Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
CARRYING THEIR RIFLES and small bags of belongings, hundreds of exhausted Syrian rebels withdrew from their last remaining strongholds in the heart of Homs, surrendering to President Bashar Assad a bloodstained city that was once the centre of the revolt against him.
For Assad, it is a powerful victory ahead of presidential elections. For the rebels, the dramatic exit after two years of enduring gruelling assaults and siege captures their sense of abandonment amid world reluctance to help shift the balance of power on the ground.
“We ate grass and leaves until there was nothing left for us to eat,” said opposition activist Abu Yassin al-Homsi, who was preparing to leave with the rebels.
“We kept urging the international community to lift the siege but there was no response,” he added.
The exit of some 1,200 fighters and civilians marks a de-facto end of the rebellion in the war shattered city, which was one of the first places to rise up against Assad’s rule, earning its nickname as “the capital of the revolution.”
Gaining virtually full control of Syria’s third largest city is a major win for Assad on multiple levels. Militarily, it solidifies the government hold on a swath of territory in central Syria, linking the capital Damascus with government strongholds along the coast and giving a staging ground to advance against rebel territory further north.
Politically, gains on the ground boost Assad’s hold on power as he seeks to add a further claim of legitimacy in presidential elections set for June 3, which Western powers and the opposition have dismissed as a farce.
“For those who want to believe that the regime is winning, it’s a powerful symbolic confirmation of that,” said Peter Harling, a Middle East expert at the International Crisis Group think tank. “But it really is about what the regime has to offer beyond years of such symbolic military victories,” he added.
“If you take a broader perspective, I think it’s an indication that this conflict is going to take years.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
In fairness to the sky fairies deputy yer one last week was well outta order
@gm_cmanning: Does he now fit the description of a ‘Slapper’.!!
@gm_cmanning: whats a sky fairy?
@Seamus Mac: the popes imaginary boss
@ÓDuibhír Abú: absolutely but that’s hardly a bad thing. A promotion really I guess
@gm_cmanning:
She may have been desperate. Perhaps she has suffered terribly and in her desperation she clinged to him. The pope should have above average empathy at the very least. Otherwise, what is the point of the role? He may as well drop the pretence now.
@Sylvia O’Regan: Technically, he’s an 83 year old man running a worldwide church with a pile of current and historical problems on behalf an all powerful god (or so he believes, anyway). Let’s cut him a bit of slack. Who among us has not sinned, first stones, etc.
@Sylvia O’Regan:
Jaysus cut the man some slack ffs
We can all use imaginary speculation as leverage to suit our own prejudices and projections
“Perhaps” also she was desperate for a selfie.
@Sylvia O’Regan: and she may not have been. You can’t be grabbing and pulling an 83 yr old (insert joke here) like that without their consent. I agree with the pointlessness of the role though.
Was he lactating?
@Diogenes: no he always wears white
@Diogenes: Over 1,000,000 human contacts since becoming a cardinal. 1 mistake. Give the man a break.
@MJF Consultants – Business Advisers: that seems quite a low estimate in almost 19 years.
He’ll be meat slapping Bishops next.. Oh, wait!!!
I’d say there will be fairly immediate and significant rise in the amount of clerical hand-slapping if this is where it leads lol
She could take this to the labour court now in ireland and get 20k for sexual harassment
imaging a vampire bit the pope. whats gonna happen?
#cult
Jesus did worse. Read what happened with the syro phoenician woman. By their fruits…
Hope he doesn’t make a habit of this now
Your human like us our Holy Father.
The woman was a bit overwhelmed …it was a shame for the young woman, good job ut wasn’t a child, mabye the pope needs to retire
The woman was a bit overwhelmed …it was a shame for the young woman, good job ut wasn’t a child, mabye the pope needs to retire
have your say