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President-elect Donald Trump has publicly called Vladimir Putin to reach a peace agreement with Ukraine‘s President Volodymyr Zelensky in a late-night social media post on Saturday night sent amid reports of it Damascusthe capital of Syria, fell to the attack of the rebels.
Trump posted his call on Truth Social, writing that “there should be an immediate ceasefire and negotiations should begin” after Bashar al-AssadPutin’s ally, who was ousted by Turkish-backed rebel forces.
Reports indicate that the Syrian leader fled the capital in a plane with close advisers; that plane may have crashed then. His whereabouts and status are unknown.
Too many lives needlessly wasted, too many families destroyed, and if it continues, it could turn into something much bigger and much worse
He added: “I know Vladimir well. This is his time to act. China can help. The world is waiting!”
Trump recently met with the Ukrainian leader during his trip to France for the reopening of the Notre-Dame Cathedral.
His arrival in Washington in January is expected to halt the war in Ukraine as many believe the Trump administration will cut military aid to Ukraine in an attempt to bring the two sides to a peace deal – which could benefit Russia if Ukraine is suddenly cut off from most of the West support.
Trump’s statement continued: “Also, Zelensky and Ukraine would like to come to an agreement and stop the madness. They lost a ridiculous 400,000 soldiers and many more civilians.”
This appears to be a typo or a misunderstanding: Ukraine’s president says the actual number of soldiers killed is around 43,000 since the Russian invasion resumed in February 2022.
The fall of the Syrian government was sudden and came in the face of a widespread rebel offensive that engulfed the cities of Homs and Aleppo in the days immediately preceding the fall. It is the end of the decade-long Syrian civil war, which began during the region-wide “Arab Spring” phenomenon during the Obama administration and quickly became a shockingly brutal and bloody conflict as Bashar al-Assad, backed by Iran-backed militias, including Hezbollah as Russia, she mercilessly battered the rebel forces and occupied areas, pushing them away from the capital.
US officials have publicly called for Assad to step down for years, though those calls have weakened since Obama left office.
It remains unclear what will emerge in Assad’s place in Syria. Militants linked to the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group, as well as a coalition of Turkish-backed groups known as the Syrian National Army, now claim large parts of the country, while other smaller groups, including jihadist groups, operate across Syria as well. HTS itself was once officially affiliated with Al Qaeda, the terrorist group behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks, although its leader now claims its ideologies have evolved.
Incumbent Joe Biden, who is due to leave office in January, was “monitoring” the situation, according to a statement issued Saturday night to White House reporters. The White House has yet to issue an official statement on the matter.
The US government still considers the HTS group a terrorist organization.
But that didn’t matter on the streets of Damascus Saturday night into Sunday morning, as civilians celebrated the fall of Assad and the end of his brutal regime in the streets, in mosques and in their homes.
As Assad’s government has fallen, attention is now turning to those thought to be held by the regime and its allies in notorious Syrian prisons (and elsewhere), including American journalist Austin Tice, whose family said at a news conference in recent days (after a meeting with senior US officials) who is believed to be alive.
JD Vance, the incoming vice president, elaborated on the situation on Sunday. In doing so, he aimed at Josh Rogin, a The Washington Post columnist, to celebrate the fall of Assad.
“As President Trump said, this is not our fight and we should stay out of it,” Vance tweeted. “Besides, opinions like the one below make me nervous. The last time this guy celebrated the events in Syria we saw the mass slaughter of Christians and the refugee crisis that destabilized Europe.”
He added: “Many of the ‘rebels’ are literally an offshoot of ISIS. One can only hope they moderated. Time will tell.”