  35963 some interesting takaways from this and similar articles: 1. assad flew to moscow on the morning of the 28th specifically to request ground military support. this was before the fall of aleppo, but assad must have known how dire his military situation was already at that point if he felt inclined to beg the russians for a ground intervention, and even flew to moscow for that purpose. 2. supposedly, moscow rebuffed him, but iran was willing to offer ground assistance. however, assad was unwilling to take iran up on the offer mostly out of fear of an israeli escalation. (although i'm suspecting that some other concerns, like of deepening iranian influence also played a role. it was said that many baathists were deeply unhappy with the kind of role iran was playing in syria during those years and wanted its influence reduced - not increased) 3. assad stayed in damascus all the way till december 8th, the very day that rebels entered the capital. then he quietly left. i find it incredible that he was still in damascus at that point.
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