The Government of Joe Biden considers that there is a growing possibility that the Executive of the Syrian President, Bashar al Assad, collapses “within days” due to the rapid advance of the insurgent coalition led by Islamists and backed by Türkiye, as five US officials revealed to CNN.
For its part, the CBS network, which quotes three US officials, reported this Saturday that “Damascus is destined to fall”, although, unlike CNN, its sources did not offer a specific time frame.
According to officials cited by CBS, Iranian forces defending the Syrian president have evacuated “practically in its entirety” the country.
Despite these leaks to the media, the US Government has not yet made public a formal assessment of Al Assad’s futurewho until just a week ago seemed to be in a stable position after having managed to crush the opposition in 14 years of civil war.
However, the conflict was revived a week ago with the rapid advance of the insurgent coalitionwhich is currently trying to advance towards Damascus after defeating government forces in two of the country’s largest cities: Aleppo and Hama.
Fighting is now concentrated in Homs, Syria’s third largest city and a crucial strategic enclave.
If the insurgent coalition manages to conquer it, Damascus would be isolated by land from the Mediterranean cities of Tartus, a stronghold of the Al Assad family, and Latakia, the main base of the Russian forces that support the regime.
Despite preliminary analyzes that highlight Al Assad’s fragility, officials consulted by CNN warn that the situation could change, so the fall of the Syrian president is not “a foregone conclusion”, although more and more elements are working against it.
A senior official explained to the network that “the emerging consensus” is that the fall of Al Assad “It’s becoming more and more plausible.” Another official was more direct, stating: “The Assad regime will probably have lost any semblance of power by next weekend.”
A third Administration official pointed out that the only thing that could delay the insurgent advance would be a well organized coup d’état by some detractor of the president. However, he considered that this possibility is not very feasible, since Al Assad’s entourage has done a “good job” eliminating any competition.
The Biden Administration has been surprised by the speed of the rebel advance. Furthermore, for the moment, he has avoided making major statements about the conflict, given that on January 20 Biden will hand over power to Donald Trumpwho advocates an isolationist foreign policy.
This same Saturday, Trump said that the United States should avoid getting involved in fighting for control of Syria.
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