Bashar al-Assad is mocked as rebels unearth picture of Syrian president in a tiny pair of Speedos after seizing household palace in Aleppo – as officers say authorities may fall ‘within the subsequent week’
Bashar al-Assad has been mocked after rebels unearthed a photo of the Syrian president wearing nothing but a tiny pair of Speedos.
Following a lightning rebel advance in Syria, Jihadi rebels came across a photo of a scantily clad Syrian leader as a young man last week.
The image shows the dictator posing alongside three other people in swimsuits as they are perched on the side of a boat in the night.
The picture quickly gained attention on social media, with one person writing: ‘A picture found in the palace of the idiot and criminal Bashar al-Assad in Aleppo.’
The funny reaction online comes amid reports from Western officials that Assad’s government could fall within the next week.
Earlier today, it was reported that Syrian opposition fighters reached the suburbs of the Damascus capital for the first time since the region was recaptured by government troops in 2018, as Assad’s regime nears collapse.
One resident said the city was on edge, with security forces on the streets and many shops running out of staple foods.
The Syrian army withdrew from much of the country’s south on Saturday but later said it was fortifying positions in the Damascus suburbs and in the south.
A picture believed to be showing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad wearing only speedos is taken by Rebels following the capture of his palace in Aleppo
The images of Assad wearing speedos has generated ridicule on social media
Western officials have claimed that Assad’s government could fall within the next week
Residents in Hama set ablaze a large banner bearing a picture of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad hanging on the facade of a municipal building
Syria’s state news agency denied reports that Assad had already fled to Russia claiming he continued to govern from Damascus.
However, following the statement claiming it was ‘false news’, a source has told CNN that Assad was ‘nowhere to be found’ at his usual residences in the capital.
Lebanon said it is closing all its land border crossings with Syria except for a main one that links Beirut with Damascus. Jordan closed a border crossing with Syria because of the security situation on the Syrian side.
The rapidly developing events in Syria have again put the region on edge.
Government forces reportedly withdrew as rebel groups amassed in the city’s suburbs, wrestling for control after more than a week of intensified fighting.
Armed groups reached the suburb of Darayya this afternoon, some five miles from the centre, according to the Turkish Anadolu Agency.
‘Our forces have begun the final phase of encircling the capital, Damascus,’ said rebel commander Hassan Abdel Ghani today, with the Islamist-led alliance that launched the offensive 10 days ago.
‘Damascus awaits you,’ HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, said in a statement Saturday addressed to rebel fighters on Telegram.
Syrians still in the nominally government-controlled territory of Jaramana seized the opportunity to pull down a statue of Assad’s father as the regime faces collapse.
A giant portrait of Syrian president Bashar Assad sets on a building, as empty streets seen in Damascus, Syria
A military vehicle belonging to the Syrian regime forces and seized by anti government forces burn after it was hit by regime forces in the Hama governorate
A military vehicle belonging to the Syrian regime forces is pictured abandoned on the side of a road in the Hama governorate, on December 7
People ride a tank in the Syrian southern city of Daraa on December 7
People ride a tank in the Syrian southern city of Daraa on December 7
A government armoured vehicle burns as rebels ride along the road south of Hama, in the south of Syria
Anti-regime armed rebels fire their weapons into the air in victory after capturing Hama
To the north, rebel troops made a lunge towards the strategic city of Homs, just days after they proclaimed a major victory in the taking of the city of Hama on Thursday.
The staggering assault has seen rebels opposed to the regime make the fastest battlefield advance by either side since the civil war began almost 13 years ago.
Assad’s office said today that the President was staying put in the capital and continuing his duties after his children and British-born wife fled to Russia last week, and his brothers-in-law allegedly travelled to the UAE, per Syrian security officials.
Assad’s allies in Russia, Iran and Hezbollah, distracted or worn-down by other conflicts, meanwhile showed no signs of intervening.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told CNN that Turkey wishes that neighboring Syria can ‘quickly attain the peace and tranquility it has longed for’ during 13 years of civil conflict.
He said: ‘I want to say this openly: We do not have our eyes on land — not even a pebble — that belongs to another country.’
Charles Lister, director of the Syria and countering terrorism and extremism programs at the Middle East Institute, told Bloomberg that Assad’s future has ‘never looked more fragile’ as the opposition encroaches on Homs and allied support withers.
While capturing Homs could close the land route between the government and Tartus, home to Russia’s only Mediterranean port, Russia appears not to be in a position to help Assad regain ground with focus and resources directed to Ukraine.
‘Russia doesn’t have a plan to save Assad and doesn’t see one emerging as long as the Syrian president’s army continues to abandon its positions,’ a source ‘close to the Kremlin’ told Bloomberg.
Iran, likewise, has been hesitant, or unable, to funnel its support to Syria. On Friday, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he would would only help Assad ‘to the extent necessary’, but previously promised to ‘consider’ sending troops.
The fall of Bashar al-Assad’s routine appeals all but assured (pictured: rebels ride past a damaged government vehicle in Hama)
Local residents celebrate after opposition forces led by HTS (Hayyet Tahrir al-Sham) took control of Hama city center and surrounding villages on December 6
Rebel forces pressing a lightning offensive in Syria aim to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad’s rule, their Islamist leader said in an interview published on December 6
Russian president Vladimir Putin meets with Assad at the Kremlin in Moscow in July
Asma al-Assad, wife of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, casts her vote during the country’s presidential elections in Douma, Syria, with her husband in this file photo taken in 2021
People in Damascus topple a statue of Hafez al-Assad and wave a Druze flag as rebel forces approach the capital, on December 7
The capture of Hama has given rebel forces, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), control of a strategic central city they never managed to seize before.
Homs is the next target for the rebels, deemed crucial for Assad’s hopes of staying in power.
‘Assad now cannot afford to lose anything else. The big battle is the one coming against Homs. If Homs falls, we are talking of a potential change of regime,’ Jihad Yazigi, editor of the Syria Report newsletter, told Reuters.
It follows a staggering effort to seize Aleppo, the main northern city in Syria, last week as part of a blitz offensive beginning on November 27.
The collapse of Syrian government control in the north has sharply illustrated a shift in the balance of power since Lebanon’s Hezbollah group, a lynchpin of Assad’s forces, suffered catastrophic losses in its war with Israel.
While Hezbollah has reportedly sent 2,000 fighters to Syria, per a source close to the Iran-backed proxy group today, Assad’s backing from allies continues to wither.
Rebel forces were just 12 miles (20km) from Damascus by 11am GMT on Saturday, posing an imminent threat to the capital, according to a war monitor and rebels.
The Syrian army reportedly withdrew its forces from all towns about 10km (6.2 miles) from the capital, a monitor reported soon after.
The Syrian defence ministry, loyal to Assad, denied the army had fled positions.
‘There is no truth to news claiming our armed forces, present in all areas of the Damascus countryside, have withdrawn,’ it said.
The Syrian government was also forced to evacuate from its positions in Quneitrea, near the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.
The Syrian Democratic Forces, the main ally of the US against the regime, meanwhile seized key areas in Deir ez Zor and Raqqa on December 6, making it harder for Iran to move forces in to help Assad or resupply Iranian-backed forces like Hezbollah.
