The Rats are Deserting the Sinking Ship
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Iranians are bailing out.
Iran began to evacuate its military commanders and personnel from Syria on Friday, according to regional officials and three Iranian officials, in a sign of Iran’s inability to help keep President Bashar al-Assad in power as he faces a resurgent rebel offensive.
Among those evacuated to neighboring Iraq and Lebanon were top commanders of Iran’s powerful Quds Forces, the external branch of the Revolutionary Guards Corps, the officials said.
Guards personnel, some Iranian diplomatic staff, their families, and Iranian civilians were also being evacuated, according to the Iranian officials, two of them members of the Guards, and regional officials. Iranians began to leave Syria on Friday morning, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue.
Russians are hitting the road:
The Russian Navy base at Tartus in Syria appears under imminent threat as the civil war turns against the Assad regime. As the front lines draw closer, Russia is already taking precautions. Russia currently has five naval ships and a submarine based in Tartus. These comprise of two Gorskhov class frigates, one Grigorovich class frigate, two axillaries and an Improved-Kilo class submarine.
One of these vessels, the auxiliary Yelnya, was noted departing Tartus on the morning of December 2 2024, with information suggesting that some or all of the other vessels also left. This unexpected move comes several days into a sudden change in the situation in Syria’s ongoing civil war. The Assad regime, of which Russia is a key ally, is now on the back foot. Opposition forces are rapidly advancing towards the capital.
Along with the Assad family:
Bashar al-Assad’s family fled to Russia in the days after rebel forces launched a shock offensive that captured swathes of territory across northern Syria, it has been revealed.
It comes after a source close to the Kremlin told Bloomberg News that Moscow had no plans to rescue the Syrian president, with Vladimir Putin said to be disgusted by reports of regime troops fleeing their positions.
Oh, and Senior Apologist for the Butcher of Damascus Rania Khalek has something to say:
Things are going to get much worse before they get better. Lots of fighting, lots of refugees, high potential for civilian massacres. The Assad regime has heavily tested the notion that having a bad state is better than having no state at all, and we may soon have a natural experiment regarding whether that’s true.