The End of Assad? Syrian Rebels enter the outskirts of Aleppo for the first time since 2016

They are driving in Hama on top of pickups. Waving flags and hooting. It's a relaxed scene.

As JMeire pointed out, the people whonm support Assad are all along the coast a d in the South West, a long sliver cut in 2 and probably more soon, will they be left rule themselves to end it wiped out gradually .

You'd have to expect the long term peace for them to not be a nice thing either

I needed to check this up because it didn't seem to add up.

Assad trained as a Doctor and served as a Doctor in the Syrian armed forces from 1988 to 1992. In 1992 he went to London for a post grad in Ophthalmology at a London eye hospital. While in London, his older brother Bassel, who was marked down as successor, died in a car accident in 1994 and Bashir returned to the Syrian army to be in position to be his successor. He took over on his fathers death in 2000. Maher is his younger brother and was never to be successor.

Its always wise to check up apocryphal stories.

Hama's central prison has been emptied.

Map update shows Qamhane encircled. They were smart enough not to try and hit it head on.

Exactly. These rebels are trained on the level of the Ukrainians. Basically to a Turkish NATO standard minus the air support. Very tactical.

I just watched the video of the Russian supplied attack helicopter. It was miles in the air and they took it out. It fire balled and took forever to hit the ground. It looked like the pilot's jumped out and fell with it. As it weaved in and out it's rotor blades might even have caught them a few times.

This war and the Ukrainian war proving many video games and Hollywood movies to not be so far fetched after all.

Sounds like Salamiyah has been surrendered without a fight. Mid-size city but trying to see where the next point of major resistance will be before Homs. It could also prove significant as it removes the need to try and cross the Orontes river between Hama and Homs.

City of about 60k the new front line will probably end up in settlements around the edge of Holms. If you were an Assad fighter how would morale be after losing Aleppo in 3 days and Hama after another week?

It's do or die for Assad and the Russians. Lose Holms and Damascus is cut off from the Mediterranean sea. Might as well be cut off from Iran too as the Americans bomb their convoys in the desert. A much weakened Hezbollah won't be of too much help either. I wouldn't like to be that particular Shia terrorist organisation with Israel, American bases and superior Turkish Sunni Muslims surrounding you. Not to mention the Lebanese army or Lebanese Christians/Sunnis wouldn't be their biggest fan. Maybe they shouldn't have started a battle with Israel. Always look at the bigger picture.

It's a real shame for Iran they've been selling many of their best weapons to Russia. You make the bed now you may lie in it.

Holms is 50% bigger then Hama with a population of 1.5M. Half way between the cities is a large town called Ar Rastan. There's a river, dam and large reservoir making this the best place to set up the next defensive line. Assad's forces are likely to retreat to hear so the rebels could take another 20km tomorrow without resistance.

How this battle goes will be very telling. The rebels might try a wide flank on both sides to get around the reservoir but that's easier said then done. Then again they've been doing things far easier then anyone would have suspected.

An Israeli drone conducting strikes near Homs as a Turkish supplied rebel drone conducts it's own strikes. The world is a complicated place.

And having checked it up, are you happy with my version of events?

A lot of the inmates in Syrian prisons would have been anti Assad "rebels"…because millions of Syrians were able to escape from Syria, millions more could not, and had to stay, but their hatred of the Assad family was always present. This explains why rebel forces are getting an easy ride through a lot of the country.

First year of Biden's term we had the fall of the Afghan government, last year of his we might have the fall of the Syrian one. Would be strange bookends to his administration.

Watching some of the footage of the rebels on Al-Jazeera, they look well equipped and their morale seems to be (understandably) through the roof. Still amazed at the speed of their advance.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122926515#Comment_122926515Slightly off topic

Ottoman steam trian that was ambushed by lawrence of Arabia.

We will have to wait and see! As I mentioned in an earlier post, the ISIS contingent fighting against Assad is a very much reduced force, and I believe that the kind of behaviour they were noted for in the past, will not be tolerated in a "new" Syria. In all the areas and cities taken so far, HTS have gone to great pains to talk to people, of all creeds (Aleppo has a large Christian population. One of its main universities is called after St.Don Bosco) And they have been assured that they will not be attacked.

Quote;- "They say the coastal areas are fiercely loyal to Assad. Where's Homs, Hama and Aleppo suffered brutal crackdowns under the regime." Thats it in a nutshell!! Imagine HTS attacking Hama, where in 1982 Hafiz Assad quelled a revolt in Hama, sieged for 27 days, then levelled the city killing 40'000 Hama inhabitants? Theres a lot of central Syria where they were less than enthuastic about the Assad regime. But all along the coast, it's a different story,,,Assad was seen as a protector of the minorities (being from a minority himself, the Alawite's) here they will fight. Back in 2015, Damascus was within days if not hours of falling to the FSA. And many people would have been happy to see Assad defeated, and after that he called in Putin, and the rest as they say is history. Be interesting how Damascus fares out this time.