The die has been cast

Syrian Prime Minister Riad Hijab's dramatic defection on Monday was yet another major blow to President Bashar-al Assad's dying regime. Indeed, it increasingly appears that the year-and-a-half-long battle currently being waged in Syria is nearing a conclusion, and that Assad's regime is living out its final days, or minutes.

Some two weeks ago, the leaders of the regime's defense and military establishment, who until their final moments commanded the fight against rebel forces, were assassinated in a bombing attack. The Free Syrian Army simultaneously began an assault on Damascus — Syria's capital — and on Syria's largest city, Aleppo. Despite claims by the regime that the assaults were repulsed, in actuality, it is struggling to reclaim complete control in Damascus and it has lost control over large portions of Aleppo.

It has also been reported that rebel forces have taken control of crossings along Syria's borders with Turkey and Iraq. Finally, the Kurdish population in northern and eastern Syria (some 10 percent of the overall population), which has remained on the fence until now, has reportedly unshackled itself from the regime, while still refraining from taking up arms and joining the rebels.

These dramatic developments have come amid a surge in defections — from the army as well as other government institutions. In July, for example, Manaf Tlas, a division commander in the Republican Guards known for his close personal ties to Assad, defected to Paris. Cracks have also appeared among Syria's diplomatic officials, as a number of Syrian ambassadors and envoys stationed in a number of countries have declared they would no longer represent Syria. What began as a slow trickle at the onset of the rebellion has turned into a flood, and everyone is trying to flee this sinking ship.

This sequence of events since the uprising began in March 2011 and culminating in Hijab's defection on Monday signifies the slow but steady decline of the country's security situation. It has been consistent and one directional and has methodically eroded the regime's power.

The Syrian revolution has so far lacked, therefore, a victory image, like the Egyptian victory image of millions of Egyptian protesters crowding in Tahrir Square in the heart of Cairo — that picture of triumph signaled that the fight was won and that President Hosni Mubarak's regime had fallen.

In this regard, the events of the past few days in Syria indicate that the die has been cast. This is the message understood by the rebels, by the regime and its supporters still standing alongside it, the international community and mainly by the silent majority of Syrians who have chosen to stay on the fence.

Indeed, there is nothing quite like the defection of the Sunni prime minister, who represents the millions of Syrians comprising the country's Sunni cosmopolitan middle class in Damascus and Aleppo, to shed light on the atmosphere among those who have until recently held the keys to the country but refrained from using them.

One way or another, there is no doubt that the uprising in Syria has entered the home stretch in the past few days, a new phase that could prove to be the deciding chapter.

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