In a quick turn of events Bashar al-Assad left Syria early sunday morning‚ ending his familys half-century control over the nation. The rebel group-led offensive swept through major cities including Aleppo and Homs in just two weeks time
The take-over happened while Assads main supporters were busy elsewhere: Russia dealing with its Ukraine situation; Iran having problems with Israel (which made everything harder for them). The rebel coalition‚ led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham took control faster than anyone expected
UN representative Geir Pedersen pointed out the need to avoid violence and start talks but the situation remains unclear. One big worry is about chemical weapons - theres a real need to keep them safe. The Israeli air-force already hit a chemical weapons site to stop rebels from getting it
Turkey seems to support the winning side even though they dont say it directly. Their foreign minister Hakan Fidan made it clear: “The new administration must be set-up properly; no revenge allowed“
On the one hand its amazing remarkable that one of the worst war criminals in a very long time is out of the way
The Kurdish groups who control north-east Syria face an un-clear future. Turkey doesnt want them involved in Syriaʼs future set-up‚ while the US (with its 900 troops there) supports them
Russian minister Sergey Lavrov met with other countries leaders in Qatar to talk about next steps. They all agreed to try finding a political fix using the old UN rules from 09ʼ but nobody knows where Assad went - even Russia just said he left
The whole thing affects nearby Lebanon too since Syria was Irans main route to send weapons to Hezbollah. Israelʼs leader Netanyahu said their attacks on Iran and Hezbollah helped cause Assads fall. Now everyone watches carefully to see whoʼll take control in Syria