BREAKING...SYRIAN GOVERNMENT FALLS, DICTATOR ASSAD FLEES

Syrian rebels seized Damascus on Sunday as President Bashar al-Assad’s regime collapsed in the face of the insurgents’ stunning offensive across the country. The rebels said in a statement that “the city of Damascus is free from the tyrant Bashar al-Assad” and that “Assad has fled” after various factions encircled the capital from the north and the south. The Russian foreign ministry said later on Sunday that Assad had resigned, left the country, and ordered a peaceful transition of power after the fall of Damascus. His whereabouts were unclear, as the rebel onslaught brought an ignominious end to a family dynasty that has ruled Syria for more than 50 years. “Assad is gone,” US president-elect Donald Trump posted on his Truth Social network. “Russia, led by Vladimir Putin, was not interested in protecting him any longer.”

FT

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After more than a year of relentless conflict in the Middle East, the stunning capitulation of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime will go down in the region’s history as one of its greatest shocks. In just 12 days, rebels marched from the north and then the south to the heart of Damascus, capturing the capital and ending the Assads’ more than 50-year dynastical rule over the nation. In less than two weeks, they achieved what tens of thousands of armed opposition fighters had failed to do in 13 horrendous years of civil war. Moscow and Tehran, Assad’s main backers, were unable, or unwilling to stem the tide, both caught up in their own conflicts — Russia in Ukraine, Iran and its proxies in their 14-month conflict with Israel.

FT