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The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain

Assad flees as Damascus falls

by our Arab Affairs correspondent

Syrian President Bashar al Assad has fled to Russia as his army melts away amid cries of treason. Israeli troops are on the road to Damascus as their warplanes pound abandoned Syrian naval bases and army camps while Iran says Syria was the victim of Israeli and American regime change. The Syrian Arab Socialist Renaissance Party (al-Baath) has virtually dissolved itself – suspending all activities and handing over all its offices and resources to the remaining civil authorities. But some believe other Baathists have gone underground joining the resistance led by Syrian commandos that has already begun.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has accused the USA and Israel of orchestrating the toppling of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. “There should be no doubt that what happened in Syria was the result of a joint American-Zionist plot” Khamenei said while also blaming “a neighbouring state”, believed to be an allusion to Turkey, for playing a “clear role” in Syria’s downfall.

While the Americans work in the shadows the Zionists are openly gloating over their victory. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu boasts that the fall of Assad’s government was a “direct result” of Israel’s military campaign against two key allies of Damascus, Hezbollah and Iran. The Zionist leader praised the regime change in Syria, calling it “a historic day in the history of the Middle East”.

Meanwhile, in New York the UN General Assembly has overwhelmingly called for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in Gaza, a symbolic gesture that was rejected by the USA and Israel and a handful of other states, including Argentina, Czechia, Hungary, Paraguay and some Pacific islands that are essentially American protectorates. The resolution, supported by the British government, was adopted by a massive vote of 158 to 9 with 13 abstentions. It urges “an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire” and “the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages” – wording Assad flees as Damascus falls similar to a text vetoed by US imperialism in the Security Council last month.

This week sectarian Muslim militias, long armed and funded by NATO and the Turks, moved into the Syrian capital of Damascus after sweeping through the country more or less unopposed by the Syrian army.

Mohammed al-Bashir, one of the leaders of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) terrorist gangs based in Turkish-occupied northern Syria, now claims to be “interim prime minister”. But his government has little or no power beyond that of the reactionary Muslim militias that have been fighting for years to bring down the Baathist-led popular front government. Although busily settling old scores with Baathist loyalists amid reports of massacres of prisoners and other atrocities in the north, they’ve done nothing to resist the Israeli incursion in the south.

In Damascus, the Secretary-General of the Syrian Democratic Front, Mahmoud Merhi, emphasised the need to develop a new vision for Syria’s future and to form a constituent assembly to outline the country’s framework. Merhi, a member of the constitutional opposition to the Baathist-led government, said that “the future of Syria cannot be determined by a single party, as Syria is diverse, and we respect this diversity”.

“No one should be excluded [from the political process] because it is the Syrians who will determine their constitution” Merhi stressed, adding that consultations and discussions will be held to shape Syria’s future. But “we no longer have an army capable of confronting the occupation’s aggression”. The Syrian army has been dismantled and is now almost dissolved. “What remains are armed groups running the country,” he said.