minorities-jury-remains-out
which does remind us:
“The (Assad) regime tries to present itself as a protector of minorities. In reality, a lot of this sectarianism was manufactured by the regime,” said al-Shami. “For example, when it was arresting peaceful pro-democracy protesters in 2011, it was releasing radical Islamists that went on to join the most hard-line brigades.”
The article (further on) seems to peg the Turkish backed factions as the most onerous, but there is a lot of reference to un-named "experts".
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