Bashar al-Assad

There are unsubstantiated claims that Israel has attacked Syrian government forces and weapons stockpiles.

Foreign Policy reports on the awkwardness of this news for the opposition and inconvenient for the anti-Israel left who have been calling for intervention on the side of the Syrian opposition:

Syrian Facebook pages are reporting a series of massive explosions in Damascus, as are the Syrian regime’s media outlets. A video claiming to be of these explosions can be seen here:

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Bashar Hafez al-Assad the imaginary leader of Syria is now hiding off shore on a warship with security provided by the Russians. Assad only travels to the mainland by helicopter for important meetings now, because he doubts that his monkeys can keep him safe. This is akin to a lippy little snot in the school yard hiding behind his big mates when he is losing a fight. If/when his regime falls, he is likely to be given asylum by the Russians.  Read more »

“They’re going to do what to me?” Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has his days numbered.

France reckons they will “stand” against instability in Lebanon. This is unlikely and if the Lebanese are smart they won’t rely of the word of the President of the Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys, they tend to go backwards faster than an Argie Army.

France’s president pledged today that his country will stand against instability in Lebanon, two weeks after the assassination of a senior Lebanese intelligence official sparked clashes between pro- and anti-Syrian groups.

Later in Saudi Arabia, Francois Hollande held further talks on Syria with King Abdullah, whose country has been a leading supporter of the forces trying to overthrow Syria’s President Bashar Assad.

In Beirut, Hollande promised that Paris and the European Union will help Lebanon deal with an influx of more than 100,000 refugees who have fled the civil war in neighboring Syria.

“We are committed to give you guarantees regarding security, stability and unity of Lebanon,” Hollande told reporters after meeting President Michel Suleiman.

C.J. Chivers at The Gun

The end is nigh for Bashar al-Assad. The clock is ticking and it is only a matter of time now before he is either over-run, killed or needs to rely on the Russians to get him out. basically the opposition has learned and adapted and Syria’s armed forces do not have the skills to counter-act developments not the time to develop those skills:

The opposition’s rapid mastery of improvised explosives since the spring changed the character and momentum of this conflict, and put Syria’s army, notwithstanding what seems its enduring material strength, in a highly unenviable position.

All of this will be grounds for much more work, analysis and comment than can be shoe-horned into one news story.  Military historians will spend time on these themes. This is in part because the turnabout here – a government that long exported improvised explosive technology in the region now stands to have its army unraveled by improvised explosives — is compelling. But the commentary will be richer and more subtle than that, ranging from technical analysis to moral querying, and to arguments over how to label and engage the various forces within the anti-Assad opposition, and their war.