Civil War in Syria

[Dereich]

One of the rumors is that the defense minister and deputy were killed by someone on the inside (possibly one of their own security guards), because the thinking is that it would have taken someone on the inside to get that close to them.

I don't see how it could be otherwise.  It has inside job written all over it.

Question of the day: does Assad A. take his chances in Damascus, B. retreat to Lattakia and prepare to continue the fight on friendly ground, or C. take the next flight to Moscow and call it quits?

I doubt he leaves Damascus. Any authority he still has rests on his government being the legitimate government of Syria. The moment he leaves the capital the stream of defections becomes a flood. I doubt he changes policy now, all he has to do is soldier on, slowly culling the opposition with aid from the Russians. The status quo isn't a killer for him yet.

[Dereich]

One of the rumors is that the defense minister and deputy were killed by someone on the inside (possibly one of their own security guards), because the thinking is that it would have taken someone on the inside to get that close to them.

I don't see how it could be otherwise.  It has inside job written all over it.

Question of the day: does Assad A. take his chances in Damascus, B. retreat to Lattakia and prepare to continue the fight on friendly ground, or C. take the next flight to Moscow and call it quits?

I doubt he leaves Damascus. Any authority he still has rests on his government being the legitimate government of Syria. The moment he leaves the capital the stream of defections becomes a flood. I doubt he changes policy now, all he has to do is soldier on, slowly culling the opposition with aid from the Russians. The status quo isn't a killer for him yet.

Well, less then one day later it turns out I'm completely wrong. NPR is now reporting that he's fled Damascus. I had no idea the rebels were doing this well. I kinda thought it was a fluke.

[Dereich]

Assad has won. It's about over. 

Huzzah!

I mean, look at the map.  Most is controlled by Assad.  And the entire situation is depressing, there's not any real reason to celebrate.

Why not? The terrorists have been defeated, and any further intervention by any foreign power (Russia, America, Turkey etc.) is not warranted, as it is up to Syrians to chose who leads their own country, not anyone else.

How, exactly, would Syrians choose who leads their country? They can't do so at the ballot box and they couldn't do so by taking up arms.