Rebel forces advancing in Syria …

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Perhaps I missed here, but where has Assad gone? Any sense of how many left with him? Is he on a “banned travel” list for UK, Western Europe?

He’s in Moscow. His wife is a British citizen by birth but they’re obviously persona non grata there.

Wow she is accomplished and beautiful. Wonder if she regrets the life she gave up for… whatever is coming

“ Assad graduated from King's College London in 1996 with a bachelor's degree in computer science and French literature. She had a career in investment banking and was planning to begin an MBA at Harvard University when she married Bashar al-Assad in December 2000. She resigned from her job in investment banking following the wedding and remained in Syria, where their three children were born. ”

He’s not inherently a bad guy either really, he didn’t want any part of this. His brother was next in line and a horrible guy like his dad, but he was assassinated. He had hoped to be a doctor.

Not that I have some sympathy for dictators, to some degree there is a fear of loosening the grip and being killed for retribution for what your family did.

So she thought she was marrying a doctor from the ruling family; was Assad rule as brutal in the 90s?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Israeli forces have already moved into Syria to create a "security zone." Let's see who else follows.

I think that’s a bit overstated. Israel and Egypt are fortifying their borders with Syria.

Does Egypt have a border with Syria?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Biden helped strike a major blow to Russia and Iran!

Thanks Joe!

Lol that’s exactly what they said in Afghanistan when they rejoiced about the Soviets leaving…until they got a full taste of the replacement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Perhaps I missed here, but where has Assad gone? Any sense of how many left with him? Is he on a “banned travel” list for UK, Western Europe?

He’s in Moscow. His wife is a British citizen by birth but they’re obviously persona non grata there.

Wow she is accomplished and beautiful. Wonder if she regrets the life she gave up for… whatever is coming

“ Assad graduated from King's College London in 1996 with a bachelor's degree in computer science and French literature. She had a career in investment banking and was planning to begin an MBA at Harvard University when she married Bashar al-Assad in December 2000. She resigned from her job in investment banking following the wedding and remained in Syria, where their three children were born. ”

He’s not inherently a bad guy either really, he didn’t want any part of this. His brother was next in line and a horrible guy like his dad, but he was assassinated. He had hoped to be a doctor.

Not that I have some sympathy for dictators, to some degree there is a fear of loosening the grip and being killed for retribution for what your family did.

So she thought she was marrying a doctor from the ruling family; was Assad rule as brutal in the 90s?

I think the worst part came after the Arab spring instead of negotiations with different parties he took a hard line with help from Russia and Iran and put the country into catastrophe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Israeli forces have already moved into Syria to create a "security zone." Let's see who else follows.

I think that’s a bit overstated. Israel and Egypt are fortifying their borders with Syria.

Does Egypt have a border with Syria?

Sorry I meant Turkey

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Perhaps I missed here, but where has Assad gone? Any sense of how many left with him? Is he on a “banned travel” list for UK, Western Europe?

He’s in Moscow. His wife is a British citizen by birth but they’re obviously persona non grata there.

Wow she is accomplished and beautiful. Wonder if she regrets the life she gave up for… whatever is coming

“ Assad graduated from King's College London in 1996 with a bachelor's degree in computer science and French literature. She had a career in investment banking and was planning to begin an MBA at Harvard University when she married Bashar al-Assad in December 2000. She resigned from her job in investment banking following the wedding and remained in Syria, where their three children were born. ”

He’s not inherently a bad guy either really, he didn’t want any part of this. His brother was next in line and a horrible guy like his dad, but he was assassinated. He had hoped to be a doctor.

Not that I have some sympathy for dictators, to some degree there is a fear of loosening the grip and being killed for retribution for what your family did.

So she thought she was marrying a doctor from the ruling family; was Assad rule as brutal in the 90s?

Assad was another Saddam Hussein type. A Brutal dictator, but secular. Arab countries tend to do best under a dictatorship. Once they try to dabble with democracy they become Islamic states, e.g. Egypt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel like a dumbass, but I really don’t understand what’s happening in Syria and who’s who in the conflict.

Same here!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like a dumbass, but I really don’t understand what’s happening in Syria and who’s who in the conflict.

Same here!

WaPo has some useful resources including this piece with maps and a timeline that I find useful:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/12/07/syria-assad-homs-damascus-timeline/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like a dumbass, but I really don’t understand what’s happening in Syria and who’s who in the conflict.

Same here!

Social media and the fashionable progressives have not been told who to favor here (although there was a brief moment after the chemical attacks when they were trying). so you’ll have to wait a little longer before the hive mind tells you which side to have a bake sale for and what to add to your FB profile.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like a dumbass, but I really don’t understand what’s happening in Syria and who’s who in the conflict.

Same here!

Social media and the fashionable progressives have not been told who to favor here (although there was a brief moment after the chemical attacks when they were trying). so you’ll have to wait a little longer before the hive mind tells you which side to have a bake sale for and what to add to your FB profile.

Glad you mentioned the chemical weapons. Funny how he only used them when he was winning, but never when it mattered to save the regime, right? I guess there will be a huge stock for whatever terrorist group gets to them first.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Israeli forces have already moved into Syria to create a "security zone." Let's see who else follows.

I think that’s a bit overstated. Israel and Egypt are fortifying their borders with Syria.

Does Egypt have a border with Syria?

Sorry I meant Turkey

That'd be kinda weird considering Turkey is who helped HTS take over Syria.

[Anonymous]

Israeli Ground Forces Cross into Syria, Officials Say
Israeli ground forces have overtly crossed into Syrian territory for the first time since the 1973 October War, passing the demilitarized border zone, two Israeli officials said.

NYTimes

Looks like the Israelis are grabbing some more land. Who knew Syria has oil and gas reserves. The Israelis new buffer zone will overlap the gas and oil reserves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like a dumbass, but I really don’t understand what’s happening in Syria and who’s who in the conflict.

Don't be so hard on yourself, its comically convoluted. Different intelligence agencies support different groups of "moderate terrorists" and sometimes they fight each other. Israel bombs Syria on the regular. Turkey is feeding mercenaries and jihadis into the conflict. The US has bases in eastern Syria to support various terrorist groups and oil companies. There are even Ukrainian training the terrorists on drone warfare.

On the Syrian side you have the Syrian government, Russian regular forces, Iranians, Iraqis and even the Kurds it seems.

Pretty much everyone has their own angle, and if Assad were to be toppled, it could unleash quite the chaos. Probably wouldn't be contained to Syria.

Assad had to go. If Arab countries weren’t so self involved they would help work out an interim government.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Perhaps I missed here, but where has Assad gone? Any sense of how many left with him? Is he on a “banned travel” list for UK, Western Europe?

He’s in Moscow. His wife is a British citizen by birth but they’re obviously persona non grata there.

Wow she is accomplished and beautiful. Wonder if she regrets the life she gave up for… whatever is coming

“ Assad graduated from King's College London in 1996 with a bachelor's degree in computer science and French literature. She had a career in investment banking and was planning to begin an MBA at Harvard University when she married Bashar al-Assad in December 2000. She resigned from her job in investment banking following the wedding and remained in Syria, where their three children were born. ”

He’s not inherently a bad guy either really, he didn’t want any part of this. His brother was next in line and a horrible guy like his dad, but he was assassinated. He had hoped to be a doctor.

Assad is an evil dictator responsible for destroying a country who has had citizens tortured, raped, murdered. He is a bad guy. He could have gone to Britain and lived a peaceful life (until someone assassinated him) but he gets no excuses because he was the next in line dictator. Sadly he won’t pay for his crimes against humanity because he is protected by a dictator friend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Israeli Ground Forces Cross into Syria, Officials Say
Israeli ground forces have overtly crossed into Syrian territory for the first time since the 1973 October War, passing the demilitarized border zone, two Israeli officials said.

NYTimes

Looks like the Israelis are grabbing some more land. Who knew Syria has oil and gas reserves. The Israelis new buffer zone will overlap the gas and oil reserves.

note you aren’t upset about Turkey taking 100x more land yesterday than Israel did