The fall of Bashar Assad after 14 years of war in Syria brings to an end a decades-long dynasty (apnews.com)
from Stamau123@lemmy.world to world@lemmy.world on 08 Dec 05:27
https://lemmy.world/post/22895786

BEIRUT (AP) — The fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government Sunday brought to a dramatic close his nearly 14-year struggle to hold onto power as his country fragmented amid a brutal civil war that became a proxy battlefield for regional and international powers.

Assad’s downfall came as a stark contrast to his first months as Syria’s unlikely president in 2000, when many hoped he would be a young reformer after three decades of his father’s iron grip. Only 34 years old, the Western-educated ophthalmologist was a rather geeky tech-savvy fan of computers with a gentle demeanor.

But when faced with protests against his rule that erupted in March 2011, Assad turned to the brutal tactics of his father in an attempt to crush them. As the uprising hemorrhaged into an outright civil war, he unleashed his military to blast opposition-held cities, with support from allies Iran and Russia.

International rights groups and prosecutors alleged widespread use of torture and extrajudicial executions in Syria’s government-run detention centers.

The Syrian war has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million. As the uprising spiraled into a civil war, millions of Syrians fled across the borders into Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and Lebanon and on to Europe.

#world

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Stamau123@lemmy.world on 08 Dec 05:27 next collapse

Hope those 14 years of boozing it up in Damascus was worth the crater you’re buried in, jackass

Aralakh@lemmy.ca on 08 Dec 05:40 next collapse

Good. What a piece of shit he was.

AmidFuror@fedia.io on 08 Dec 06:12 next collapse

But he had support from such upstanding groups as Hezbollah, the Iranians, and the Russians!

J4g2F@lemmy.ml on 08 Dec 06:31 next collapse

And he now being replaced by a group with ties to al Qaida, isis and Saudi Arabia. Of course being assholes themselves. They try really hard rebranding in name, not Ideas. Asad is bad, the people trying to get in power now are not better.

Skiluros@sh.itjust.works on 08 Dec 06:46 collapse

They try really hard rebranding in name, not Ideas. Asad is bad, the people trying to get in power now are not better.

Do you have any specifics on this? Reports, analysis with reference to facts and data. Something along the lines of this article:

How Syria’s ‘Diversity-Friendly’ Jihadists Plan on Building a State

Not saying you are wrong, HTS and the rebels may well fracture. I guess we’ll find out.

J4g2F@lemmy.ml on 08 Dec 07:12 next collapse

First of all a link to a pro-Israël think tank is of no use for any discussion. Think-tanks in general are bad. Wikipedia washington institute

On DuckDuckGo the second link is to the BBC on how the hack are hts and the current situation of you search for it. No think tank slop needed. BBC article

To be honest they only want a “fundamentalist Islamic rule” state. Totally not a problem of course

Skiluros@sh.itjust.works on 08 Dec 07:32 collapse

Conduct a thought experiment and imagine the article wasn’t written by that think tank.

What part of the article is wrong and why? I will note, it doesn’t exactly embrace HTS. Please be specific. Happy to agree it is a bad source if you provide reasoned arguments and alternative data/analysis.

The BBC article doesn’t provide any context beyond the following two sentences:

For some time now, HTS has established its power base in the north-western province of Idlib where it is the de facto local administration, although its efforts towards legitimacy have been tarnished by alleged human rights abuses. … Since breaking with Al Qaeda, its goal has been limited to trying to establish fundamentalist Islamic rule in Syria rather than a wider caliphate, as IS tried and failed to do.

The BBC article does not discuss public policy in rebel controlled areas or address HTS’s recent statements.

I am not claiming to know the right answer. I don’t speak Arabic, I’ve never been to Syria and my in-person knowledge is largely limited to Syrian friends and acquaintances with whom I’ve lost contact with.

I am genuinely curious about more in-depth information.

rodolfo@lemmy.world on 08 Dec 10:13 next collapse

Today it’s called think tank, yesterday it was propaganda. You don’t read propaganda and think it’s good and fine, do you?

The article claims many things and, being propaganda, doesn’t give any proof. Ah… These events published in social media that everyone seems to know, described in such a fascinating writing style, but somehow are never linked to, embedded, ripped… At the beginning of the article. First two sentences. Bullshit from the start.

FlyingSquid@lemmy.world on 08 Dec 12:35 collapse

Not just a think tank, a think tank that is an unofficial representative of a foreign nation, deceptively sounding like something American.

scarabic@lemmy.world on 10 Dec 22:51 collapse

I suggest setting this piece aside and researching Idlib, a region in NW Syria where the rebels have had control for years. Whatever PR makeover they’ve attempted, we should be looking g what they’ve actually done with power to date. There’s not a ton of easily found, recognizably-sourced information out there about how a rebel group is governing a contested region. But the word from my family in Syria is that they’ve instituted a Taliban-like atmosphere based on Islam, requiring women to cover and all the rest.

Skiluros@sh.itjust.works on 11 Dec 00:18 collapse

That’s not good. I was hoping they would move towards more open, inclusive governance.

I guess we’ll see how things develop, but this is not good sign.

scarabic@lemmy.world on 11 Dec 01:55 collapse

The entire history of this region, the regime, and the civil war are a parade of bad signs. I don’t know of any credible reason to look at this optimistically at this moment except ignorance or momentary intoxication from the fall of a longstanding regime. The Middle East is a playground for the imperial ambitions of the US, Turkey, Iran, China, Israel and Russia. Any spark of real, altruistic democratic spirit will be immediately snuffed out.

PixelatedSaturn@lemmy.world on 08 Dec 07:14 next collapse

There is not just one group and they all have their own shtick. I bet the Kurds will want theirs, one group is backed by Turkey, they have their own agenda, then there rate the real islamists… There is 0 chance this just becomes a normal country somehow.

FlyingSquid@lemmy.world on 08 Dec 12:34 collapse

The Washington Institute? Really?

Did you even bother to look up who they are?

Saleh@feddit.org on 08 Dec 07:19 collapse

US backed Sisi in Egypt isnt better. Western backed factions in Libya arent better. Saudi Arabia isnt better, Iran isnt better.

Who outside forces align with for their interests isnt a reflection of whether a leader is a tyrant or not. It is just bullshit peddled to pretend the tyrants supported by “our side” are somehow less tyrannical because they give us cheap ressources and allow their countries to be used as military staging areas.

Down with all the tyrants and power to the people!

scarabic@lemmy.world on 10 Dec 22:43 collapse

He was, and we can feel good about his leaving for about 5 seconds. The immediate question is who will replace him. The rebels who ousted him have controlled parts of Syria for some time during this long civil conflict, and in those areas they have instituted Islamic law. Women have not had to cover themselves in Syria before. Now they will. We’re probably looking at something very much like what happened to Iran, just with Sunnis instead of Shias.

Skiluros@sh.itjust.works on 08 Dec 05:46 next collapse

Ironically, on Feb. 26, 20[1]1, two days after the fall of Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak to protesters and just before the wave of Arab Spring protests swept into Syria — in an email released by Wikileaks as part of a cache in 2012 — Assad e-mailed a joke he’d run across mocking the Egyptian leader’s stubborn refusal to step down.

“NEW WORD ADDED TO DICTIONARY: Mubarak (verb): To stick something, or to glue something. … Mubarak (adjective): slow to learn or understand,” it read.

This is going to be a strange little footnote in history.

ThePyroPython@lemmy.world on 08 Dec 05:54 collapse

When the shitposter posts shit for long enough, they become the shitpost.

adoxographer@lemmy.world on 08 Dec 06:12 next collapse

Lose a shithead dictator, gain another Islamic theocracy.

IDKWhatUsernametoPutHereLolol@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 08 Dec 06:41 collapse

Cycle of revolutions…

😓

adoxographer@lemmy.world on 08 Dec 08:25 collapse

It’s the same story as with the Arab spring, we all thought it was going to be different. This is just from awful to worse I’m afraid.

ricdeh@lemmy.world on 08 Dec 09:12 next collapse

More like from bad-okayish to absolutely terrible.

FlyingSquid@lemmy.world on 08 Dec 12:35 collapse

People also forget that the French Revolution ended up with Napoleon becoming emperor.

A lot of people want a king to tell them what to do.

adoxographer@lemmy.world on 08 Dec 19:12 collapse

Yes. Reality is often a worsening of conditions rather the opposite, this has been the norm.

It’s unfortunate.

On one hand we do have to “applaud” a brutal dictator being deposed, which as an isolated fact is good. On the other hand, what will follow will be much worse, which is bad.

cyd@lemmy.world on 08 Dec 06:15 next collapse

Assad should try declaring martial law. That’s a good trick.

fluxion@lemmy.world on 08 Dec 06:48 next collapse

Promising to implement tariffs on everyone seems to be a good way to win folks over as well

Maultasche@lemmy.world on 08 Dec 08:33 next collapse

The rumour is that he tried another good trick: spinning

Valmond@lemmy.world on 08 Dec 09:49 collapse

Or invade a neighbour country.

robocall@lemmy.world on 08 Dec 06:56 next collapse

I guess he’ll have to fall back on his opthalmology career.

Valmond@lemmy.world on 08 Dec 09:48 collapse

Well, he didn’t see that coming so is he any good at it?

AbidanYre@lemmy.world on 08 Dec 15:36 collapse

He could go the Rand Paul route and make up his own certification board.

Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 08 Dec 10:49 next collapse

And here’s the perfect clip to celebrate the downfall of that murderous, mum-fearing asshole

FlyingSquid@lemmy.world on 08 Dec 12:33 collapse

Being replaced by murderous Islamist who want Israel to help them out.

Edit: Hi ignorant downvoters. Good job supporting Israel. Do your research next time:

i24news.tv/…/artc-israel-s-strikes-helped-us-get-…

geopoliticaleconomy.com/…/al-qaeda-rebels-syria-i…

small44@lemmy.world on 08 Dec 15:22 collapse

I told you few days ago, we are slowly getting infiltrated by zionists.

FlyingSquid@lemmy.world on 08 Dec 16:59 next collapse

This are t Zionists. They are ignorant people that keep defending the rebels and saying it’s Israel’s fault.

shaserlark@sh.itjust.works on 08 Dec 17:50 collapse

They’ve been trying ever since. So far we’ve been holding up and I hope the mods keep having an eye on it. Wouldn’t want this place to become like Reddit.

FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world on 08 Dec 14:47 next collapse

Glad he’s gone.

I hope whatever follows won’t be worse.

MyNameIsIgglePiggle@sh.itjust.works on 09 Dec 05:46 collapse

To get rid of a massive cunt you need an even bigger cunt

ikidd@lemmy.world on 08 Dec 16:17 next collapse

Assad never seemed like a good guy, but can you imagine what the reality of the situation actually is with every major and some minor powers shit-fucking with the country? You couldn’t have a scorecard long enough to keep track of what’s happened there over the last 50 years.

werefreeatlast@lemmy.world on 09 Dec 14:06 collapse

putin better take some notes…

Sudden loss of country power…check

Run like a mad man…

Hide in a desperate move to stay alive

You choice:

Bunker busting ammo

Heli raid

Simple moldy hole discovered accidentally

Your choice:

Smitherines

Countable pieces

Cheese-like speed holes

Burial at sea

Real hung, but not the good kind