Published: 9 December 2024
Last updated: 10 December 2024
The fall of the Assad regime in Syria marks a historical and unexpected turn of events in what seems to be yet another chapter in the never-ending surprises produced in the Middle East.
The fact the long, brutal tyranny of 54 years led by the Assad family was toppled in a 12-day attack by the rebels, five years after all analysis considered the high-intensity civil war in Syria to be won by Assad and his Russian and Iranian supporters, is no less than amazing.
The rebel group that led the attack, and which by now is in control of the capital Damascus, is a radical Islamist group affiliated with Al-Qaeda. The group is called Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, commonly referred to as HTS, which in Arabic means "the Levant Liberation Committee".
The group was formally established in 2017 as an umbrella organization uniting several radical Islamist groups that operated separately against the Syrian regime since the beginning of the civil war in 2011.
Comments1
Ian Light9 December at 09:18 pm
The greatest horror were the revelations of the immense barbarism and sadistic tortures in the Assad Prisons . This reveals the threat to Israelis if they do not maintain their courageous and high competent military and continue with their capability with research and innovation . That Iran and Russia could support such an atrocity barbaric regime is what Humane Leftists ought be protesting and ought have been protesting for a Decade . The disappointment with the Obama administration in not following through with its red line -no chemical weapons , no barbarous atrocity in prisons is now greater . But can Hayat -Tahrir al Sham be trusted and are they committed to the Comprehensive Humane Reform plus Truce with Israel is unpredictable .