JERUSALEM – Britain’s former prime minister Harold Wilson is said to have quipped, « A week is a long time in politics. »
Britain’s former prime minister Harold Wilson is said to have quipped, “A week is a long time in politics.”
If that were true of the United Kingdom 60 years ago, how much more so of the modern Middle East. The changes we have witnessed in just the last seven days are monumental and seismic, and are, in fact, difficult to overemphasize. They will reshape the religious, cultural, and political landscape for years, perhaps decades to come.
Indeed, one week ago, WND published an article “Assad regime in Syria teeters on the edge of oblivion,” in which it seemed clear the likely conditions of his potential ouster seemed closer at hand than they had in recent years.
Some have previously predicted the demise of the House of Assad and have been made to look somewhat foolish for doing so. However, there was something qualitatively different about this iteration of the pressure he faced.
Rebels and Civilians are looting the Central Bank of Syria in the Capital of Damascus today, with Millions said to have already been stolen from the Vaults of the Assad Family. pic.twitter.com/UcC9M90ZGT
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) December 8, 2024
One of the primary reasons for thinking Assad’s fall could be at hand, was from taking stock and assessing the condition of his formerly most steadfast allies; principally Russia and Iran (including Hezbollah).
As President-elect Donald Trump noted in a message he wrote regarding Syria on Truth Social, “His protector Russia, Russia, Russia, led by Vladimir Putin, was not interested in protecting him any longer.”
Trump gives credit to Israel for their successful fight against the Shite axis pic.twitter.com/NCA4Fu12vr
— Raylan Givens (@JewishWarrior13) December 8, 2024
Russia is embroiled in its Ukrainian quagmire, and if reports are to be believed, is relying on both North Korean and Houthi fighters to help bolster troop numbers, which have taken a hammering in nearly three years of war. It simply no longer had the wherewithal to continue propping up Assad, for what it might have viewed as providing diminishing returns on its investment.
