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

Turkiye are definitely the big winner out of all this. The guys they backed have won and without the distraction of Assad they are free to concentrate on attacking the Kurds, which is exactly what they are doing right now.

who was committing “genocide” in Syria? Which religious or ethnic group was there an attempt to wipe out?

The FSA (lads in control now) and few others were fighting Hezbollah for past 10 years since they sided with the regime. There is definitely bad blood between them, especially when they helped with Russia's scorched earth tactics during the initial uprising all those years ago.

Think that will be weighing on the Turkish leadership. Go after the Kurds and risk another round of fighting. Alternatively to try to stabilise their neighbour enough to return refugees. Not necessarily mutually exclusive.

Meanwhile Israel has begun to take more territory in Syria to create "a buffer zone".

Defense Minister Katz: “PM Netanyahu and I instructed Israeli military to seize the buffer zone and control points in order to ensure the protection of all Israeli communities in the golan heights”

Ah yes, buffer zones, where have we heard that before? A leaf from Mr Putin's book perhaps?

The Turkish backed Islamist rebels are already attacking Kurdish fighters, same Kurds who are responsible for keeping thousands of Isis fighters imprisoned. If Isis is unleashed again this could get ugly very quickly

It'd be mighty surprising if something like this doesn't happen in the coming days/weeks/months. Julani was head of Al-Nusra Front who have reportedly called for all Kurds to be expunged from Syrian territory. Whether Julani has really moderated his views on all things, including the status of the Kurdish people in northern Syria, I would have severe doubts. I think the civil war continues interminably as a three-way dance between Julani's fighters, the Kurds and ISIL/ISIS.

Israel would want to be careful with expanding of buffer zones, wouldn't want to give disparate groups a rallying cry.

I wonder if Trump brings home those 1000 troops who are " protecting " Syria's oil fields and it's main agricultural region.

Syria's economy basically has collapsed due to this and massive sanctions placed on it over the years. They were unable to pay wages for the army and they refused to fight.

Difficult to see any good come from all of this apart from a few countries snatching parts of it and the rest of the country run by a gang of radical warlords for the next few years. Hopefully not !

As brutal as the Russian and Assad tactics were, I still see no evidence of “genocide”. Without American assistance, the Kurds perhaps could have been victims of genocide from ISIS and the the Turkish proxy forces. If people keep throwing around words like genocide like that, they eventually become meaningless.

Darth is on the money again lol

Israel has annexed territory by force, but that's for another thread.

All the "Western" media I read or listen to is full of talk about what Syria will be like now. Plenty of scepticism and uncertainty about how moderate the future will be.

It does seem that so far they are keeping to their word but nobody is ready to fully believe this will last yet.

One commentator suggested that it usually takes a bit of time for the thrill of victory to turn into the rage of revenge.