Rebels Closing in on Damascus from Three Directions

Putin May Have Run Out of Time in Syria

One from the north, one from the south, and another from the east. I keep writing "rebel factions" over and over, but the way the rebels are moving, it looks like a highly coordinated plan.

For days, there wasn’t much activity on the southern front. They waited for the rebels in the north to take Aleppo, knock out Assad’s army in the city of Hama, and reach the gates of the critical city of Homs. As soon as the rebels from the north closed the gap, preventing Russian forces from moving toward Damascus from their bases near the Syrian sea, the southern front advanced toward Damascus.

Damascus is where Assad should be—if he is still in the country. The southern front, backed by Jordan and a group of Western nations, is now an hour away from Damascus—74 kilometers. Sorry, it was 74 kilometers when I started this story. Right now, it has come down to 40 kilometers. Unless Assad slows them down, the southern front will reach the gates of Damascus very soon.

The Kremlin may have seen the writing on the wall. By yesterday morning, it became clear that Russia and Iran, if they wanted to rescue Assad and beat back the rebels, would have to air-drop troops into Damascus and then order them to spread out from the city in multiple directions. That was the only option left, and it carries its own risks.

Israel could simply blow up the transport aircraft. Not that Iran or Russia are in a position at the moment to send that many troops to Syria. But still, it was the only option they had, so I wanted to wait and see if they would do something. Neither the Russians nor the Iranians moved. The Kremlin also issued an urgent order for Russians to immediately leave Syria by any means available.

The eviction of Assad from Syria will reverberate throughout the world. It is a huge slap in the face to the evil terror that has destabilized the world for more than 12 years. Turkey, Jordan, and the United States, each backing different rebel factions, will have a huge say in what happens in Syria after Assad is evicted.

The loss of the Tartus naval base in Syria would mark the beginning of the end for the Kremlin’s operations in Africa, which drive thousands of migrants into Europe each year.