Jubilant crowds pack the streets of Damascus, Syria. The focal point is the centuries-old Umayyad Mosque. According to Islamic tradition, it is here that Isa (Jesus) would return to defeat the antichrist. But these crowds are celebrating the return of a different savior vanquishing a different overlord.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (hts), an Islamist rebel group, captured Damascus on December 7 after a surprise offensive that felled city after city in less than two weeks. Bashar Assad, Syria’s ironfisted president since 2000, resigned the next day and fled with his family to Russia. The Syrian civil war, which started in 2011, has now concluded. And over 50 years of a Russia-backed socialist totalitarian regime is over.

Back on the streets of Damascus, excitement builds among the crowd. Wading through the celebrants is their modern-day Islamic liberator, hts leader Abu Mohammed al-Julani. Julani spearheaded the offensive that began on November 27, conquering Syria’s major cities—Aleppo, Hama, Homs—in rapid succession. Men pull out their phones to record the historic moment, then follow him inside the mosque to hear his address.

“This is a victory, my brothers,” Julani says. “A new history for the region. We faced many threats. [Assad] left Syria free reign for the Iranians. He spread sectarianism within it. He spread corruption within it. It became a major factory for captagon in the world. And today, Syria is being cleansed of it, by the grace of God Almighty and thanks to the heroic mujahideen.”

The mass of adorers repeatedly interrupt Julani’s speech with calls of “Allahu akhbar!” and “Here I am, O Allah!” Julani’s followers are excited for what will happen next. Everybody knows Assad’s departure is not the revolution’s end—but its beginning.

It is hard to overstate how important this moment is in global geopolitics. Even with everything else that has been going on in the Middle East—Israel conquering Gaza, Hassan Nasrallah being assassinated, the Houthis attacking merchant shipping in the Red Sea—the Assad regime’s end is arguably the most important event in the region this year.

The Assad family has ruled Syria since 1970, long before Hezbollah and Hamas even existed. Under the Assads, Syria became one of four original countries on the United States’ state sponsor of terrorism list, and the only original country still on the list. Syria became a refuge for radical organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah. It used chemical weapons on its own people in the civil war’s earlier phases. Bashar Assad sparked a worldwide humanitarian catastrophe by provoking millions of refugees to flow north into Turkey and Europe.

This past weekend, Syria turned a new page. But what does this mean going forward?

Black Eyes for Tehran and Moscow

Very few were expecting the Assad regime to fall this fast. However, two factors made it possible.

One was the state of Assad’s troops. Instead of holding their ground, the Syrian Army had been in retreat since the start of the offensive. Still, for a battle-hardened army like Syria’s to wave the white flag so fast is surprising.

Assad’s forces may have stood their ground if not for the second, more important factor: lack of support from his more powerful allies.

Assad was able to stay afloat this long because of foreign backers: Russia, Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah. But Russia is occupied in Ukraine, Iran is still licking its wounds from its failed war with Israel, and Hezbollah has been decapitated and humiliated by Israel. Even before the latest developments, Hezbollah publicly said it would sit this Syrian fight out.

Russia claimed the Syrian Army’s weakness discouraged it from intervening. A Russian source told Bloomberg that “Russia doesn’t have a plan to save Assad and doesn’t see one as emerging as long as the Syrian president’s army continues to abandon its positions.”

But the events in Syria verge on a catastrophe for Russia. Since Soviet times, Syria has been an important hub for Russia to project its influence throughout the Middle East. Its sole Mediterranean naval base is in Tartus, Syria, and now its future is in doubt.

This is an even bigger catastrophe for Iran. The rebel offensive was almost as much of an anti-Iran campaign as it was an anti-Assad campaign. When the rebels initially seized Aleppo, Iran abandoned its local consulate. hts forces looted the consulate, defacing images of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other symbols.

After Damascus fell, hts did the same with Iran’s embassy.

hts was able to obtain an undisclosed number of documents from the embassy. Whatever secrets these documents contain could be given to Israel or another Iranian adversary.

Losing Syria also means losing Iran’s only territorial connection to Lebanon. This will make supporting Hezbollah, which has been heavily weakened by Israel’s attacks, near impossible.

The Winners

Tying up Russia in Eastern Europe was not the only boon the Russo-Ukraine War gave the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. Reports, as circulated by the Kyiv Post, allege that Ukraine may have even been training hts rebels. According to the Post, the rebels “received operational training from special forces troops from the Khimik group of Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate. The training team focused on tactics developed during the war in Ukraine, including on the use of drones.” hts used drones extensively in capturing Aleppo. Ukraine also reportedly launched its own attack against Aleppo on September 15.

The hts’s biggest sponsor is Turkey. Turkey sponsors the Syrian National Army, which took part in the offensive with hts. Turkey also reportedly heard hts was planning its offensive and gave its tacit blessing. Turkish sources speaking with Middle East Eye claimed they originally expected this to be a “limited offensive.” But as it became apparent that Assad’s forces wouldn’t put up a fight, Turkey encouraged the rebels to advance further.

“Idlib, Hama, Homs and, of course, the ultimate target is Damascus. The opposition’s march continues,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stated on December 6. “Our hope is that this march in Syria proceeds without any accidents or troubles.” The next day, Erdoğan stated that “there is now a new reality in Syria, politically and diplomatically. And Syria belongs to Syrians with all its ethnic, sectarian and religious elements.”

Erdoğan may be hoping his proxies will turn Syria into a Turkish puppet state. The likelihood of this is debatable. hts is not as under Erdoğan’s thumb as other Syrian groups are. Syria’s Kurdish groups also control sizable shares of territory, and they are not about to let Turkey have dominion over them. But Turkey is the most influential outside player in Syria right now.

Israel, while not directly supporting the rebels (that we know of), is also excited. Syria borders Israel. While Assad was never Israel’s biggest enemy, he let Iran use his territory to help arm Hezbollah. This is now history.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a video address at the Golan Heights, saying that Assad’s fall “offers great opportunity but also is fraught with significant dangers.” He detailed how the ceasefire of the 1973 Yom Kippur War between Israel and Syria, which held for half a century, is now over with the Syrian Army abandoning its positions along the Israeli border. The Israel Defense Forces took a “temporary defensive position” across the border, with orders to do so “until a suitable arrangement is found.” Netanyahu said he would like to establish “neighborly relations and peaceful relations” with Syria’s new government but is ready to “do whatever it takes to defend the State of Israel.”

What Now?

The dust hasn’t settled. Assad’s departure doesn’t mean the various rebel groups are ready to set aside their differences and form a unity government. The Syrian National Army has already started attacking Kurdish positions.

But that doesn’t mean Julani isn’t making plans for what a post-Assad Syria would look like. He announced he would let Mohammed Ghazi al-Jalali, Assad’s former second in command, supervise government institutions until the formal handover. HTS has also named Mohammed al-Bashir, their former governor in Idlib, as Jalali’s replacement interim prime minister. And in a cnn interview published December 6, Jalali indicated some of his main priorities:

Stabilizing Syria will bring many people back. Today, in the liberated areas, about one third of the population lives in camps—approximately 1.5 million people. I believe we can soon reach a point where there are no camps. With the rehabilitation of the liberated areas, people will return to their homes. Many refugees in Turkey will likely return, as will a significant number of refugees in Lebanon and Jordan. Even refugees in Europe may return to rebuild their country.

hts doesn’t have the resources to integrate so many Syrians back into society, not to mention rebuilding the housing and infrastructure needed to accommodate them. This will probably necessitate opening up Syria to the international community.

Whether the world would be ready to legitimize a former al Qaeda affiliate remains to be seen. But Turkey has indicated it wants to get its millions of Syrian refugees back home. Europe has also indicated it is ready to help rebuild Syria. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz posted on X that “Germany will make its contribution” to Syria’s “political solution.” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen posted, “Europe is ready to support safeguarding national unity and rebuilding a Syrian state that protects all minorities.”

There are still plenty of issues for the rebels and the world to resolve. But nobody wants to leave Syria a disunited, hemorrhaging mess. Something needs to be done soon.

What the Trumpet Said

In our September 2012 Trumpet issue, editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote an article titled “How the Syrian Crisis Will End.” Notice the following quotes:

Biblical prophecy reveals that, very soon, Syria will no longer align with Iran. It also shows that Germany will help cause this split.

Right now, Bashar Assad’s Syria is closely allied with Iran—but this prophecy shows that these two nations are about to split. This will have a domino effect on other nations.

These verses foretell a massive shift in alliances among the nations of the Middle East!

Mr. Flurry was referencing a prophecy in Psalm 83. This psalm describes a coalition of peoples established so “that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance” (verse 4). No such alliance—whether in purpose or with the specific participants the psalm lists—has been recorded in history. Because of this, Psalm 83 is a prophecy for our day.

The nations involved are “the tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes; Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre; Assur also is joined with them …” (verses 6-8). “You must know who the modern descendants of these peoples are in order to understand just how timely and relevant this prophecy is,” Mr. Flurry wrote in his article. “‘Edom’ is Turkey; ‘the Ishmaelites’ are Saudi Arabia; ‘Moab and ‘Ammon’ both refer to Jordan; ‘Gebal’ is Lebanon. The Hagarenes anciently dwelt in the land known as Syria. The only one listed here that lies outside the region is ‘Assur,’ which is Germany.”

Assad’s Syria has been part of Iran’s camp. But Mr. Flurry—combining Psalm 83 with prophecies like Daniel 11, which details Iran and its allies clashing with German-led Europe—has predicted Syria would break its alliance with Iran and switch over to Europe.

We are seeing this switch happen right now.

The days are still early. Many finer details for the immediate future are yet unknown. But Assad’s ousting is only the beginning. Expect a massive change in Middle Eastern geopolitics. Expect Germany to become the ascendant power in the region. And when this prediction is fulfilled, remember where it was made.

To learn more, read “How the Syrian Crisis Will End.”