The rebels, all hemmed in and surrounded in a little enclave in the NW for years, suddenly bust out, rolling over the Syrian army like it wasn’t there. (2000 Syrian troops have reportedly fled to Iraq, requesting sanctuary!).The rebels are deep in Syria now, threatening Damascus, and the defenders (or their Russian and Iranian allies) seem helpless to stop them. Rumors are that many of Bashar al-Assad’s family have already left the country and he has gone underground. Russia is pulling all its civilian personnel out of the country.

This smells of Mossad and CIA involvement, and apparently, setbacks in Ukraine, Lebanon and Gaza have weakened al-Assad’s allies to the point of implosion. News from the area is understandably sketchy, but it appears the Syrian regime is collapsing overnight. This is bad news for Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis.

It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy, the Assad government is bloody and brutal, but all this going down as US politics transition to a Trump administration is scary. It looks like another Libya (and another Khadaffi?) is taking shape right before our eyes.