Syrian government appears to have fallen in stunning end to 50-year rule of Assad family

BEIRUT (AP) — The Syrian government appeared to have fallen early Sunday in a stunning end to the 50-year rule of the Assad family after a lightning rebel offensive.

The head of a Syrian opposition war monitor said President Bashar Assad had left the country for an undisclosed location, fleeing ahead of insurgents who said they had entered Damascus after a remarkably swift advance across the country.

Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi Jalali said the government was ready to “extend its hand” to the opposition and hand over its functions to a transitional government.

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Gotta say, its good Assad's gone, but HTS does not sound much better.
- The statements their leader have made seems promising. Cooperation with the UN, peaceful overhanding of power etc. But they stem from Al-Qaeda so let's hope this doesn't age like milk..
  
  The statements their leader have made seems promising.
  He is making the right noises, but then again so did the Taliban when they took control of Afghanistan.
  
  The taliban had no allies, resources or much established that was at stake, thus no real incentive to follow through. They were just testing the waters to see if the world actually cared that much about those things or it was just a lot of noise. Turns out they were right, no country reciprocated on their statements, and so they just went back to their old ways.
  HTS does actually have incentive to follow through here I think
  
  My point exactly
- Probably not, but at least for tonight we can celebrate
- Yeah, they're saying all the right things right now but their past associations with al Qaeda and ISIS doesn't bode well.
  
  Are they really saying the correct things?
  I've seen plenty of interviews where where they say that "God is great" on repeat. Thats not what you want to hear from your potential governing body.
  
  Can't tell if this is edgy Atheism or Islamophobia.
  In the unlikely event you actually want to get out whichever bubble you're in, that phrase is extremely common in that part of the world. It's a nothing burger, calm down.
  
  Theocratic rule, no matter which theology, never improves things for the citizens.
  
  Weird that part of the world is so dangerous for women, LGBTQ, atheists, Christians… anyone not Muslim…
  Im sure it has nothing to do with their minds being stuck in ‘repeat religious phrases non-stop’ mode.
  
  Yeah, but you're just as bad for pointing that out
  /s
  
  I heard it's all the Democrats fault for not fixing it when they had power.
  /s
  
  Yes it is a common phrase but how many governments honestly benefited from having a religious influence? It's not phobic to be concerned that this new government will be created with any religious groups ideology as guidelines instead of foundational morals and freedoms at it's core.
  
  To your point, removed hard r was a common phrase as well unfortunately is becoming more common again in the us.
  Just because it's common doesn't mean it should not be laid ro rest
  
  Religion as a base of government is shit, regardless of which make-belief you got bred with.
  I don't like labels, cause they simplify an opinion you might hold. But i suppose i have some atheistic views, and that's it.
- The enemy of my enemy is not as bad an enemy as the other enemy.
- Time will tell. What they've been saying is mostly good, but words are one thing, actions are another. All we can do is hope.

74 comments