Seismic is an overused word. Not when it comes to events currently under way in Syria, a country straddling the fault lines of the Middle East.
The collapse of the Assad regime will be the most significant event yet in the upheaval that’s followed the 7 October attacks by Hamas in Israel last year.
It will be the end of a brutal reign of terror that has lasted since the Assad family under patriarch Hafez Assad seized power in the early 1970s. And the end of a devastating civil war that has raged since 2011.
The Assads maintained their grip on Syria with diabolical cynicism. They used massacre and torture, chemical weapons and barrel bombs to secure their rule for almost five decades.
But they also cleverly leveraged their country’s pivotal position to secure support from willing allies.
Image: Rebel fighters in the Homs countryside on Saturday. Pic: Reuters
Iran backed the regime in return for help propping up Tehran’s axis of terror across the Middle East. Syria has been used as a base for Iranian troops and a conduit for arms supplies to Hezbollah.
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President Bashar al Assad gave Moscow a Mediterranean sea port and an air base nearby in return for Russia’s military support against his enemies.
The apparent demise Mr Assad and his murderous family will therefore change utterly the power dynamics of this troubled, volatile region.
Hezbollah, already much reduced by Israel in recent months, loses a key patron. Iran’s strategy of menacing Israel with proxies will collapse. And Russia may be forced to end its Levantine project too.
Given President Vladimir Putin’s investment in the region in men and money, that will be a bitter blow with serious implications for the Russian leader’s prestige.
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Damascus: Protesters topple statue
What matters is what follows. The rebel group, Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS), appears to have evolved from its al Qaeda- inspired roots.
As well as dramatically improving its fighting ability, it has displayed a tolerance for different religions and surprising discipline.
But these are early days. It is not clear who is supporting the rebels and what they intend to do with their victory.
But every revolution since the Arab Spring has unravelled into chaos and bloody disorder.
If the same happens in Syria, the ramifications for the Middle East could be grave given its pivotal position in a region wracked with conflict and division.
Worldwide stock markets have plummeted for the second day running as the fallout from Donald Trump’s global tariffs continues.
While European and Asian markets suffered notable falls, American indexes were the worst hit, with Wall Street closing to a sea of red on Friday following Thursday’s rout – the worst day in US markets since the COVID-19 pandemic.
All three of the US’s major indexes were down by more than 5% at market close; The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 5.5%, the S&P 500 was 5.97% lower, and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 5.82%.
The Nasdaq was also 22% below its record-high set in December, which indicates a bear market.
Ever since the US president announced the tariffs on Wednesday evening, analysts estimate that around $4.9trn (£3.8trn) has been wiped off the value of the global stock market.
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Mr Trump has remained unapologetic as the markets struggle, posting in all-caps on Truth Social before the markets closed that “only the weak will fail”.
The UK’s leading stock market, the FTSE 100, also suffered its worst daily drop in more than five years, closing 4.95% down, a level not seen since March 2020.
And the Japanese exchange Nikkei 225 dropped by 2.75% at end of trading, down 20% from its recent peak in July last year.
Image: US indexes had the worst day of trading since the COVID-19 pandemic. Pic: Reuters
Trump holds trade deal talks – reports
It comes as a source told CNN that Mr Trump has been in discussions with Vietnamese, Indianand Israelirepresentatives to negotiate bespoke trade deals that could alleviate proposed tariffs on those countries before a deadline next week.
The source told the US broadcaster the talks were being held in advance of the reciprocal levies going into effect next week.
Vietnam faced one of the highest reciprocal tariffs announced by the US president this week, with 46% rates on imports. Israeli imports face a 17% rate, and Indian goods will be subject to 26% tariffs.
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China – hit with 34% tariffs on imported goods – has also announced it will issue its own levy of the same rate on US imports.
Mr Trump said China “played it wrong” and “panicked – the one thing they cannot afford to do” in another all-caps Truth Social post earlier on Friday.
Later, on Air Force One, the US president told reporters that “the beauty” of the tariffs is that they allow for negotiations, referencing talks with Chinese company ByteDance on the sale of social media app TikTok.
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Tariffs: Xi hits back at Trump
He said: “We have a situation with TikTok where China will probably say, ‘We’ll approve a deal, but will you do something on the tariffs?’
“The tariffs give us great power to negotiate. They always have.”
Global financial markets gave a clear vote of no-confidence in President Trump’s economic policy.
The damage it will do is obvious: costs for companies will rise, hitting their earnings.
The consequences will ripple throughout the global economy, with economists now raising their expectations for a recession, not only in the US, but across the world.
The court ruled to uphold the impeachment saying the conservative leader “violated his duty as commander-in-chief by mobilising troops” when he declared martial law.
The president was also said to have taken actions “beyond the powers provided in the constitution”.
Image: Demonstrators stayed overnight near the constitutional court. Pic: AP
Supporters and opponents of the president gathered in their thousands in central Seoul as they awaited the ruling.
The 64-year-old shocked MPs, the public and international allies in early December when he declared martial law, meaning all existing laws regarding civilians were suspended in place of military law.
Image: The court was under heavy police security guard ahead of the announcement. Pic: AP
After suddenly declaring martial law, Mr Yoon sent hundreds of soldiers and police officers to the National Assembly.
He has argued that he sought to maintain order, but some senior military and police officers sent there have told hearings and investigators that Mr Yoon ordered them to drag out politicians to prevent an assembly vote on his decree.
His presidential powers were suspended when the opposition-dominated assembly voted to impeach him on 14 December, accusing him of rebellion.
The unanimous verdict to uphold parliament’s impeachment and remove Mr Yoon from office required the support of at least six of the court’s eight justices.
South Korea must hold a national election within two months to find a new leader.
Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, is the early favourite to become the country’s next president, according to surveys.