Fatal hours surround the political destiny of Syria , overwhelmed by a world war that has been going on on its territory for almost 14 years , and which is preparing to write a new page in the book of its thousand-year history: President Bashar al Assad, in power for a quarter of a century after having inherited it from his father Hafez for thirty years at the top of the regime, is indicated by many as a leader on the run . And the insurgents from the south and north of the country are already at the gates of Damascus after a sensational and unexpected triumphal march, which began only ten days ago from the remote north-western region of Idlib on the border with Turkey, which has overwhelmed government, Russian and Iranian strongholds such as Aleppo and Hama.

Meanwhile, rumors are circulating about the fate of the leader, who is already out of Syria, on the run, despite his office trying to deny the rumors, stating that he is still in Damascus. According to informed sources at Bloomberg, he is instead in Tehran, "ready to negotiate even for safe exile."

THE MEETINGS – In the meantime, the long-awaited meeting attended by the foreign ministers of Russia, Iran and Turkey took place in Doha , Qatar. At the same time, but before US President-elect Donald Trump stated that it is not in Washington's interest to get involved in the Syrian conflict, the quartet of Western countries very close to Israel met in the Gulf capital: the United States, France, Great Britain and Germany. And according to sources present at the meeting, which was attended by EU representatives and the UN special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, the meeting highlighted the West's willingness to start a post-Assad political transition process in Geneva next week that will avoid further bloodshed and remove the spectre of the collapse of the Syrian state by putting all the parties involved at the same table.

ITALIANS – Italy's priority , as reiterated this afternoon by Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, is currently to "protect the safety of our fellow citizens living in Syria". In this critical phase of the conflict, Tajani called a meeting at the Crisis Unit, with the region's ambassadors connected, to take stock of the situation. Starting with the efforts to protect approximately three hundred fellow citizens in the country that has fallen back into civil war. At the moment, several dozen people have already moved to Lebanon and Jordan, but the diplomatic headquarters in Damascus "is ready to organize the evacuations" of all those who request it.

The situation on the ground is worrying and is constantly monitored but at the same time, Tajani noted, " at the moment there are no concerns" for the safety of Italians.

(Unioneonline/vl)

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