US, Turkey Backed Groups Pushed Out Al-Assad, Takeover Damascus

United States of America, US backed Kurdish led Syrian Democratic Forces, SDF and Turkey backed Islam led Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, HTS have pushed out Iran and Russia backed President Bashar Al-Assad from Syria, with US President-elect, Donald Trump calling President Joe Biden and other government officials at the Whitehouse, warmongers trying to cause World War 3, distancing USA from the civil crisis in Damascus.

Local media reported with videos that Christians in Damascus gathered at a church Saturday night to pray for guidance as the opposition Islamic and Kurdish rebels closed in on Damascus. Some of the local media added that the fall of Damascus could mark the end of a 2,000-year-old Christian presence in the city.

On Sunday early morning, Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad boarded a plane and left Damascus for an unknown destination, two senior army officers told Reuters, as rebels said they had entered the capital with no sign of army deployments.

Syria’s army command also notified officers that President Bashar al-Assad’s rule ended following a lightning rebel offensive, a Syrian officer who was informed of the move stated, according to Reuters. With Syrian rebels saying, Damascus is ‘now free of Assad.’

According to unverified information, the plane that might have been carrying Assad out of Damascus had gone into sharp descent and disappeared from the radars. There has been no official information.

But a check showed that as at on Sunday early morning, a Syrian Air plane took off from Damascus airport around the time the capital was reported to have been taken by rebels, according to data from the Flight radar website. The aircraft initially flew towards Syria’s coastal region, a stronghold of Assad’s Alawite sect, but then made an abrupt U-turn and flew in the opposite direction for a few minutes before disappearing off the map.

Iran had earlier started to evacuate military commanders from Syria, in a sign that the regime is losing faith in Bashar al-Assad’s ability to hold back a rebel uprising which started newly on November 27, 2024, advancing fasters unlike since the civil war in Syria began in 2011.

Tehran has sent commanders and staff back to neighbouring Lebanon and Iraq, the New York Times reported, citing three Iranian officials and “regional officials.”

The renewed fighting in Syria had brought into focus the role of foreign powers in the country. Turkey, Iran, Russia and the US have all deployed troops in Syria since 2011, while Israel mounts frequent airstrikes in Syrian territory.

The surprise rebel offensive advanced so quickly that its troops were, as of Saturday, within 12 miles (20 kilometres) of the southern gate of Damascus, Hassan Abdul Ghani, the rebel commander, said.

Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement on Saturday, said: “Over the past 24 hours, armed forces have entered the buffer zone on the Syrian side of the border with Israel. Among other actions, attacks were carried out against (United Nations Disengagement Force) UNDOF forces in the area.

Israel is concerned about violations of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement between Israel and Syria, which also pose a threat to its security, the safety of its communities, and its citizens, particularly in the Golan Heights region. The State of Israel does not intervene in the internal conflict in Syria”, Israel Foreign Ministry statement ends in quote.

Thousands of Kurds have fled their villages in northern Syria after Tal Rifaat was captured by the Turkish-backed rebel group, Syrian National Army (SNA).

For many of the Kurds, according to local media reports, it was the second time they have had to abandon their homes: they had already fled the capture of the Afrin region in 2018.

Videos online showed anti-government protesters toppled the statue of Hafez al-Assad in Hama, Syria. The crowd started chanting as the statue of Bashar al-Assad’s father was pulled down.

Syrian rebels made their biggest gains since the war began 13 years ago, striking a devastating blow to President Bashar al-Assad. Crowds were seen in the city of Hama chanting ‘God is Great’ as a statue of his father was was pulled down by anti-government protesters.

Close watchers said, in Syria, the US maintains no formal diplomatic relations with the government of embattled President Bashar al-Assad for years. But it does back the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led coalition based largely in the northeast, as an ally in defeating IsIL (IsIS).

US backed alliance led by Syrian Kurdish fighters captured Deir el-Zor, the government’s main foothold in the vast eastern desert, on Friday. The rebels seized Aleppo and Hama in the northwest and centre earlier in the lightning offensive that began on November 27, 2024.

The Syrian Kurdish force said Islamic State – a jihadist group that imposed martial law under its harsh rule before its defeat by a US led coalition in 2017 – had taken control of some areas in eastern Syria. Aron Lund, a fellow at think-tank Century Foundation, said Assad’s government was “fighting for their live at this point”.

Syrian rebels on Saturday had said they seized control of the southern city of Daraa on Saturday, the birthplace of a 2011 uprising against President Bashar al-Assad and the fourth city his forces have lost in a week.

The Rebel said the military agreed to make an orderly withdrawal from Daraa under a deal giving army officials safe passage to the capital Damascus, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) north and videos posted online showed government forces abandoned their positions.

Social media videos showed rebels on motorcycles and others mingling with residents on the streets. People fired shots into the air at the city’s main square in celebration, as seen in the videos.

The rebels’ had claimed late on Friday that they had advanced to the edge of the central city of Homs, a key crossroads between the capital and the Mediterranean coast. Homs capturing cut off Damascus from the coastal stronghold of Assad’s minority Alawite sect, and from a naval base and air base of his Russian allies in the area.

“Our forces have liberated the last village on the outskirts of the city of Homs and are now on its walls,” the Syrian faction leading the sweeping assault said on the Telegram messaging app.

The coalition of rebel factions that include the Islamist group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) made a last call on forces loyal to Assad’s government in Homs to defect.
Ahead of the rebel advance, thousands of people fled Homs towards the coastal regions of Latakia and Tartus, strongholds of the government, residents  said.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday that there was now a new reality in neighbouring Syria, where Turkey has long supported opposition forces that carried out incursions against Kurdish forces that it regards as terrorists.

Turkish President stated this while  speaking as Syrian rebels entered suburbs of the city of Homs, opening a path to Damascus in a lightning advance as front lines collapse and government forces battle to save President Bashar al-Assad’s 24-year rule.

“There is now a new reality in Syria, politically and diplomatically. And Syria belongs to Syrians with all its ethnic, sectarian and religious elements,” Erdogan said in a speech in the southern Turkish city of Gaziantep.

Adding; “The people of Syria are the ones who will decide the future of their own country. As Turkey, our wish is for our neighbour Syria to quickly regain the peace, stability and tranquillity it has been longing for 13 years”.

He added that the best way for the region to deal with the situation would be for “responsible actors and all international organisations” to support the preservation of Syria’s territorial integrity. A main concern of Turkey is the presence in northern Syria of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, which it regards as a terrorist group, closely tied with militants in Turkey who have fought a 40-year insurgency against the Turkish state, according to International news media.

Local media reported that the Syrian rebels had claimed full control of Hama, a significant blow to President Bashar al-Assad’s regime after the military pulled out of the city. The leader of the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani, declared victory in Hama, promising “no revenge” for those who had fought against them.

Earlier, HTS fighters and their allies stormed Hama central prison, releasing hundreds of inmates after intense fighting. The Syrian military reported redeploying its troops outside the city to avoid further urban combat and protect the life of civilians.

Hama, a city of one million people located 110 kilometres south of Aleppo, was captured by rebels after they launched a surprise offensive from their stronghold in the northwest. Despite reinforcements sent by the military and air support from Russia, the Syrian army was unable to prevent the rebels from overtaking the city on Thursday, according to residents.

Rebel commander, Hassan Abdul Ghani reported intense fighting across several districts in Hama. By the afternoon, he confirmed that hundreds of prisoners had been freed from the central prison, and the city was fully liberated. The rebels also secured Hama military airport and the strategically important Jabal Zain al-Abadin hill, which overlooks the key Damascus-Aleppo highway.

In a statement, Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani said the fighters had entered Hama to “cleanse the wound that has endured in Syria for 40 years.”

Jim Chimirie, a  centre right conservative had said on his X social media platform that: “The ancient city of Damascus, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, finds its Christian community facing an increasingly grim future as the Syrian civil war continues to rage.

For nearly 2,000 years, Christians have been an integral part of the city, contributing to its cultural, social, and religious identity. Yet today, this rich Christian presence is under direct threat from the radical Islamist factions that now plague the region.

Damascus holds a special place in Christian history, being the site of the conversion of Saul, later known as Paul the Apostle, whose dramatic transformation marked a pivotal moment in Christian tradition.

For centuries, the city has been home to ancient churches, monasteries, and Christian neighborhoods that serve as enduring symbols of the faith. However, as the war deepens, these vital Christian sites are now facing destruction at the hands of radical groups.

While the Syrian government currently maintains control of Damascus, the surrounding areas are rife with violence and instability. Rebel factions, many of which include Islamist extremist groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda affiliates, continue to challenge the government. These jihadist elements, driven by a fundamentalist ideology, pose an existential threat to Christians, as their ideology often involves the violent persecution of religious minorities, including forced conversions, abductions, and killings.

For Christians in Damascus, the situation is dire. Despite the authoritarian nature of the Assad regime, many Christians view the government as a protector against these extremist forces. Under Assad’s secular rule, Christians have had a level of protection not afforded to religious minorities in other parts of the Middle East.

However, as radical Islamist groups grow in strength, this protection has become increasingly fragile. The presence of such groups in surrounding areas only heightens the risk to the Christian community in Damascus, as the city could soon become a battleground between these extremists and the government forces.

The fall of Damascus to such hostile forces would have catastrophic consequences for the Christian population. Radical groups like IsIS have already shown their brutal intolerance for religious minorities, including Christians, by destroying churches, forcing conversions, and perpetrating unspeakable violence.

Should Damascus fall, these extremists would almost certainly attempt to erase the Christian presence, leading to the destruction of churches, monasteries, and cultural landmarks that have stood for centuries. This would likely result in a mass exodus of Christians, marking the end of a community that has been a cornerstone of Damascus’ identity for nearly 2,000 years.

As the threat to Damascus grows, many Christians in the city have turned to prayer for guidance and protection. Church gatherings have become a means of holding on to faith, not just for personal survival, but for the preservation of their religious identity and heritage. Their prayers are both a cry for divine intervention and a plea for the international community to recognize the grave danger they face and act in their defense.

With many Christians already fleeing to safer regions or abroad, those who remain in Damascus continue to hope they can preserve their homes and legacy. Their prayers reflect both the fear of what may come and the hope that one of the world’s oldest Christian communities can endure the storm of radical Islamist violence.

As the international community watches the broader Syrian conflict unfold, the plight of Syrian Christians calls for urgent attention. The need for global Christian solidarity has never been more pressing. The survival of Christianity in Damascus – one of the faith’s most historic centers – is now hanging by a thread, threatened by the growing rise of radical Islamist forces determined to eradicate its presence”, Jim stated in quote.

Donald Trump, the US president-elect on his X social media handle on Saturday, said, with some of his words written completely in capital letters, that: “I am hereby demanding that the US do NoT get involved in the conflict between Syria, Russia and Iran. This is not our fight, we should not send one penny to Damascus or any other party involved. We cannot let the warmongers in the White House succeed in starting World War 3!

Opposition fighters in Syria, in an unprecedented move, have totally taken over numerous cities, in a highly coordinated offensive, and are now on the outskirts of Damascus, obviously preparing to make a very big move toward taking out Assad.

Russia, because they are so tied up in Ukraine, and with the loss there of over 600,000 soldiers, seems incapable of stopping this literal march through Syria, a country they have protected for years.

This is where former President Obama refused to honor his commitment of protecting the ReD LiNE In ThE SaND, and all hell broke out, with Russia stepping in. But now they are, like possibly Assad himself, being forced out, and it may actually be the best thing that can happen to them.

There was never much of a benefit in Syria for Russia, other than to make Obama look really stupid. In any event, Syria is a mess, but is not our friend, and ThE UnITED StATES ShOULD HaVE NoTHING To Do WiTH It. ThIS Is NoT OuR FiGHT. LeT It PlAY OuT. Do NoT GeT InVOLVED!”, Donald Trump words end in quote.