{"version":"1.0","type":"rich","provider_name":"Acast","provider_url":"https://acast.com","height":250,"width":700,"html":"<iframe src=\"https://embed.acast.com/$/9475d117-fcd4-4915-a6f3-923941e7aa0d/675715ba2dd88df13217b37e?\" frameBorder=\"0\" width=\"700\" height=\"250\"></iframe>","title":"Assad flees Syria: what now for Middle East after rebels topple regime?","thumbnail_width":200,"thumbnail_height":200,"thumbnail_url":"https://open-images.acast.com/shows/61ba05fc1a8cbed4343cf0e6/1733759877130-40648569-1a38-4483-9870-5fb7a2848b4e.jpeg?height=200","description":"<p>Syrians awoke on Monday to hope - but also uncertainty - after the rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham <a href=\"https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/what-next-syria-bashar-al-assad-flees-to-russia-b1198821.html\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">seized the capital Damascus</a>.</p><p>Dictator President Bashar al-Assad reportedly <a href=\"https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/bashar-assad-syria-moscow-exile-vladimir-putin-russia-flee-b1198832.html\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">fled to Russia</a>, following 13 years of civil war and more than 50 years of his family’s brutal rule.</p><p>As rescuers search for tens of thousands of prisoners held in the regime’s underground torture prisons in horrific conditions, what now for post-Assad Syria?</p><p>Plus, how will the weekend’s events impact the wider Middle East crisis - and will HTS see its terrorist designation removed by countries including the UK?</p><p>We’re joined <a href=\"https://www.standard.co.uk/comment/syria-bashar-al-assad-fall-refugee-chemical-weapons-b1198916.html\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">The London Standard’s defence editor, Robert Fox.</a></p>","author_name":"The Evening Standard"}