The Syrian dictator’s last stand
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. SYRIANS HAVE seen these scenes before: their countrymen tearing down posters of Bashar al-Assad, overrunning his army bases, storming the jails where he keeps political prisoners. But that was ten years ago and more, and they had not expected to see them again, certainly not now, and not with this air of finality.
Yet Mr Assad is abandoned by his army and his foreign allies: his brutal 24-year reign suddenly seems to be nearing its end. Eleven days have passed since rebels launched an offensive in north-west Syria, ostensibly to retaliate for the shelling of rebel-held areas. As they pressed forward, the regime’s army melted away, so the rebels kept going.
They took Aleppo, Syria’s second city, on November 29th, and then Hama to the south on December 5th. Now they are in the outskirts of Homs, Syria’s third-largest city. The rebels are led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a former al-Qaeda affiliate that broke with the jihadist group in 2017 and has for years governed a slice of north-west Syria.
They have met stiffer opposition around Homs than in Hama or Aleppo. But it seems probable that the city will fall in the next day or two. That would allow the rebels to sever the highway that links inland Damascus to the coast, the heartland of Mr Assad’s Alawite sect.
The regime would struggle to resupply its capital, while the rebels would have a clear path to it. Damascus lies 160km south of Homs, less than the distance the rebels have already travelled. Other insurgents have beaten HTS to Damascus, though.
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