Syrian “Rebels” have declared total victory after claiming to have taken Damascus. In a television broadcast on Syria’s state broadcaster opposition leaders said Syria has been “liberated”.
President Bashar al-Assad has reportedly fled the capital and country, with some social media accounts sharing unconfirmed reports that his plane crashed.
A remarkable turn of events, given the conflict was “frozen” for years prior to last week when Western-backed rebels suddenly took Aleppo and began advancing on Damascus facing little to no resistance.
In the days since Aleppo fell there was widespread speculation about what happens next and why/how the rebels had suddenly sprung to life.
Before any of that information could be processed, the rebels had moved on to Hama and then Damascus. Taking a country in 8 days they had failed to take for the last 12 years.
As happens so often in our modern news cycle, the story moved so fast that concurrent analysis and speculation have already given way to post-hoc explanation.
Hellbound and Down 