The last time Syrian President Bashar Assad was in serious trouble was 10 years ago. That was at the height of the country’s civil war, when his forces lost control over parts of the largest city, Aleppo, and his opponents were closing in on the capital, Damascus.
An image of Syria n President Bashar Assad , riddled with bullets, is seen on the facade of the provincial government office in the aftermath of the opposition’s takeover of Hama, Syria , Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. A Syria n opposition fighter holds a rocket launcher in front of the provincial government office, where an image of Syria n President Bashar Assad is riddled with bullets on the facade, in the aftermath of the opposition’s takeover of Hama, Syria , Friday, Dec. 6, 2024.
“While weakened and distracted, Assad’s allies are unlikely to simply cave to the rebels’ offensive,” she wrote in an analysis.Until recently, it seemed that Syria’s president was almost out of the woods. He never really won the long-running civil war, and large parts of the country were still outside his control.
But then the sudden offensive launched by insurgents on Nov. 27 reignited the war and caught everyone off guard with its scope and speed. Aron Lund, a Syria expert with Century International, a New York-based think tank and a researcher with the Swedish Defense Research Agency, said the developments in Syria are a geopolitical disaster for Russia and Iran.
Part of the insurgents’ attempt to reassert their grip on Aleppo, the city where they were ousted in 2016 after a grueling military campaign, was to issue a call to government soldiers and security agencies to defect, granting them what they called “protection cards,” which offer some sort of amnesty and assurances that they won’t be hunted down.
Hossam al-Bakr, 33, originally from Hama who served in Damascus and defected four years earlier to Aleppo, said he came to “settle his position” and get a new ID.
Bashar Assad Syria Damascus Syria Government War And Unrest Rebellions And Uprisings Israel-Hamas War Hezbollah General News Mona Yacoubian Mohamed Ghoneim World News Charles Lister Hassan Abdul Ghani Aron Lund Russia Ukraine War
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