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SYRIA is the next domino to fall in Iran's crumbling empire after the rebels' lightning blitz, a former US ambassador said.
The Ayatollah's allies Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad could be booted out of the country by quickly advancing militants Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.
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It's the latest blunder from the Iranians after pals Hamas and Hezbollah were both hammered by Israel following the October 7 terror attack.
Ambassador Mark Wallace, CEO of United Against Nuclear Iran, said Iran is now fighting for its survival.
The former US representative to the UN said Ayatollah Ali Khamenei only has a "tenuous" hold on power.
Iran has used its proxy forces as a way to establish its dominance in the region by sowing conflict in countries and having militants seize land.
Wallace told The Sun: "I think if you were advising the Ayatollah right now, you would say, 'our proxies are in danger, they're crumbling, we have to beat a hasty retreat'.
"I think they [Iran] are defending that same hegemony to prevent the fall of their fragile empire."
Iran has been weakened so much by corruption, its economy, and the conflict with Israel that it now can't protect its proxy pals.
He said the Syrian rebels had seen Assad's "house of cards" and Iran's weakness as a chance to strike.
As each of Iran's proxies become weaker, so does the the regime's ruling ideology and the Ayatollah's grasp on power, Wallace added.
Wallace said: "The fragility of the Ayatollah and his cronies will be revealed as each of its proxies crumbles.
Syrian rebels celebrate in streets after capturing Hama
"Their own people, who hate the oppression of the Ayatollah, will be emboldened to rise up against them."
But the ambassador also said that Assad being overthrown was not all good news as the "evil" man could be replaced by an "Islamic state".
Fighting threatens to topple monster Assad who gassed his own people with nerve agent sarin in 2013 as he desperately clung on to power during the civil war.
HTS was formed by ISIS and al-Qaeda fighters and has forced women into sexual slavery.
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Wallace said: "They [HTS] still believe in the brutal repression of women and minorities and other religions, and I don't believe that there is room for a radical Islamic Caliphate in the region."
And while Syria could be forced out of Iran's sphere of influence, the rebels are supported by Turkey.
Wallace said Turkey's support for HTS, among its other foreign policy decisions, means it doesn't act like a "normal ally".
He said: "I've personally called for the expulsion of Turkey from Nato.
"I think Erdogan should be considered to be sanctioned, designated, much less be a legitimate standing member of Nato."
Wallace said the West needed Turkey on its side against Russia, but it shouldn't encourage "massive bloodshed" in the region.
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He said the West should confront Iran directly while it is weakened and push it into a succession crisis.
He said: "There's only been two Ayatollahs in history.
"Soon there will have to be a third and if there isn't a third there will be no Iran as we know it, and the people of Iran will be free."
On Friday, Tehran announced it is set to send missiles and drones to Syria to support its ally as well as a number of military and intelligence advisers.
'No one saw it coming'
Ex-military intelligence officer Philip Ingram said nobody saw a flare up in the fighting after a ceasefire had been signed in 2020.
He said Putin's intelligence forces failed his ally Assad as they were focused on winning the war in Ukraine.
Ingram said: "The preparations for this [offensive] and everything else will have got potentially lost in the noise or not seen as being as significant."
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The Kremlin will now be extremely worried about having its ally Assad deposed.
He said: "The response by Assad's forces, backed by the Russians and the Iranians, has been woeful to date."
But that doesn't mean Assad will fall, with the Russians providing air support against the advancing militants, Ingram added.
He said: "But they [Russia] haven't had to do anything since there was a ceasefire signed in 2020 and therefore some of their assets will have been stripped out to go and support Ukraine and it would be difficult for Putin to surge assets in to back up."
The geopolitical expert also said Putin would be stretched too thin to send troops as he is losing nearly 2,000 troops a day in Ukraine.
But Syria is very important for the Kremlin as it gave Russia a foothold in the Middle East for its direct interests.
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He said: "It's difficult for Putin, because Syria is a very special place for him, not just because he's got his Mediterranean fleet based there, they've got some sophisticated training capabilities based there.
"And he's backed Assad through a lot of the [civil] war so far, but he also uses it [Syria] as a massive intelligence base across the Middle East."
On Friday, Bloomberg reported the Kremlin has no plan to save Assad and doesn't see one emerging as the dictator's army continues to flee.
Ingram said Turkey, which is backing HTS, would have been watching Iran grow weaker during its conflict with Israel.
That in turn provided them an opportunity to topple Assad and its larger strategic goal - to hammer the Kurds.
Erdogan said he hoped the rebels are able to reach Damascus without any trouble or accidents.
Inside Hayat Tahrir al-Sham
HTS - a Sunni Muslim movement - is the biggest opposition group in the rebel offensive: Operation Deterrence of Aggression.
The group was established in 2012 and was named Jabhat al-Nusra before switching to Jabhat Fateh al-Sham.
HTS' leader, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, is a former al-Qaeda fighter who fought against the US in Iraq after its 2003 US invasion.
Between 2006 and 2012 he was loyal to the Islamic State of Iraq when he was imprisoned in notorious US detention centres like Abu Ghraib.
He returned to Syria following the uprising against Assad in 2011 and by 2012 had established the Jabhat al-Nusra.
Renowned terror group ISIS take credit for the creation of the Nusra Front, with its mad leader labelling it as Syrian subordinate.
Jabhat al-Nusra merged with another group and changed its name to Hayʼat Tahrir al-Sham in 2017.
The newly formed HTS had loyal al-Qaeda fighters in its ranks with the US considering the group and its leadership as a terror outfit.
It then launched a crackdown on al-Qaeda fighters and Islamic State cells in the Syrian land it controlled.
Like al-Qaeda and ISIS, HTS' list of sexual abuse against women and girls is endless.
According reports, men have forced women and girls into sex slavery, marriages and human trafficking.
Some have even been known to be used as "gifts" to commanders in the heinous human rights abuses.
One woman had recalled her trauma after being sold by her own uncle for $5,000 under HTS control.
She told Al-Monitor how after being bought, she was taken to a house where a woman was running a prostitution ring.
Here she said she was repeatedly raped and sold to the friends of the man that bought her.
The 19-year-old said: "I told my uncle about what I was going through in this house but he did nothing to save me."
Victims have also shockingly been used for organ trafficking in Idlib.
Syrian rebels storm Assad’s palace and rifle through dictator’s bedroom drawers
Footage shows Syrian rebels storming Bashar al-Assad's palace and rifle through his bedroom drawers.
The humiliating footage for the ruthless dictator comes as Islamist troops seized the country's second city of Aleppo last week.
After his home was seized, Assad promised to fight back, declaring "terror only understands the language of power, and we will break it with it."
Footage shows insurgents entering what appears to be Assad's palace and explore the stately home.
The fighters, wearing balaclavas and holding AK-47s, walk through fancy bedrooms and an en-suite picking up items on the dresser and checking inside cupboards.
They do not trash the home and respectfully place items back where they found them.
Their surprise offensive launched only days before caught Assad off guard and has since captured hundreds of miles of land and dozens of towns.
The attack is posing a direct threat to Assad's rule as the Syrian Salvation Government's (HTS) troops make President look weak.
On Saturday, video showed crowds around the Bassel al-Assad statue in Aleppo's Basel Square before tearing down the former heir to Syria's presidency from his horse.
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