Bashar Assad cuts and runs into exile as the other Islamists conquer Syria

Syrian dictator Bashar Assad is on the run as Islamist rebels have stormed the capital city of Damascus.

One rumor has it that Assad "got out of Dodge" on an airline that made a U-turn in flight but had since disappeared from radar. Again, this is a rumor and it's early in the siege so take it with a grain of kosher salt. It is possible his plane was shot down but that is not substantiated.

Assad is best known for killing his own people to the tune of about 300,000 civilians by the use of chemical weapons, it is widely believed and had been reported by organizations such as the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). Such chemicals in the approximate 300 chemical attacks include sarin and chlorine gas against his own civilian population.

So if his plane was shot down, the world has become a better place.

Syria has been tied up in a bloody, 13-year civil war by Islamist rebels who looked to overthrow the Assad dynasty. The apparent collapse of more than 50 years of Assad family rule over the Syrian Arabian Republic would be an incredible turn of events in the Middle East power.

A coalition dominated by radical Islamist factions managed to overthrow Assad's regime, which was supported by Iran. The terrorist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), previously linked to Al-Qaeda and now part of the rebel forces, was pivotal in removing Assad from power. Assad took over the presidency in 2000 after his father, Hafez Assad, passed away.

Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the head of HTS, who has a $10 million bounty placed by the U.S., is attempting to soften the image of the radical Islamism that characterized his combat against American forces in both Syria and Iraq. Al-Golani was once detained by the U.S. military in the early 2000s.

Experts on Syria have informed Fox News Digital that HTS is intent on establishing a totalitarian Islamist state. Phillip Smyth, an authority on Iranian proxy groups and Syria associated with the Atlantic Council, noted to Fox News Digital, "HTS is a group that is an outgrowth of Al-Qaeda and has connections to Turkey. Their endgame is to create a Talibanesque society with a few tweaks."

Assad's choice in 2011 to violently suppress pro-democracy activists during the Arab Spring, which also swept across Egypt and Tunisia, triggered a prolonged civil war. His strategy of using extreme force against his own people led to the deaths of more than 500,000 individuals. Recently, the UN has ceased updating the casualty figures, acknowledging the overwhelming nature of the conflict.

Anyway, it looks like there's going to be a new Islamist regime in Syria and it's anyone's guess what problems they will bring. 

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