In the news

Assad’s plane seems to have crashed.

Too heavy for take off, at least the bloke from Iran got that sorted when he escaped to the US

Oops. https://www.flightaware.com/live/flight/SYR9218

It took off fine and got to cruising altitude, then crashed close to Homs

Isnt it likely the transponder was turned off?

Exactly what a former dictator would want you to believe

Altitude goes from 20,000 ft to 0 over the course of 2 or 3 minutes

They chucked the transponder out the window?

Ah right, thanks. It is a shame he didn't have to face justice.

The problem now is how the new government forms. Given one of the major parts of it was formerly Al Qaeda and part of the formation of ISIS and has some "concerning" problems in territory it controls involving summary executions for all sorts of stuff, there could be problems coming.

Great day for Syria to topple a dictator. But it did say Islamist group.

Yeah, it's great that the Assad regime has gone, but there's no way all these very different rebel groups are going to work together. Fractured country and/or another civil war incoming, I reckon.

Turkey is already making moves, sending its tame Syrian militias to attack the Kurds.

tame Syrian militias

they just want to play?

I wonder what the Russians might do. At the moment it looks as if they had placed all their chips on Assad, and if so they've got nothing left. But if they have been a slight bit more cunning than that, they may still have a way to influence (and fuck up) the formation of the new Syria.

The work to create a more cycle friendly Syria has already begun:
https://www.reddit.com/r/syriancivilwar/comments/1h9fcln/boy_riding_his_bike_in_the_presidential_palace/

I had a mental video of opening a cockpit window and the evil dictator throwing the transponder out of the window.

The dictator looked like the dictator in die hard 2 die harder.

Brilliant. Transponder attached to a surplus to requirements person maybe? Wilhelm scream
added too?

Leveraged buyout: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leveraged_buyout

Assad reported to be in Moscow.

The Conspiracy Theories thread didn't die, it just became redundant.

Assad reported to be interested only in bungalows.

Is that your new theory for why his plane descended to ground level?

At the moment it looks as if they had placed all their chips on Assad, and if so they've got nothing left

They have pretty good relations with Erdogan, no? Turkey have been supplying the rebels. So the Kremlin may well have been playing both sides?

Add into that Trump saying the US would leave it to whoever picks up the pieces... (which has to be bollocks, given his stance on Israel)

double post

I wonder what the Russians might do.

I would imagine everything possible to retain thier warm water port and airfield there, I wouldn't be surprised if they had already negotiated this in exchange for standing aside and no longer supporting Assad