Michael Weiss

And here's what nobody, I think even Jolani, the head of HTS, reckoned with. How easily it would be to take... Syria's second city. Another comparison to the Taliban. The rebels before this, yes, from 2012, but really up until the mid-teens of the last decade, it took them years. I was in Aleppo in 2012 when it began to fall to the rebels.

And here's what nobody, I think even Jolani, the head of HTS, reckoned with. How easily it would be to take... Syria's second city. Another comparison to the Taliban. The rebels before this, yes, from 2012, but really up until the mid-teens of the last decade, it took them years. I was in Aleppo in 2012 when it began to fall to the rebels.

And here's what nobody, I think even Jolani, the head of HTS, reckoned with. How easily it would be to take... Syria's second city. Another comparison to the Taliban. The rebels before this, yes, from 2012, but really up until the mid-teens of the last decade, it took them years. I was in Aleppo in 2012 when it began to fall to the rebels.

I was in the Bab al-Hadid quarter, which I think a week or two earlier before I got there, it was Ramadan, had fallen to a consortium of different rebel groups. These guys basically just waltzed in. The regime evaporated. It crumbled. They ran away. And now HTS finds itself the keeper of not just, I think, all of Idlib province is now theirs, but most, 90 plus percent of Aleppo province.

I was in the Bab al-Hadid quarter, which I think a week or two earlier before I got there, it was Ramadan, had fallen to a consortium of different rebel groups. These guys basically just waltzed in. The regime evaporated. It crumbled. They ran away. And now HTS finds itself the keeper of not just, I think, all of Idlib province is now theirs, but most, 90 plus percent of Aleppo province.

I was in the Bab al-Hadid quarter, which I think a week or two earlier before I got there, it was Ramadan, had fallen to a consortium of different rebel groups. These guys basically just waltzed in. The regime evaporated. It crumbled. They ran away. And now HTS finds itself the keeper of not just, I think, all of Idlib province is now theirs, but most, 90 plus percent of Aleppo province.

And now they're going on the march in Hama, where if they really do... make a play for Hama City, that's going to be very difficult for Assad and his backers, because that poses a strategic threat to the hold on power. And it certainly poses a threat to Russia's main interests, which are their two coastal bases. Latakia, they have an air base there. And Tartus, it's their only warm water port.

And now they're going on the march in Hama, where if they really do... make a play for Hama City, that's going to be very difficult for Assad and his backers, because that poses a strategic threat to the hold on power. And it certainly poses a threat to Russia's main interests, which are their two coastal bases. Latakia, they have an air base there. And Tartus, it's their only warm water port.

And now they're going on the march in Hama, where if they really do... make a play for Hama City, that's going to be very difficult for Assad and his backers, because that poses a strategic threat to the hold on power. And it certainly poses a threat to Russia's main interests, which are their two coastal bases. Latakia, they have an air base there. And Tartus, it's their only warm water port.

And also there's a naval base there. So that could actually tilt the scales against HTS and I guess this broader Turkish project. But they're doing incredibly well for an insurgency, albeit one with the supervision and the kind of invisible hand of a major state power, a NATO power. And the United States is sort of nowhere to be seen here.

And also there's a naval base there. So that could actually tilt the scales against HTS and I guess this broader Turkish project. But they're doing incredibly well for an insurgency, albeit one with the supervision and the kind of invisible hand of a major state power, a NATO power. And the United States is sort of nowhere to be seen here.

And also there's a naval base there. So that could actually tilt the scales against HTS and I guess this broader Turkish project. But they're doing incredibly well for an insurgency, albeit one with the supervision and the kind of invisible hand of a major state power, a NATO power. And the United States is sort of nowhere to be seen here.

interest. Right. So the National Security Council put out a statement, sort of mild delight at the fact that Assad's sort of getting buffeted because, you know, as they said in the statement, this is what you get for relying on Iran and Russia.

interest. Right. So the National Security Council put out a statement, sort of mild delight at the fact that Assad's sort of getting buffeted because, you know, as they said in the statement, this is what you get for relying on Iran and Russia.

interest. Right. So the National Security Council put out a statement, sort of mild delight at the fact that Assad's sort of getting buffeted because, you know, as they said in the statement, this is what you get for relying on Iran and Russia.

happy in a way to see Iran's clock further cleaned by HTS, but there is no love for this organization, right? They're a designated terror group. A lot of people in the IC believe everything that I've just told you about Jalani State Building, that's all just a fig leaf for, you know, Al-Qaeda light or Al-Qaeda curious, as I think Mark Polymeropoulos put it on MSNBC. So it remains to be seen.

happy in a way to see Iran's clock further cleaned by HTS, but there is no love for this organization, right? They're a designated terror group. A lot of people in the IC believe everything that I've just told you about Jalani State Building, that's all just a fig leaf for, you know, Al-Qaeda light or Al-Qaeda curious, as I think Mark Polymeropoulos put it on MSNBC. So it remains to be seen.

happy in a way to see Iran's clock further cleaned by HTS, but there is no love for this organization, right? They're a designated terror group. A lot of people in the IC believe everything that I've just told you about Jalani State Building, that's all just a fig leaf for, you know, Al-Qaeda light or Al-Qaeda curious, as I think Mark Polymeropoulos put it on MSNBC. So it remains to be seen.

You know, if Jalani... What he is angling to do, because he has also become a student of geopolitics and recent international events. I mentioned he's sort of modeling himself on the Taliban. Well, since we withdrew from Afghanistan, the Taliban is the de facto ruler of the country. The United States is still engaged with it.

You know, if Jalani... What he is angling to do, because he has also become a student of geopolitics and recent international events. I mentioned he's sort of modeling himself on the Taliban. Well, since we withdrew from Afghanistan, the Taliban is the de facto ruler of the country. The United States is still engaged with it.