Syria: That took way too long

 On March 17, 2012, I wrote an article predicting the rapid downfall of Bashar al-Assad, the tyrant king of Syria.

Boy, was I wrong.

With help from Russia and Iran, two other autocratic states and international troublemakers, Assad brutally suppressed that rebellion. Unfortunately, he didn't stamp it out completely. Rebel groups remained active in regions of Syria, and the country has had to endure 12 years of back-and-forth violence between the government forces, backed by direct Russian and Iranian involvement, and the rebel forces, backed by direct American, Turkish, and other involvement.

And, of course, Israel was always there to stir the pot whenever it felt that its national security was threatened.

In addition, the Syrian government and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah terrorist organization openly supported each other, with Hezbollah assisting the government forces at times.

ISIS also had a stake in the game, with a strong presence in Syria, but ISIS was playing for ISIS, not for Syria or for the rebels.

That all changed rapidly in the last week of November, this year.

On November 27th, rebel forces  led by the group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a former Al Qaeda affiliate, attacked the cities of Idlib and Aleppo in the north. After taking those two cities, they swept southward and took Homs, and finally Damascus on December 8th. (I think I got that day right.)

I MAY HAVE THE DETAILS OF THIS NEXT PARAGRAPH WRONG. I'LL HAVE TO CONFIRM THEM. THINGS HAVE BEEN HAPPENING FAST. Plus, I'm still grieving the loss of my son, and my mind is having trouble caring about what's happening in the rest of the world.

In the middle of the night, like at 2 a.m. on December 8th, just before the city fell, Assad loaded his family and much of his personal wealth (I'm talking about pallets loaded with cash and gold) onto a Russian transport plane and fled to Moscow.

The US assisted the rebels by suppressing an ISIS response. How did they do that? By bombing the crap out of ISIS camps, weapons caches, and other targets within Syria's borders. The US Air Force bombed literally thousands of ISIS sites in Syria.

Israel and Turkey took advantage of the Syrian government's helplessness to bolster their own national security. The Israeli navy destroyed the Syrian navy, tied up at docks in the port city of Latakia. The Israeli and Turkish air forces together destroyed 500 Syrian military targets over a two-day period, ensuring that Syria could no longer attack them or support attacks by other militant groups.

So here's the bottom line.

It didn't have to be this way. If Assad had responded differently to the May 2012 uprisings, he would still be in power, the country would be (relatively) at peace, and his people would enjoy the blessings of freedom, liberty, and prosperity.

But noooooooooo.

So he finally got what was coming to him. It's unfortunate that it took 12 years for it to happen.