PDB Afternoon Bulletin | December 5th, 2024: Syrian Rebels Deal Another Blow To Assad & Israel Renews Ceasefire Push In Gaza
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What are the latest developments in the Syrian conflict?
It's Thursday, 5 December. Welcome back to the PDB Afternoon Bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. Let's get briefed. First, rebel insurgents in Syria are on the move, capturing another key city from the Syrian army in their quest to overthrow the regime of President Assad. We'll discuss the latest developments and spotlight the shadowy former al-Qaeda operative that's leading the bloody revolt. Then, an update on the war in Gaza, as Israel submits a new ceasefire proposal to Hamas that could bring about a 60-day truce and see the return of the remaining living hostages still being held in the enclave. But first, our afternoon spotlight. We'll begin with the latest on the violence engulfing Syria, where rebel insurgents have dealt another embarrassing blow to the regime of President Assad and his allies in Russia and Iran. Now, the Syrian rebels managed to capture the central city of Hama on Thursday as their bloody advance begins to move south from northern Syria, forcing the Syrian army to flee the city and retreat.
The setback for the Assad regime came after three days of intense clashes between the rebels and government forces on the outskirts of the city, and just a week after the rebels seized the country's most populous city, Aleppo. The Syrian army accused the Islamic insurgents of relying on suicide attacks to break through the city's defenses Representatives for the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the rebels had seized the city's police headquarters, a large military airbase, and the central prison, releasing hundreds of detainees and enlisting them in their cause
Who is leading the Syrian rebel forces?
The strategic importance of Hama, Syria's fourth largest city, makes it a critical victory for the rebels in their campaign to overthrow Assad. During the most intense days of the civil war, which began back in 2011, it was one of the few cities that remained under full government control.
What is the status of the ceasefire proposal in Gaza?
Representatives for the Syrian Observatory said, quote, if Hama falls, it means that the beginning of the regime's fall has started. With large parts of northern Syria now firmly under their control, the rebels are setting their sights on Syria's third largest city, Homs, lying to the south where it serves as the gate to the capital Damascus. That's, of course, Assad's seat of power. As we've been tracking on the PDB, the rebel coalition, led by the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, known as HTS, launched a surprise offensive last week against the Assad regime, reigniting the country's brutal civil war, which had largely been stalled since 2020. They are led by Abu Muhammad al-Gholani, a shadowy figure who was largely kept away from the public eye.
He's a Syrian native, and he began as a fighter for the Islamic State of Iraq before being dispatched back to Syria after the civil war kicked off in 2011 to establish a branch of Al-Qaeda called the Nusra Front. But his ambitions soon grew. He turned on his ISIS backers in Iraq, fighting ISIS in Syria alongside Al-Qaeda as fissures between the terrorist groups deepened.
How are the rebels rebranding their image?
He then moved to brutally eliminate competitors and former allies among the many extremist organizations opposing Assad, eventually renouncing his longtime ties to al-Qaeda. As the fighting died down following Assad's recapture of Aleppo in 2016, with the help, of course, of the Russian military, He worked to consolidate his power from the shadows and remake his public image. Oh, I see. Okay, so he was with ISIS and Al-Qaeda. Now he's just going to try to burnish his image. He rebranded his organization as HTS and framed it as, quote, salvation government rooted in the values of pluralism and tolerance. Okay, well, anybody buying this? It appears a cynical rebranding worked, broadening the group's public support, particularly among the country's religious and ethnic minorities.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What are the latest developments in the Syrian conflict?
0:37–2:22
2
Who is leading the Syrian rebel forces?
2:22–2:40
3
What strategic significance does Hama hold in the conflict?
2:40
4
What is the status of the ceasefire proposal in Gaza?
1:24–3:52
5
How are the rebels rebranding their image?
3:52–9:56
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from The President's Daily Brief
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