Trump responds after rebels overtake Syria, ousting longtime dictator: ‘Assad is gone’

"President-elect Trump reacted Sunday morning to the news that Syrian dictator Bashar Assad had fled Syria after rebels stormed the capital city of Damascus.

"Assad is gone," Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. "He has fled his country. His protector, Russia, Russia, Russia, led by Vladimir Putin, was not interested in protecting him any longer. There was no reason for Russia to be there in the first place. They lost all interest in Syria because of Ukraine, where close to 600,000 Russian soldiers lay wounded or dead, in a war that should never have started, and could go on forever." 

FOX

Iranian embassy stormed in Damascus

"Iran's embassy in the Syrian capital was stormed by rebels on Sunday following their capture of Damascus and the fall of Iran-allied Bashar al-Assad, Iranian state TV reported.
"It is said that the Iranian embassy was stormed alongside nearby stores by an armed group different from the group now controlling [most of] Syria," Iranian state TV said, referring to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) which spearheaded the rebel advances across western Syria." MS

Israeli tanks crossed border with Syria

"Tanks of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reportedly crossed the buffer zone and entered Syria today, December 8. This occurred following the collapse of the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad after rebels seized Damascus, reports The Times of Israel.

Israeli media reported that, according to Syrian reports overnight, Israeli tanks crossed the border into Syria from the Golan Heights.... IDF forces from the 210th regional division, Bashan, were conducting engineering work on the barriers along the Israel-Syria border in the Golan Heights.
According to media sources, the IDF intends to impose stricter restrictions on several towns near the Syrian border following the apparent fall of Assad’s regime due to a rebel campaign, with some of these groups believed to be Islamist.
Army Radio reported that these restrictions mean that schools would be canceled in four Druze villages close to the border.
Israeli media noted that lands adjacent to the Syrian border would be declared a closed military zone, meaning civilians would be denied access." RCB

Rumors Swirl About The West Planning To 'Exile' Zelensky

"If a ceasefire is reached in Ukraine, the West is considering “exiling” Volodymyr Zelensky to London, writes Do Rzeczy, citing a report out of the Spanish daily El Mundo via government sources in Kyiv.

A rumor has been circulating in diplomatic circles in the Ukrainian capital for two weeks that if a ceasefire occurs, the West will convince Zelensky to “exile” himself to the U.K. and presidential elections will be held in Ukraine.
European peacekeeping forces, mainly troops from Great Britain and France, would then be deployed in Ukraine. Kyiv could also count on “rapid” accession to the European Union and aid for the country’s post-war reconstruction.
Ukraine had a bad November, with Russia occupying the largest amount of territory in Ukraine since March 2022, mainly in the east of the country, near Pokrovsk, according to experts from the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
The group says Moscow has occupied a total of 68,500 square kilometers since the beginning of the war, or about 19 percent of Ukraine’s entire pre-2014 territory, including the annexed Crimea and part of Donbas." ZeroHedge

Uncertainty on the field: Ukrainian soldiers are waiting for Trump in Kursk

"The situation in the Kursk region is tense, considering that the Ukrainian soldiers who are there don't understand why they are still in Kursk. In the middle of this year, the Ukrainians made a surprising move, invading the Kursk region, making huge progress and conquering a large part of the territory. The goal of the operation was to distract Russian forces from the eastern Ukrainian front.
Looking at the current situation, the progress of the Russians, and the return of certain territories, it seems that the Ukrainians have not succeeded in this goal.

BBC journalists were at the front, on the Ukrainian side, and in an anonymous conversation with the soldiers, they learned surprising information. Namely, the Ukrainian soldiers are disappointed and frustrated, not understanding why they are at the front, considering that the Russians are slowly returning the lost territories. In addition, the constant bombardment affects the majority of soldiers without long-term sleep.
Ukrainian soldiers admit that the situation is getting worse and worse every day. 

What is interesting is that the Ukrainian generals ordered the soldiers to hold their positions until the moment when Donald Trump returns to the White House.
The Ukrainian leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, believes that the Russians are also carefully watching the situation on the global political scene, primarily watching the situation in the US.
Zelensky stresses that Putin wants to punish Ukrainians back until January 20, more precisely until the moment of the change of the American administration.
Ukrainian soldiers also referred to rumors that North Korean soldiers were at the front." FinancialWorld

Orban blames Biden for Ukraine conflict

"US interference triggered the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said. His comments come after Moscow accused Washington of

lacking “common sense and restraint” in its approach to the conflict.
In an interview with public broadcaster Kossuth Radio on Friday, Orban claimed the United States had played a decisive role in the conflict.
”America is one of the main players in this war. Without America, this war would never have happened. Ukraine would not have been able to resist without America’s support,” the prime minister said, as quoted by the Magyar Nemzet newspaper." RT

Deadly Mozambique Protests

"Smoke filled the streets of Maputo on as supporters of presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane set tyres ablaze and blocked roads. The protests, fuelled by anger over the disputed October elections, quickly escalated, leading to violent clashes with security forces.

Local police reported at least five deaths and three serious injuries across Mozambique, including in Maputo, Nampula, and Zambezia. However, local NGO Plataforma Eleitoral Decide claimed that the true death toll is significantly higher, with at least 88 fatalities reported from the demonstrations.
João Tembe, one of the protesters, explained the motivations behind the unrest: “The soldiers show strength and say they’re with us. They wear masks because they are afraid of the 'superior order,' but they still support our cause. My protest is not vandalism. I am concerned about the future of young people, what will happen to them tomorrow—that’s what matters to me.” AfricaNews

One killed as Russian army launches 269 strikes on Zaporizhzhia region over past day

"Russian forces launched 269 strikes on towns and villages in the Zaporizhzhia region killing one person.

According to Fedorov, 154 enemy UAVs attacked Lobkove, Huliaipole, Shcherbaky, Novoandriivka, Novodanylivka, Mala Tokmachka, Bilohiria, Malynivka, Novodarivka, and Olhivske." Ukrin

Syrian Regime Falls; Assad Flees; Possible Plane Crash

"Reports from the Middle East indicate that the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad has fallen, with the dictator fleeing the country as rebel forces entered the capital city of Damascus.

Unconfirmed social media reports also suggest that Assad’s plane crashed.
Assad was one of the most notorious tyrants in the world, one who used chemical weapons against his own people. His regime nearly fell in the civil war that erupted during the Arab Spring in 2011, but he was shored up by Russian and Iranian forces." Breitbart